By George Berkheimer For the Bedford Gazette
Bedford County didn’t become a prominent manufacturing and employment center by accident. Business owners and development officials here all say there’s thought and intention behind every decision that has led to job creation and strong industry competitiveness.
One of the best examples of that can be found at Reinforced Logistics, which started as an in-house solution for Bedford Reinforced Plastic’s own transportation needs and took just two short years to become a respected third-party logistics provider and asset-based carrier active throughout the continental United States, Canada and Mexico.
Greg Hauck, a Chestnut Ridge alum who graduated from Shippensburg University with a supply chain management degree, helped set up BRP’s freight division before leaving to work for another freight broker. He was quickly asked to return to fill the role of the controller, who had announced his intention to retire.
“Seeing the long-term growth of the company and my own career growth, I didn’t hesitate,” Hauck said. “I understood the freight expense, brokerage costs and the uncertainty in the market, and we grew the company to help control finances.”
Making services available to local businesses helped Reinforced Logistics gain a foothold in the logistics market.
“Manufacturing is one of our biggest markets, and we understand the needs of that market completely because of our own manufacturing background, which differentiates us from our competitors,” Hauck said. “We ship all kinds of products that include refrigerated and controlled climate shipments, so we now serve ice cream and meat production customers too.”
Efficiency Upgrades
Brokerage constitutes the majority of business for Reinforced Logistics.
“We have our own fleet, which we use to learn the lane and help us understand exactly what new customers need before we partner with a good, reliable local carrier in their region,” Hauck said. “That gives us a pool of thousands of truck drivers we can rely on to haul freight at any given time to cover urgent orders and fulfill those orders quickly.”
A recent technology upgrade saw Transportation Management Systems software from DAT Freight & Analytics added to the company’s trucks, enabling live tracking and real-time updates for clients who need to know exactly when shipments are arriving.
“Imagine a crane waiting for a piece of material that needs to go on the roof of a high-rise building in Brooklyn,” Hauck said. “They can see the truck coming and minimize the time they have to shut down the road for safety.”
Drivers are also able to pass off electronic paperwork immediately to customers who don’t like to wait days to receive invoices or other documentation.
“That really improves efficiency to help us stay ahead of competition,” Hauck said. Since its founding in 2018, Reinforced Logistics’ sales have doubled year after year and continue to grow. “We were built into BRP at the beginning but we have our own full staff now with four fleet drivers and six office employees, including a sales team and an accountant,” Hauck said.
Although Bedford County has a strong pool of professional drivers with years of experience, it can be difficult to find drivers experienced in oversize and other specialized freight needs. “We’ve overcome that with our own training program,” he acknowledged. “Some of our employees walked through the door out of college or the medical field, and within four or five months they were able to sell freight and efficiently service our customers.”
Earned Trust
Proximity to the turnpike and multiple interstate highways makes Bedford the perfect location for a company that specializes in logistics, Hauck said.
“Walmart operates one of the largest cold chain distribution warehouses in the region here in our county, so there’s always a great pool of owner-operators who don’t want to drive to Pittsburgh or Chambersburg to pick up a return load,” he observed. “That helps fulfill the needs of all the manufacturers who ship products out of the county and helps convince others to locate here and bring more tax revenue to the area.”
Bedford County Development Association and other partners “do a phenomenal job of bringing manufacturing to Bedford County,” Hauck added. “The strong demand for logistics here speaks to the strength and health of those industries here.”
In turn, Reinforced Logistics supports BCDA and the Bedford County Chamber of Commerce, and frequently brings in interns from the county’s schools to learn about different roles in the company.
“What works best for is that we have a huge carrier pool of reliable truck drivers and we’re an honest trucking company that came from a manufacturing background and understands those needs. That brings an unmatched level of trust to our customers, and that’s our biggest selling point.”