Archive for the ‘Auto Shipping’ Category

JMN Logistics Wraps Up Driver Appreciation Week

Monday, November 16th, 2009

The week of Nov 9th was a very special week for JMN Logistics. This was our third annual driver appreciation week, in which we wanted to show our gratitude for everything our dedicated driver base does day in and day out. For many of our drivers the time on the road can be long days and weeks away from home helping deliver on our corporate commitments. We feel our drivers give us a competitive edge over our competition and are really the backbone of JMN. Without our drivers we aren’t any better than the 1000’s of non asset based brokers out there.

This year we wanted to do a few special things to show our appreciation. We held BBQ cookouts at all our terminals; we sent gift certificates to each family for a Honey Baked Ham or Turkey of their choice. We sent letters to each family expressing our gratitude and made up a special handbook to help our drivers with all their paperwork, logs and critical info.

Everyone at JMN appreciates our driver’s dedication and hard work and together we will continue to be a force within the industry.

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Having the Right Mix

Wednesday, October 21st, 2009

Within any industry one of the main goals of creating a successful business is to find areas of efficiency. In the transport world that is creating a flowing network where trucks can be loaded as much as possible. At first you’re battling a little chicken or the egg problem because without one lane it’s hard to grow another. Taking some educated risks on freight and using those lanes as spring boards to create a smooth flowing network is the challenge. Our approach has been to supplement the new car side with the used side so when one is down, hopefully the other will be up and vice versa. This came to light the past 6 months especially. New cars were non-existent first half of 2009 from a transport perspective. But the remarketed side was strong. Now a shift in power with the void that was created with the slow down of new cars is coming forward. New has picked up considerably and the remarketing side is a bit off. All and all JMN’s goal is to be well diversified so we can survive through the ups and downs of both sides.

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JMN helps OEM’s expedite vehicles

Wednesday, October 14th, 2009

Due to the recent Cash for Clunkers program many dealership inventories have been depleted of qualifying vehicles. A few OEM’s have called on JMN to help expedite new vehicles to dealers to get the stock back up in time for the holidays.

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Electronic Condition Reports (ECR’s) to Become the Standard

Wednesday, October 14th, 2009

JMN Logistics has been making an effort to go paperless since it started using a new Transportation Management System (TMS) in late 2007.  When JMN went online with Cargo Tel (CGT), we transitioned from mailing invoices to our customers on a weekly basis to faxing or e-mailing them daily.  Instead of keeping paper copies of condition reports, they are stored electronically and can be viewed by multiple employees whether they are in the office or working from home.  The one area that has been most difficult to make this change in is with condition reports.  Many customers require that a copy of the condition report is left with the vehicle when it is dropped off or sent with the invoice.  Unfortunately, the technology available for electronic condition reports is not cost effective enough for us to make the transition at this time.  Currently, the National Auto Auction Association (NAAA) is working with industry leaders to produce a standard for ECR’s.  According to Former NAAA President, Bob Mc Conkey, a standardized condition report will “make exchange of vehicle data easier among participants in the remarketing industry.”  Hopefully, as auctions and OEMs come together to create a standard, software vendors will be able to create a program that will encompass the needs of the trucking industry as well.

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