Champions of the Chain: Crane Worldwide Logistics

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Crane Worldwide Logistics has become a global player in supply chain management.

At just nine years old, Crane Worldwide Logistics is leveraging perseverance, innovative technology, and a fierce dedication to the human side of business in its meteoric rise to the top of global supply chain management.

In the 1980s, Jim Crane leveraged a $10,000 loan from his sister into a $3.5 billion NYSE-traded powerhouse. That company, Eagle Global Logistics (EGL), fell victim to a hostile takeover in 2007. Undeterred, Crane and nine of his best EGL execs returned to the battlefield a year later with fresh capital.

The strategy—deployed at a time when the logistics industry was shrinking and competition was dying on the vine—propelled the team into a bold new venture, Crane Worldwide.

“Most companies don’t start with that much experience,” said Rob Keuten, the company’s VP of Sales in the Americas. “Our focus on recruiting the best people started before we even opened.”

As a result, Crane Worldwide has skyrocketed to the top of the field in less than a decade, beating the competition with an enviable balance of speed, forward thinking, and high-caliber hires.

The Need for Speed

Crane Worldwide entered the market with a mission to attract and serve high-touch, high-service clients at a consistent level of excellence. That mission has brought a slate of heavy-hitting name-brand clients including the nation’s largest, most recognizable heavyweight motorcycle manufacturer.

“Through solutions and engineering design, we gave this client ways to cut costs and boost efficiency through increased visibility,” Keuten noted. “Our design allowed them to get more vehicles in a truck than before. That’s a huge advantage when it comes to moving top-end touring bikes that may weigh close to 900 pounds.”

In March of this year, the company executed a strategic merger with DAVACO, Inc., a leader of high-volume programs for retail, restaurant, and hospitality brands.

The merger enables both companies to deliver end-to-end supply chain solutions.

“DAVACO allows us to add a greater layer of project management in retail and high tech vertical markets,” he explained.

“The acquisition provides even greater expertise on the technical side of a project, white-glove installation, and delivery specifically in retail and high-tech businesses. It increases our reach and our ability to provide that final mile white-glove service to our clients and theirs.”

Crane Worldwide’s phenomenal growth resulted in an early-stage restructuring effort, undertaken to keep its size and scope tightly managed. The effort drives continual growth while coaching and mentoring its global staff at the highest possible level.

Transparency Through Technology

Rather than selling logistics, Crane Worldwide brings its technological prowess to the forefront.

“We wanted to provide a client experience that would drive our clients’ business, giving them visibility and easability: a tool that was unlike any other in the business,” Keuten shared.

To reach that goal, the firm hired an expert in client experience from the gaming industry—Brad Logston, today the Director of Product Development at Crane Worldwide—and Adel Chaveleh—CIO—who shepherded the development of the company’s C View 2.0 (CV2) client interface platform.

That out-of-the-box approach delivers customized support to Crane Worldwide’s global clients in real time.

“CV2 gives them the ability to build their business based on exception and predictability in the supply chain,” he added.

The multiplatform tool enables clients to manage their global supply chains from their smart phones, tablets, or desktops.

All of Crane Worldwide’s 115 offices in 25 countries operate on the same platform.

“There are no limitations on connectivity and EDI functionality with our clients,” he noted.

A new purchase order management app, Crane Pinpoint, lets clients see their purchase orders and those of their suppliers from the moment the order is placed.

“Pinpoint allows us to increase the ability to drive efficiency and cost through global consolidation and visibility,” Keuten added.

Cemented and Invested

Unlike most logistics experts, Crane Worldwide positions their freight movement secondarily to their technology and custom-tailored account management solutions.

“Our clients know we are cemented and invested in their businesses. We support their ability to scale their business in the major markets and look at ways to optimize and really drive efficiencies through mass distribution networks,” he said.

Crane Worldwide has a number of expansion projects underway, including a strategic investment in Savannah, GA, the third largest port in the US.

“We’ve got a great relationship with the port that has allowed us to focus on growing our footprint there, and also to steer our clients into certain geographic areas to make their business and distribution networks most efficient and economical.

“Our clients and people drive the strategic decisions we make to invest and focus our resources,” he continued. “We won’t stop investing in infrastructure, people and technology, and we’re going to continue to evolve and provide services that add value way beyond the movement and transportation of their goods.”