CONNECTION(S)
management company and a well-recog- nized logistics leader in Georgia. “We have been developing a digital footprint that places us in a strategic posi- tion to rapidly handle these challenges,” Steve Syfan says. “Leveraging relation- ships with technology partners inside and outside the logistics space allows Syfan to think outside the box and provide cre- ative solutions to industry issues.” Syfan believes Georgia’s technology infrastructure is one of the most redun- dant and robust of any state. The Atlanta region, he points out, is the hub for sev- eral large carriers and service providers. “The state has always placed an importance on economic development, which attracts businesses to the state and creates an environment for existing busi- nesses to grow,” Syfan says, adding that Syfan Logistics distinguishes itself as a particular Georgia logistics asset in part through the broad reach of its offerings. CULTIVATING SOLUTIONS “Syfan is diversi ed with a network of services to provide much more exibil- ity in addressing virtually any need of a shipping customer—from third-party bro- kerage representing thousands of carrier partners to its own eet of trucks for dedi- cated loads or lling in gaps,” he says. “Syfan also has a sister company that provides terminal tractors and trailers for eet leasing or new sales to warehousing and distribution customers,” Syfan adds. He says Syfan Logistics embraces technology “not as the driving force of logistics, but as a tool to extend the services offered to partners, and act as an advocate for the industry’s digi- tal transformation.” Like all businesses, logistics has been impacted by nationwide employ- ment challenges. One way Syfan copes with the challenge of nding suf cient quali ed workers is to tap into the state’s rich logistics education assets. “To meet our region’s need for a professional logistics workforce, our company is proud to partner with the University of North Georgia in nearby Dahlonega to create the area’s rst sup- ply chain academic curriculum and
JIT Warehousing & Logistics, a Georgia family business, provides warehousing, trucking, shipside delivery, port pickup, container drayage, stripping, stuffing, cross-docking, and over dimensional/crane services, offering specialized trailers for heavy haul.
JIT—which stands for Just In Time— provides warehousing, trucking, shipside delivery, port pickup, container drayage, stripping, stuf ng, cross-docking, and over dimensional/crane services. The company’s over-dimensional division includes local road escort, rigging, cargo transfer on and off at racks, securement to line requirements, and additional spe- cialized trailers for heavy haul. In response to increasing demand, JIT is now expanding both its vehicle eet and its facilities. “We are expanding our over dimensional department,” reports Ben Goldberg, company president. “We’ve added a new heavy-haul truck and three heavy-haul trailers. We’ve also opened a second yard to service import and export over dimensional loads.” Goldberg says JIT is putting a crane at its second Savannah heavy lift facil- ity, enabling the project cargo division to handle heavier lifts at both yards. Trevor Lockwood, JIT’s vice president, project cargo, says the new equipment will enable JIT to signi cantly increase its capacity to assist importers and export- ers with their project cargo needs. Additionally, the company is break- ing ground on a new 226,000-square-foot rail facility to service cargo to and from Norfolk Southern. JIT operates facili- ties on the Norfolk Southern rail line, in addition to several other Savannah loca- tions, offering more than 750,000 square feet of warehouse space. The eet and warehousing footprint
expansions coincide with the GPA’s port expansions. “We’re excited about bring- ing online our new warehouse with Norfolk Southern rail line,” says Evelyn Goldberg-Davis, JIT’s executive vice president. The company is working with Norfolk Southern to transload more boxcars to ocean containers and ocean containers to boxcars. “With additional trucks and compa- ny-owned chassis, our container volumes continue to increase,” notes Anna Lockwood, vice president. The company’s driver dispatch soft- ware links with the port authority system for continual container updates. “Due to our variety and capabilities, we are a rst call for problem solving for many of the lines and entities that work alongside the GPA,” she says. For company founder and patriarch Ben Goldberg, it all adds up to main- taining the company’s place as a star on Georgia’s logistics crown. “I’m very proud of our family’s roots in Georgia,” he says. “And you can be sure we will continue to study our assets to stay ahead of the curve.” ANTICIPATING NEEDS The exchange of data between var- ious heterogeneous systems is a major challenge for logistics, says Steve Syfan, executive vice president of Syfan Logistics. Located some 50 miles north- east of Atlanta in Gainesville, Syfan is a full-scale, asset-based logistics
70 Inbound Logistics • March 2022
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