From its inception, Atlas Logistics® hasn’t moved anywhere but up. That is unless you count east, west, north, and south as they transport goods across the nation. Today, the company has curated a robust list of core competencies that provide less-than-truckload transportation, truckload transportation, third-party brokerage, final-mile services, home delivery, and more through the Agent network.
More recently, Atlas Logistics has continued to expand their service line offerings through strategic mergers and acquisitions like TopHAT Logistical Solutions™, or their newest addition, Progressive Transportation, Inc., based in Wausau, Wisconsin. Like TopHAT President and General Manager Steve Trensch, Progressive General Manager Craig Olsen was seeking ways to take an already successful business to the next level.
And as anyone in the industry knows, joining Atlas® is the best route to get there. “I started Progressive 28 years ago,” says Olsen, “and we wanted to be a specialized third-party carrier and not just exist in the general freight market. When we found out Atlas was interested in acquiring us, we were excited because Atlas has been a client of ours for 20 years, so it really was a continuation of what we were already doing. It was almost like a marriage arrangement that was meant to be.”
Olsen says there has been a bit of a learning curve as they adapt to the Atlas way, but notes that the transition has been smooth, and that Progressive has been embraced by both the Agent family and teams in Evansville. “We are now part of a much bigger organization and that excites me because it is opening up much more opportunity for us to capture business that we would not have been able to before,” says Olsen.
With new acquisitions and expansion of services come the need to rethink how you present yourself to customers and clients. So last year, Atlas Logistics President and COO Phil Wahl and Senior Vice President Matt VanderLinde determined that a brand refresh was needed to streamline messaging.
“We felt it necessary to clean up our overall identity as a brokerage company,” says VanderLinde. “Phil and I landed on calling the brokerage company Atlas Logistics 3PL Services to give it a better message for the marketplace and our Agents as we continue to integrate new companies or subsidiaries like Titan Global Transportation™ into our portfolio. We are still tightening that up, but it is heading in the right direction to help us grow.”
For Agent growth, Trensch is hopeful more Agents in the network will diversify their services with logistics. “There is nothing but opportunity for our Agents,” says Trensch. “We have four major retailers looking for warehouse space right now. If you are an Agent who has the space, why not add logistics to your business? Final-mile delivery may not seem alluring, but if you can get two or three years of warehouse space signed and ready to go, that can be attractive to your revenues.”
Growth is something Wahl always has on his mind, too. “In our Agent sales meetings, I always say that every day they get in their car, they are driving by business opportunities,” says Wahl. “Every company you see has something they need to move, and we can be that service provider. They just need to keep their eyes open, foster that customer relationship, then bring us that opportunity. We will even do most of the legwork, so it is essentially like clipping a coupon for your business.”
Ultimately, Wahl and VanderLinde hope to see logistics grow as big as the household goods side of Atlas® World Group (AWG). Both say they would be surprised if they do not double top-line revenues in the next 10 years to lessen that gap, noting that it will only strengthen AWG overall.
“It’s going to be a continued evolution of what we have done in the past few years to maximize what we do and refine our core competencies,” says VanderLinde. “We want to make sure we are providing as many solutions in the supply chain as possible and continue to focus on technology to enhance that. That is our primary focus right now and will position us best for a better future.”
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