What can you say about an organization that revolutionized the transportation practices of a company that did $47.3 billion in sales in 2004? You can say that it clearly deserved to win the 2005 NASSTRAC/Logistics Management Shipper of the Year Award.

The Shipper of the Year Award is presented annually to a member of NASSTRAC, an organization for less-than-truckload (LTL) and parcel shippers, for outstanding achievement in transportation and distribution. This year's winner is the Global Transportation Organization (GTO) of Johnson & Johnson Sales and Logistics Company, a Division of Johnson & Johnson Consumer Companies Inc. The 2005 award was presented to members of the GTO team on September 26 at NASSTRAC's Fall Conference in Baltimore, Md.

The GTO's accomplishments are so numerous that it's hard to do them justice in just a few pages. But one achievement in particular stands out as being both unusual and unusually effective: The organization has realized much of its success by making staff development a top priority, and it's a strategy that's paying off in millions of dollars in cost improvements.

Formed in July of 2000, the Global Transportation Organization is the product of a corporate initiative to consolidate transportation management and leverage transportation spending across Johnson & Johnson's three key business sectors: Consumer Products, Medical Devices & Diagnostics, and Pharmaceutical Products, explains George Harry, director, global transportation for the GTO.

As part of that initiative, the GTO was tasked with the mission of becoming the provider of choice for Johnson & Johnson companies. Harry came on board as the GTO's first director, and over the past five years, the group has established itself as a one-stop transportation shop.

Among the GTO's many offerings are supplier sourcing and performance management, export services, hazardous materials and customs-compliance services, freight payment, claims management, and software support. "The GTO is changing the way people view and utilize transportation at Johnson & Johnson," says Harry.

Since its launch, the team has realized such improvements as a 20-percent reduction in one business unit's cost per case shipped; developed near real-time shipment-status reporting; launched certification training for the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT); introduced a scorecard for carrier-performance management; and consolidated LTL rate bases into one standard, to name just a few of its accomplishments.

Even more remarkable is the fact that the GTO has achieved these feats and more with a largely homegrown staff whose transportation experience ranges from as little as one month to nearly four decades.

Today, some of Johnson & Johnson's operating companies maintain transportation "mini-departments." Those organizations have a lot of leeway when it comes to choosing who will provide their transportation support. "Johnson & Johnson companies actually choose how they manage transportation; they're not told how to manage it," Harry explains. "They can do it themselves, they can use the GTO, or they can choose outside providers."

This competition for internal business keeps the 38-member GTO on its toes. It's up to the team to deliver measurable business results, meet high customer service standards, develop new services, and market the benefits to Johnson & Johnson's 200 operating companies. "I'm taking the approach that we need to earn every day the business that we have," says Harry. "We haven't grown by forcing companies to use us. We've grown by having a value proposition and a reputation that facilitates growth."

The strength of that value proposition and reputation depends on a team that's watching for opportunities to match its multifaceted capabilities with specific needs throughout the company. It's Harry's contention, though, that the single most important success factor is the ongoing development of the GTO's diverse team—a group of evangelists who preach the benefits of productivity gains through smart transportation management. Continued...

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