Schneider Logistics introduces Integrated Delivery Service

Schneider National subsidiary Schneider Logistics has rolled out a new service geared towards shippers with “re-occurring” less-than-truckload moves.

Entitled Integrated Delivery Services (IDS), Schneider officials said this new offering leverages various Schneider services, including supply chain technology, cross-docking, and dedicated trucking, to offer shippers a cost-effective supply chain tool.

“We saw a new opportunity to provide a service to the marketplace, which is really driven by creating a customer solution…that takes multiple customers’ shipments that had similar delivery schedules and then really provide consistent daily delivery on those routes with the IDS offering,” said Todd Jadin, vice president of IDS for Schneider Logistics, in an interview.

At its core, IDS takes multiple customer shipments in a single trailer that have consistent shipping patterns that Schneider can combine, rather than running separate trucks to facilities, it runs a single truck with multiple shipments in it.

Schneider assets comprise about 80 percent of IDS LTL moves, with the remaining 20 percent coming from partners of the Schneider Logistics network. And IDS is currently up and running in eight markets: Portland, Ore.; Sacramento, Calif.; Los Angeles, Calif.; Denver, Colo.; Houston, Texas; Lenexa, Kan.; Jackson, Miss.; Winchester, Va., and Memphis, Tenn. Markets targeted for expansion include the Midwest and Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas, said Schneider, adding that about 20 customers are currently using IDS.

Before IDS was broadly introduced to the market, Schneider conducted a three-month pilot with four shippers stretching from the end of 2010 into 2011.

“What we did in the pilot and continue to do now with IDS is to take advantage of the shipping patterns of our customers and then the locations where they exist in putting product on a single trailer for multiple customers,” said Jadin. “And as we go out and deliver that route the customers that are collectively in route were able to combine shipments in their delivery movements. It really is taking advantage of customer- and route-density to put multiple customers on a single trailer.”

Jadin said Schneider is very pleased with the receptivity of the IDS product to date. And from a differentiation standpoint when it comes to IDS, he said Schneider is looking at predictability from a delivery standpoint, which is a cost advantage for filing claims and providing better claims experience for customers in traditional LTL settings.

Another focus of IDS, he said, is expanding its presence into the Midwest and South Central regions of the U.S.