With Help from Technology, Freight Hub Group Streamlines Offerings
Like many parts of the economy, the field of third-party logistics has undergone significant changes in recent history. One of the key drivers of these changes has been technology and the ways in which it can allow customers unprecedented access to information and customization. To explain the impact this is having in greater detail, we turned to the case of Freight Hub Group. Founded by CEO Luis Lopez, the South Florida company is a great example of how the industry’s leaders are changing the scope of how we ship and store goods locally and nationwide.
About the founder
To better understand Freight Hub Group as a company, it is first useful to understand the story of Luis Lopez, the mind behind its operations. The CEO was first introduced to the logistics industry through an unlikely avenue — his passion for golf. While playing the sport in high school, he crossed paths with some of the notable people operating in Miami’s logistics industry at that time. From those contacts, he landed a job in the field and promptly began a self-motivated education that introduced him to some of the fundamental concepts of the work.
That education touched on a range of items, such as storage techniques and shipment requirements, however, one of the main areas that caught the eye of the future entrepreneur was the way in which the shipment of hazardous materials was handled. Even at that early age, he recognized that there was an opportunity to be found in making this process work better for customers. Years later, when he went into business for himself, the first company he founded focused on making the shipment and storage of hazardous materials more accessible to customers. One of the ways in which he accomplished this was to offer same-day pick-up, bringing a flexibility to his work that remains a calling card of his businesses to this day.
Company principles
That spirit of customer-centric service eventually led the entrepreneur to found Freight Hub Group. The company was conceived of to offer a full range of third-party logistics services to customers around the Miami area. This not only includes previous focuses like the pick-up, storage, and delivery of hazardous materials but also works to provide advanced shipping and storage solutions for a range of goods.
This breadth of service offerings is largely accomplished through the large-scale adoption of technologies designed to improve business effectiveness and empower customers in a variety of fashions. When it comes to storage, this use of technology manifests through fully-equipped storage yards that can accommodate a wide range of goods for varying lengths of time. State-of-the-art tools are available for oversized loads in order to improve the company’s ability to handle shipments of unique weights and sizes. A full contingent of security equipment operates 24/7 to protect goods and provide customers with peace of mind. Together with extensive indoor and outdoor space, these pieces of technology offer a complete suite of storage options for customers of many different needs.
TruckHub Service
One of the standout pieces of technology that has helped Freight Hub Group define itself as a notable company in its field is its proprietary logistics management platform. This software was created under the direction of Luis Lopez after testing out existing products to see what he could use to improve his customers’ experiences. Though he tested plenty of applications during that search, he was unable to find one that met the long line of features he wanted to provide to his customers. Rather than settle for less, he decided to create his own software.
That software would eventually develop into what is now known as TruckHub and has become a cornerstone for the company’s shipping operations. The all-in-one transportation management system allows dispatchers, shippers, and drivers to seamlessly connect and provides customers with up-to-date information on the status of their deliveries. The easy to use platform features GPS live tracking, user-friendly dashboards, on-board communication, access to analytics, and more. The flexibility offered by the platform speaks to the very core of the company’s goals, which has long-pursued the ability to offer its services to customers on-demand to better meet their changing needs.
Subdivisions
To help organize the company’s vast array of services, it has subdivided its operations into four main components — Dray Hub, WHSE Hub, FTL Hub, and LTL Hub. Together, these subdivisions allow the company to better concentrate its resources on the specific needs of individual customers, while still offering a range of flexible options under one umbrella. This approach again uses the power of technology, via web-based individualized quotes, to provide customers with the ability to best meet their own needs.
The company’s storage subdivisions focus on drayage and warehousing to ensure that goods are properly cared for. Based near both the Port of Miami and Port Everglades, the company offers easy and flexible options to accommodate a large number of drayage needs. Warehousing options provide short-term and long-term solutions that can also accommodate goods requiring special attention such as liquor, pharmaceuticals, and hazardous materials. Delivery options are similarly diverse and include a wide range of trailer sizes to provide the most efficient deliveries possible. Refrigerated trailers and specially licensed drivers again allow the company to accommodate a variety of goods including perishables, liquor, and certain chemicals.
While the logistics industry has long been a necessary fixture of the world’s economy, it has undergone a number of significant changes in recent years to better account for the changing face of technology. These technological shifts have shown up in a variety of areas such as shipment capacity, warehouse security, and more flexible pick-up and delivery abilities. The above overview of Freight Hub Group, under the leadership of Luis Lopez, helps to show this shift in action. This is perhaps best exemplified by the ways in which the company’s TruckHub software empowers customers and connects delivery personnel to each other. To learn more about this still-changing field, look to the company for more information about its ongoing technological initiatives.