Freight Handlers Turns 20

Fuquay Varina, NC - July 12, 2011
Freight Handlers, Inc. (FHI), one of the country’s leading providers of product handling and logistics services, today celebrated its 20th year in business. The company, which was founded by J.B. and Chuck Wall in 1991, is commemorating the anniversary with a series of events and activities during the next 12 months.

The FHI story starts years before the actual launch date in 1991. In the early1980’s, the Carter administration started deregulating trucking, changing the structure of the retail supply chain. Prior to deregulation, most truckers were unionized and drivers did their own unloading as a part of the service provided to the shipper. After deregulation, competition from less expensive non-union carriers eliminated the majority of the union carriers, resulting in the growth of independent unloading laborers known as lumpers.

"When it started, FHI was a very hands-on manual operation; we were literally competing for business alongside the independent lumpers. Our guts, especially J.B.’s, along with our honesty, kept us going as we were soon perceived as the good guys in the Wild West that was the world of grocery product receiving in the early 1990's," said Chuck Wall, CEO & Co-Chairman.

The Walls established a set of principles to run the business and address issues facing the grocery shipping and receiving industry, starting with creating a professional look and process for front line unloading operations. They also committed to thoroughly training all FHI associates and developing leaders from within the company to create opportunity and ensure those professional standards are maintained.

“A key issue facing the company during the early years included moving from unloading manually to using powered equipment and earning the confidence and trust of both shippers and receivers. A second issue, which was especially challenging, was the perception that we were just lumpers and were at the lowest rung of the industry food chain,” said J.B. Wall, Co-Chairwoman.

During the past 20 years, FHI has expanded beyond unloading services to offer retailers, wholesalers and manufacturers innovative in-store solutions and logistics services. Ryan Wall, who was named President & COO last year, has moved to deploy new technology and continue to focus on developing the associates with the objective of being the provider of choice and the employer of choice.

“Many of the projects coming to fruition now were born out of the need to differentiate FHI in the marketplace. We are very focused on listening to our customers so we can understand new ways to serve them throughout the supply chain and are expanding into other channels with manufacturers and retailers,” said Ryan Wall.

Rick Keyes, Executive Vice President of Supply Chain & Manufacturing at leading supercenter retailer Meijer of Grand Rapids, MI, said: “FHI is a long-time partner of Meijer and we’ve always enjoyed great service from FHI and their team. We wish them the best on their 20th anniversary.”

Mayor John Byrne of Fuquay-Varina said: “We are proud to have Freight Handlers call Fuquay-Varina home and congratulate them on 20 years of business. They have been terrific corporate citizens. We wish the FHI team well for the next 20 years and beyond.”

Freight Handlers, Inc, based in Fuquay-Varina, NC, is a leading distribution services provider for retailers, distributors, manufacturers and carriers. FHI’s core services are Unloading, Order Selection, Yard Management, Logistics and Retail merchandising/shelf stocking services for both DSD and distributed products. Established in 1991, Freight Handlers operates within 58 facilities, maintaining a service relationship with more than 400 vendors and carriers. Our vision to provide the best value in product handling services through innovation, information and execution has fueled consistent business growth. The company has been recognized as one of the “Top 50” leading privately held companies in North Carolina nine times since 1996. More information is available at www.freighthandlers.com.