Pallet providers try to squeeze every cent possible out of their production operations. Kismet Logistics was founded to help pallet companies and their customers reap similar benefits from improved freight management.
Kismet Logistics was spun off from the Pallet Alliance, which supplies pallets, pallet management, logistics and other supply chain services.
“We’ve focused on servicing the pallet-forest products segment because, like many others in the pallet-forest products industry, we came to realize that we just weren’t doing as good a job on freight as we were on pallets and our other core business products,” said Paul Messinger, owner of Pallet Alliance and Kismet Logistics.
“In order to improve ourselves, we just had to get a lot more serious about it,” Paul continued. “We’ve come to believe that our ability to service the pallet-forest-products segment is different than the typical national freight brokerage because we know and understand the unique demands of that business — because we are in that business.”
The Pallet Alliance has been booking freight for its own operations and others in the forest products industry for about two years now. In the past six months the company spun off Kismet Logistics, a freight brokerage service dedicated to the forest products industry and its customers.
Pallet companies have historically paid a premium for freight services, mainly because of the short runs and deadlines necessary to service their customers, according to Paul. Pallet suppliers often engaged small, dedicated local trucking companies in order to provide the kind of service their customers required. However, as pallet businesses have grown beyond the typical 150 mile-area serviced by most pallet manufacturers, the rates they pay for freight service often have stayed consistent with the shorter run rate structures.
Kismet Logistics will provide pallet companies competitive freight component costs for their pallet deliveries; back-hauls and leveraged freight buys can be factored into their rate structures.
Since Kismet Logistics is owned and operated by a company that provides national pallet brokerage services, Paul was asked about competing with pallet businesses.
“That’s a very fair question,” he said, “and one that we absolutely had to address to our core customer’s satisfaction. First off, we explain to them that the Pallet Alliance works solely through national pallet programs. It does not do business with a single plant that is not part of a contracted national program. In addition, we offer to sign a non-compete agreement to make sure our customers are fully satisfied that our business with them is to provide freight and logistics services only.
Kismet Logistics will provide services for pallet and forest products businesses even for only 10% of their freight needs. With the recently spiraling fuel and transportation costs, it is finding pallet suppliers are willing to consider new options to control costs.
“The thousands of trucks in the pallet-forest products segment that are on the road each day are a vast untapped resource,” said Paul. “We’re trying to connect the dots in a way it has never been done, and it is very pallet-centric.”
For more information, call Kismet Logistics at (919) 869-1070.
