Fleet Management News & Business Info | Commercial Carrier Journal
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32 COMMERCIAL CARRIER JOURNAL | JULY 2016 T o support his large family during the Great Depres- sion, W.W. Estes of Chase, Va., began hauling farm supplies in 1931 with a used Chevy truck. His trucking business supple- mented his farming income, and in 1938, he opened the fi rst two branches of his fl edgling business, Estes Express Lines, in Richmond and Norfolk, Va. He went to the bank to get a loan to buy more trucks. As the story goes, the banker told Estes he could get the loan – but on the condition he discontinue either farming or trucking. "You can't do both," the banker said. Faced with a weighty decision, Estes pulled a coin from his pocket. If the toss showed heads, he would be a trucker; tails, a farmer. As fate would have it, the toss was heads. Today, Estes Express (CCJ Top 250, No. 14) is the largest privately- held less-than-truckload carrier in the United States, with 7,700 drivers and 2015 revenues of $2.3 billion. technology A grandson of W.W. Estes, Billy Hupp, shared this story during his keynote ad- dress at last month's ALK Transportation Technology Summit in Philadelphia. As chief operating offi cer and executive vice president of the family-owned business, Hupp also has been involved in a lot of weighty decisions at Estes. LTL service continues to be the "mothership," he said, but the company is seeing a lot of growth from specialized services that include time-critical shipments, out-of- town residential moves, dedicated hauling and freight forwarding. Later this year, it plans to add a new technology-based fi nal-mile product called Estes Final Mile (EFM) to take advantage of e-commerce opportunities. On the equipment side, Hupp discussed innovations that have improved the service capabilities and effi ciency of his fl eet. Its forklifts are mobile workstations with mobile displays, shrink-wrap equipment, an air hose to feed compressed air to airbags used to secure freight, and other items that "keep guys more effective and effi cient, and not wandering the dock looking for tools," he said. Hupp said that tracking more than 130,000 shipments that pass through Estes' 215 facilities every day is an ongoing commitment. Freight costing is another chal- lenge, with the number of freight profi les continuing to grow. Estes uses freight dimensioners — machines that scan freight to capture volume (cube) and density. Together with weight scales installed on forklifts, information is fed to software that identifi es any differences from the order to adjust the freight bill if necessary. Estes now is rolling out another scanning system at its cross-docks to capture freight automatically as it enters and leaves trailers. This new system helps elimi- nate missed loads due to misplaced paper documents. "We want to become a paperless freight fl ow company," Hupp said. "This is a real game changer for us." Hupp previewed other technologies at Estes, such as the pickup-and-delivery app the company designed and PeopleNet built for increased shipment visibility, driver communications and optimized routing. BACKING THE 'MOTHERSHIP': Estes Express Lines is seeing a lot of growth from specialized services. UPDATED EQUIPMENT: Innova- tions have improved the company's service capabilities and e ciency. FLEET 'WHIZ KIDS': The in-house incubator team is focused mostly on the e-commerce revolution. From coin toss to e-commerce Estes talks evolution at ALK Summit "We want to become a paperless freight flow company." – Billy Hupp, COO and executive VP, Estes Express Lines Billy Hupp, COO and executive vice president of Estes Express Lines, presents his keynote address at last month'sALK Transporta- tion Technol- ogy Summit in Philadelphia.