Greatwide Logistics makes personnel changes

Greatwide Logistics makes personnel changes    Greatwide Logistics Services in September released five employees in its sales, marketing and capacity management departments, chief marketing officer Richard M. Metzler said in an e-mail.
   The layoffs are relatively minor by general corporate standards, but come at a time when freight business for many motor carriers is on the mend from previous years and during a year when Greatwide placed great emphasis on rebranding and marketing itself to shippers through new channels.
   The Dallas-based company restructured its operations in 2009 and this year mounted a new advertising campaign to promote its new capabilities and target mid-size shippers as customers.
   The personnel changes indicate a move away from strategic activities to more tactical ones.

Metzler

   Metzler characterized the headcount reduction as a logical step now that the marketing plan and outside public relations agencies are in place, and the company transitions to converting potential sales prospects into customers.
   'We are now redirecting our focus to monetizing the pipeline faster by shifting our investments in growth from one area of the company to others,' he told AmericanShipper.com.
   Metzler confirmed that Paul Silverlieb, director of marketing, was terminated and a receptionist stated that Rob Newell, vice president of capacity management, no longer worked for the company.
   Marketing, public relations and advertising will continue under Metzler's direction with adequate internal and external resources, he said.
   He pointed to the hiring in August of Tyler Ellison as group president, transportation management and corporate sales, as a key step in closing deals and making new investments in the truck brokerage and sales departments.
   The company also has a new plan in place to attract and retain owner-operators, who make up three quarters of the company's driving force.
   In an interview, Metzler acknowledged that a desire to cut costs played a factor in the decision.
   Greatwide is a major provider of dedicated refrigerated trucking service. It also provides warehousing, truckload brokerage and freight management services. The company is owned by two investment funds that bought the company in 2008 through a bankruptcy process. ' Eric Kulisch