Meet Tom Boersman
Tom has worked in the logistics and supply chain industry for 45 years, which he breaks out as roughly 30 years in a 3PL and 15 years in a small manufacturing environment, predominantly on the operations and sales and marketing sides of the business.
3PLs -- That Was Then, This Is Now
Tom Boersman has worked in the supply chain and logistics industry for 45 years, and has watched the third-party logistics (3PL) industry evolve from predominantly family-owned operations into regional 3PL services that were attractive to foreign logistics companies and investors, and that is when the industry exploded. There was a time, Tom said, when there was one major player in a given city, today there are as many as 100 to 150 different 3PLs in a major metropolitan area.
What Happens When Manufacturers Bypass 3PLs?
The recession caused many manufacturers to their pull inventories back to the source plant -- minimizing the throughput, if not totally eliminating the need for a regional 3PL warehouse or 3PL truck line. To be clear, Tom Boersman said he is strictly talking about the 3PL warehouse and trucking industry -- both asset-based or non-asset-based. In other words, warehouse and truck lines that are used by manufacturers to distribute their goods, regionally, on a timely basis.
