Introduction
Phalanx Logistics Solutions — founded in 2005 and based in Lakewood, Ohio—is the 3PL of choice for hundreds of shippers across the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Phalanx leverages an extensive network of transportation solutions to ensure successful execution, provide solutions, and mitigate issues faced by every sector of transportation—simultaneously securing the lowest-cost options without sacrificing service.
Until 2023, Phalanx used classic brokerage freight tracking methods—check calls, spreadsheets, email, ELD and cell phone data—to monitor customer shipments. But this approach became unsustainable when a high-value load of electronics from a large international manufacturer went missing 24 hours after being loaded onto a truck.
In addition to tracking down the shipment—which Phalanx eventually did using some old-fashioned sleuthing techniques—Phalanx needed to be able to go to their customer and say, “This will never happen again.” Enter Tive.
Perceived Visibility vs. Actual Visibility
As all freight brokers and shippers know, there are innumerable things that can go wrong during the shipping process: temperature excursions, transloading, shock events, and ever-expanding methods of cargo theft. Even before the truckload of valuable electronics was recovered, Phalanx’s GM, Dylan Morris, was on the phone with Tive.
Said Morris, “There is a huge gap in visibility that happens during a shipment—especially in a theft situation. Or perhaps your shipment is involved in a double broker scenario, drivers switch trucks, someone is using a stolen MC number and more. There are myriad bad things that can happen during shipping—and legacy tracking activities simply don’t work.”
Phalanx chose Tive after another Tive customer recommended them to Morris. “Tive checks all the boxes from a visibility standpoint. GPS, cellular, WiFi—being able to check those boxes was critical in the event that there was some sort of break in driver communication,” he said.
Customer Confidence = Customer Loyalty
Unfortunately, there are many ways to fool a broker into thinking you’re a legitimate carrier. Brokers conduct many check-ins to qualify and onboard carriers, but every once in a while, these methods fall short. Everyone in the industry has been faced with this problem at some point. Phalanx wanted to be able to ensure to all customers—present and future—that they were a reliable broker who goes above and beyond to service their customers, and to ensure that all shipments arrive safely and on time.
This desire led them straight to Tive. “Every broker is dealing with the same problems. It’s just how much they want to admit it,” says Morris. Phalanx now uses Tive as a differentiator, which puts them in a different bucket with customers.
Tive provides Phalanx with a tremendous value add, especially for their high-value customers with easily stolen commodities. “We use Tive to make them feel comfortable about eliminating some of that risk,” says Morris.
Stop Tolerating Theft as a “Cost of Doing Business”
Without using a real-time shipment tracking solution, brokers and shippers never know what’s happened to their cargo until it’s too late—and it’s on the broker to keep the carrier accountable throughout the process. But product loss doesn’t have to exist when you’re armed with a solution like Tive.
Says Morris, “True visibility is by far one of the biggest advantages of using Tive—true real-time visibility, like actual real-time visibility. Tive doesn’t just say they give true real-time visibility—they really provide it.”
Pitching that to Phalanx customers—and feeling confident about it—gives Phalanx tremendous peace of mind. They take pride in saying to their customers, “Hey, if you want real-time visibility, I can give that to you. And this is how I will do it—with Tive.”
Visibility Technology to the Rescue
Being notified in real time when things go wrong enables companies to act: to save shipments, prevent product loss, and minimize damage. Tive users are able to easily set up configurable alerts in the cloud platform, and then they receive notifications when shipments go outside stated parameters. “Recently, on a Friday night. I got a light alert in my email—and we were able to figure out that the driver was transloading one of our shipments. So yeah, Tive alerts are awesome,” says Morris.
Morris continued, “The overall technology is amazing. I knew tech like this was out there. But I didn't realize visibility tech went to this high a level—or to this level of detail. We can see shipments moving throughout a warehouse—from one side of the building to the other. It’s amazing! It blew my mind that that kind of visibility exists. Tive is probably one of the best solutions out there. I don’t know how you’d get any better.”
Minimizing Organizational Risk
The amount of money that brokers and their customers spend on insurance is astronomical. But what if companies didn’t have to spend that money?
Says Morris, “How do you eliminate the risk of your product getting stolen?” They have had several customers shipping $300,000 worth of electronics, they don’t have insurance, and they’ve been shipping them that way for years.
If a $300,000 shipment goes missing, what risk does that pose for an organization? Phalanx uses that example to demonstrate how they close that gap by using Tive. “I show them the deep level of shipment visibility that Tive provides,” says Morris. “It’s not a sure shot, but it’s a hell of a lot better than hoping and praying.”
Track Assets. Not Drivers.
As theft and fraud continue to hit the supply chain industry in waves, brokers are desperately seeking solutions. According to Morris, “It’s the worst it’s been since I started doing this—and the only true way you’re going to be able to protect yourself is by actually tracking pallets. There is no other way. As freight brokers, we’re dying for somebody to help us with the issues we face every day—and real-time visibility is Tive’s calling card.”
Phalanx rests easy knowing that they hold the keys—every time they add a Tive tracker to a shipment. “The visibility that you get from other providers is not that great—so kudos to Tive. If I could put Tive on every customer shipment, I would,” says Morris. He encourages all 3PLs to sell Tive trackers as a value-add to their customers. “We’re all moving products that are expensive and sensitive and delicate. And you need to be safe while doing this. It is totally worth spending the extra bit of money to protect a $300,000 shipment.”
Get in touch with Phalanx Logistics at dylan@phalanxlogistics.com.
