Blog - Great Western Transporation

Expanded Heavy Haul Services

Great Western Transportation has expanded their Heavy Haul Trucking services to help cover the increasing demand to move large shipments. Heavy Haul Trucking serves the needs of customers looking to ship specialized loads that are large in dimensions, heavy in weight, or both. The most common types of heavy haul shipments are construction equipment like excavators or dump trucks but isn’t limited to just those.

Specialized heavy hauling shipments are just that, “specialized.” It takes a certain type of company to handle oversized shipments. Great Western handles the shipments many other companies will not. No matter the size or weight Great Western has the experience and knowledge of specialized transportation needed to offer a transport solution for your oversized shipment.

As a reminder, Great Western Transportation still and will always handle LTL and Truckload shipping of Refrigerated, Dry Van, and Flatbed freight in addition to our Power-Only services. If you have any questions about our expanded Heavy Haul Trucking or other services, please don’t hesitate to contact us.

August 31, 2011 | Tags: announcement, dump trucks, excavators, specialized shipments | Category: Heavy Haul

Green Supply Chain

Great Western Transportation Team We at Great Western Transportation would like to share with you a news article on the Logistics View website about the Greenpeace organization finding that a common textile supplier of Adidas, Nike, Abercrombie & Fitch, Calvin Klein, Converse, H&M, Lacoste, and Puma has been found to be dumping toxic waste into local rivers in China. The Greenpeace organization has been pressuring these companies to stop using the supplier. It’s a very common type of story in regards to getting the bigger companies who are more susceptible to negative press to pressure their suppliers to become green and environmentally responsible.

We handle the transportation needs of customers who are in some way attached to a supplier either because they are a supplier to another company or they have a lot of suppliers to themselves. Suppliers frequently end up moving overseas to cut costs in labor and to avoid having to follow regulations that are set by the US government to prevent waste dumping like in the article. The debate that rises is if the government should reduce environmental regulations to keep businesses in the US or to increase them in favor of the environment.

We at Great Western Transportation like to keep you up to date on any interesting news and events in hopes you keep us in mind for any future shipments. If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to call us at 1-800-972-8484.

July 20, 2011 | Tags: green environment, news, supply chain | Category: General

California Refrigerated Truck Shortage

I wanted to let people know that we are experiencing the worst Refrigerated Truck shortage in California in many years and it has caused a significant increase in rates for truckload shipments. The reasons for this are multiple but the most significant are that the surge of seasonal freight along with a believed recovery of the economy has created more freight than there are trucks.

The unbalanced freight and truck ratio mixed with California passing clean air regulations requiring older refrigerated trucks to be refitted to pass inspections has put a major burden on truckers that many can’t afford. This has pushed a large amount of truckers to sell and salvage their trucks or simply refuse to come to California. There are trucks available but their cost is at a much higher premium than many are used to and it has put a strain on everyone in the industry. This surge in rates seems to be affecting truckload shipments primarily, with LTL remaining balanced.

Great Western Transportation is providing this information because we want people to know why shipments coming out of California have seen an increase in their rates. If you have any questions please do not hesitate to call us at 1-800-972-8484.

June 23, 2011 | Tags: california, reefer, truck capacity, truck shortage, truckload | Category: General

Downfall of Work Ethic

With the down turn of the economy there has been a surplus of available employees but there is a common theme, and that is the lack of work ethic. It’s common to hear employers complain about how hard it is to find good help and not much has changed even with the extra supply of people looking for jobs. Specifically in the transportation industry it has been very hard to find people who have experience in the field but also come in with the drive to help build the business.

Most people who come to work do so for the sole purpose of the paycheck and don’t love what they do though I believe people should enjoy what they do and get paid as a bonus. It can be hard to find intriguing jobs in this day and age when most work is done at a desk but I think everyone can find something to enjoy in their work even when at first it may be hard to get into.

At Great Western Transportation we are always striving to find the best employees who have the drive to reach the high expectations that our customers expect.

June 9, 2011 | Tags: work ethic | Category: General

Doubts in the “Just in Time” System

In college I learned about the Just-in-Time supply chain model in regards to Toyota and how it was far superior to the massive build up of inventory that was standard in the early days of Ford. After the crisis in Japan earlier this year I was going to make a blog post about how when a chain is so efficient to the point that there is no inventory buildup and then a natural disaster hits your operations immediately stop. I held off on making a post about it because I felt that it might have been out of the scope of this blog but with the recent tornado in Missouri in addition to someone making a similar argument in Transport Topics, I decided to briefly bring up the issue.

In Transport Topics May 23, 2011 issue there is an editorial “Rethink the ‘Just-in-Time’ Delivery System” by Julian Keeling which talks about the same idea but he noted a system I never heard of called “Just-in-Case” (JIC). JIC is basically the idea of consolidating shipments and doing them in advance to avoid the potential immediate stop in productions in case of any unexpected delays but it requires inventory to be built up which goes against the idea behind JIT system. The benefits of JIC are that it puts less strain on the supply chain because they will have more room to deal with problems as they come.

At Great Western Transportation we always recommend shipping important loads out a few days early to compensate for any unforeseen circumstances so that productions will not be held up. Please visit our Truckload Trucking and LTL Trucking pages to learn about the options available to you when deciding to ship your product. If you have any questions please do not hesitate to call us at 1-800-972-8484.

May 26, 2011 | Tags: just in time | Category: General

TractorHouse.com and Machinery Trader Shipments

TractorHouse.com and Machinery Trader are popular websites where people can buy and sell farm or construction equipment from other people. The problem with buying any heavy machinery is that you have to move it once you buy it and often encourages people to buy locally even though there may be better deals in other locations. A solution is to use a flatbed carrier like Great Western Transportation to move your equipment or machinery from the seller’s location to the location you want.

Flatbed Trucks are popular for farm and construction equipment because they can be loaded and unloaded quickly without a dock. Great Western Transportation’s Flatbed Trucking service has all types of flatbed trailers to fit the needs of your Tractorhouse.com and Machinery Trader shipments so feel free to call us or visit our flatbed trucking page and click on the quote button.

May 19, 2011 | Tags: construction equipment, farm equipment, machinery trader, tractorhouse | Category: Flatbed

Trucking Companies Create Backlog of New Truck Orders

In the May 2, 2011 issue of Transport Topics newspaper there is an interesting article “Truck Order Backlog Grows; OEMs Impose New Surcharges” by Frederick Kiel and it talks about how there is the largest backlog of orders for new trucks since 2006. This article is interesting because it further demonstrates the truth in Great Western Transportation’s blog post about “Tightening Truck Capacity” and how the demand for shipments is outstripping the supply of available trucks from Trucking Companies to do them.

Automotive manufacturers although glad to see an upsurge in orders are hesitant to ramp up productions as they are unsure if the demand will continue in the long run. The last thing they want to do is increase productions and hire new employees only to have to downsize and let them go soon after. What can be learned from the article is that the economy is improving but there will still be a truck shortage from Trucking Companies for a long time, which will require more strategic planning when deciding to move products.

Great Western Transportation knows the issues in the industry and has the experience to help you understand them and work around them so you can move your product the right way by using us as your Premier Trucking Company.

May 17, 2011 | Tags: truck capacity, truck order backlog | Category: General

Heavy Haul Trucking Service

At Great Western Transportation we understand how important your machinery is and how if they are damaged in transit or late you may have to stop production. Our Heavy Haul Trucking team makes it a priority to understand your needs and do our best to accommodate them whether it is using tarps to protect from the weather, using special securing measures, or acquiring the correct permits to make sure your machinery is safe during the whole trip.

Great Western Transportation’s Heavy Haul Trucking team knows that the best way to protect your machinery is to understand what it is you are shipping by getting the weight, dimensions, and type of product so we can best fit it to the right heavy haul trucking equipment. Knowing all the details about your machinery including when you need it allows us to make sure that we can ship it safely and timely with the necessary items in place so you can rest assured that your machinery will be delivered to your expectations.

The Heavy Haul Trucking team at Great Western Transportation is always available to answer any questions you have so feel free to call us at 1-800-972-8484 or request a rate quote.

May 10, 2011 | | Category: Heavy Haul