Supply Center
Supply Center
As manufacturing jobs have dried up across the Triad in recent years, local leaders have sought to capitalize on the region’s strengths to attract other kinds of employers. Transportation and logistics has emerged as a leading force in the local economy, and jobs remain available in the field despite the recession.
“We’ve seen a couple of distribution centers shut down, but every time we turn around, someone’s starting something else up,” says Kay Dobie, director of the Transportation Institute at N.C. A&T. “There are plenty of opportunities.”
The Triad already hosts distribution centers for major companies such as Sears/Kmart, Dell computers, and Procter and Gamble. The $500 million FedEx hub under construction at Piedmont Triad International Airport will really put the region on the map.
“We believe there will be 10 to 15, maybe 20,000 jobs created because of FedEx,” says Dave Hauser, director of logistics and distribution for the Piedmont Triad Partnership.
Several factors make the Triad an ideal location for a transportation center: proximity to several interstate highways and seaports, a major airport, rail lines and a central location along the East Coast.
“It’s one of these careers or clusters that the Piedmont Triad region believes can be one of our biggest economic drivers,” Hauser says.
Traditional transportation firms have long called the Triad home, including trucking companies such as Old Dominion Freight Line and Epes Logistics. More recent arrivals include M33 Integrated Solutions and New Breed Logistics, which provide logistics service, support and solutions on a national scale.
The local transportation and logistics industry hasn’t been immune to the recession, of course. The economic downturn has led to closings and layoffs, including distribution centers for Linens ’n Things and Celebrate Express.
“When you’re not moving product, you don’t need all the people to help move that product,” says Helen Cauthen, vice president of cluster development for the Greensboro Economic Development Alliance.
Despite such setbacks, the Triad continues to attract new distribution centers, she says. That includes the O’Reilly Auto Parts retail chain, which plans to open a new distribution center in Greensboro this fall. Menlo Worldwide Logistics is moving into a green-certified warehouse on Pleasant Ridge Road and will distribute
material for Diebold, an ATM manufacturer.
“We still feel like we’re extremely well-situated to attract those kinds of projects, which is good for the future,” Cauthen says.
As the field has grown, Triad universities and community colleges have created programs designed to prepare students for careers in transportation and logistics. In addition to the Transportation Institute at A&T, UNCG has a certificate program in supply chain and logistics management, and GTCC offers an associate degree in logistics and materials management.
The Greensboro Partnership, a nonprofit economic and community development organization, has worked to coordinate efforts between local colleges that teach transportation and logistics.
“They weren’t really talking to each other, so we’ve sort of been getting them together the last couple of years, making them aware of what each other was offering,” says Andrea Miller, the partnership’s marketing and communications director.
Students at A&T can major in transportation and supply chain management.
“They prepare themselves for careers working in transportation companies — or any company,” A&T’s Dobie says. “Every company uses transportation and logistics.”
Jobs in the field cover a wide range of educational backgrounds, responsibilities and salaries. At the lower end of the pay scale, transportation and logistics jobs include material handlers and truck drivers. Mid-level jobs include purchasing agents, dispatchers, foremen, systems analysts and accounting coordinators. Higher-salary jobs include directors and vice presidents of logistics.
“It’s really everything from a forklift operator or truck driver to supply-chain experts,” Cauthen says.
Similarly, salaries range depending on the type of work.
“VPs in logistics make up to $400,000 a year — more than doctors,” Hauser says, while directors of logistics can make $150,000 to $200,000 annually. Customer-service managers can take in $47,000 to $62,000 a year, and warehouse supervisors usually see $30,000 to $42,000, he says.
Anyone interested in a logistics career would do well to get a job in a warehouse and learn the business from the ground up, Hauser adds.
“It’s sweaty, dirty, hot work,” Hauser says. “But one of the keys to our industry is you have to learn the ropes at the bottom. Even if you get a four-year degree, you still need to get a job in a warehouse and learn how it works.”
It’s a field that rewards competence in problem-solving, not connections, he says.
“You can advance from what you know, not who you know,” Hauser says. “Who you know is not gonna help you solve the problem..”
Contact Eddie Huffman at 373-7335 or eddie.huffman@news-record.com.
