On Air with AirFreight.com
On Air is a short-form interview podcast from AirFreight.com focused on the fast-moving world of emergency freight and expedited shipping. We talk to people in the logistics and supply chain industry who deal with the pressure of time-critical freight every day.
On Air with AirFreight.com
How Fast Freight Keeps a Drum Plant Running
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Unlock the complexities behind urgent logistics and how expert providers like airfreight.com support industries that can't afford delays. This episode features real-world examples from Mauser Packaging Solutions and deep dives into the critical decisions that keep production lines moving smoothly.
Main Topics:
- The role of expedited freight in manufacturing and industrial sectors
- Strategies for handling urgent shipments and overcoming supply chain disruptions
- The importance of dedicated single-point contact service in high-pressure logistics
- How machinery breakdowns and part shortages are managed efficiently
- Cost considerations: Expediting versus regular shipping methods
- Real-world logistics challenges and successful problem-solving stories
Timestamps:
00:00 - Introduction to high-stakes expedited shipping and episode guests
00:32 - Overview of Mouser Packaging Solutions and their product lines
01:15 - Logistics challenges at Mauser's Mason, Ohio plants
01:47 - Industries served by Mauser: industrial, medical, and food grade
02:08 - Kim Hardwick discusses Mouser's shipping and freight patterns
02:40 - Handling urgent customer requests and last-minute production needs
03:27 - The role of expedited services when contracted carriers can't meet deadlines
04:23 - The process of pulling in emergency orders to fulfill customer demands
05:01 - Managing short-notice shipments and the importance of quick decision-making
05:45 - The complexity of LTL shipping and its transfer points
06:35 - The peace of mind offered by dedicated expedited shipping services
07:21 - The impact of logistics on production schedules and reputation
08:24 - The advantages of a single point of contact in logistics management
09:53 - Kim’s experience with communication breakdowns in past shipments
10:35 - Transition to Dan Palmer’s role in emergency situations
11:01 - The scale of Mouser’s manufacturing capacity and cost considerations
12:37 - The critical decision-making process during machine failures and urgent parts needs
13:38 - Managing machine downtime and the costs of delays
14:05 - Charter air freight as a solution for urgent equipment needs
15:03 - Real-world examples of using air charter for critical machinery parts
16:40 - The importance of Real-time updates and transparency in logistics
17:04 - The significance of precise timing and handling during crises
19:34 - The challenges when shipments get stuck in logistics limbo and how to recover
20:35 - High-pressure situations and the value of committed service providers
22:29 - The story of managing a shipment stuck in Indianapolis
24:02 - The importance of knowledge and decisive action in overcoming logistics hurdles
25:42 - Wrap-up emphasizing partnership and ongoing support in high-stakes environments
I'm Kevin Carpenter, and this is On Air with Airfreight.com. It's a podcast about the high-stake worlds of expedited shipping. Today, we're going to highlight a real business that keeps the world turning. We're going to talk to real professionals within that business, and we'll look at the very real challenges they face when things don't go as planned and the clock is ticking. Today I'm joined by Kim Hardwick, Transportation Manager, Brad Beck, Production Manager, and Dan Palmer, plant manager for Mauser Packaging Solutions, a company that manufactures industrial packaging used across a wide range of industries. And I won't give away anything else because first question I have is for Brad, if you don't mind giving us a high level about what Mauser does. And in particular, your plant there in uh Mason, Ohio.
SPEAKER_02Uh Mauser Mason, we are in the packaging business. We do steel drums here. Uh we have one plant that is 100% 55-gallon drums. And then we have another plant that does all of our intermediate specialty drums. So anything from a 10-gallon drum to a 35-gallon drum from 14-inch, 16-inch, and 18-inch diameter on the intermediate side.
SPEAKER_00Okay. And both those plants are in the Mason, Ohio area? Correct. Okay. So you guys, it's kind of like a double plant situation over there. Because I I think Mauser has what over 150 or 160 locations. Is that what I saw? Yep. Okay. And that's two of them right there in Mason, Ohio.
SPEAKER_02Yes, and they're both metal facilities here in Mason. They said they're actually across the street from each other.
SPEAKER_00Got it. So among all the logistics challenges you guys have, you that's probably not one of them is getting stuff in between those two plants. I would hope not. Okay. Um, and then another question just to follow up on that. Um, do you know what industries you guys serve?
SPEAKER_02Uh we serve industrial, medical, and food grid. Okay. So main one.
SPEAKER_00Plenty of chemicals are going in these things. Correct. As well as food ingredients, stuff like that. Awesome. All right. Uh next question I have is for Kim. Uh Kim, could you give us an idea of what uh your shipping plate looks like? Uh do you handle both those plants, first of all?
SPEAKER_03Yes.
SPEAKER_00Okay. Do you guys are you guys moving freight in every single day and freight out every single day?
SPEAKER_03Not so much freight in as it would be parts and supplies to do the production, but freight out every day, Monday through Friday.
SPEAKER_00Okay. And what's the normal method that you're sending freight out? And that's obviously when you're sending freight out, that's delivered goods.
SPEAKER_03Correct. Uh we do have contracted carriers that we work with, and we use them for all of our outbound shipments that are truckload. And it's less than truckload, you may hear from us and everybody else that does LTL.
SPEAKER_00Okay. And so these contracts are kind of built into probably the the contracts you guys have with the customer. Customer already has that built in as far as like, I know when I place an order, I'm gonna pro I'm gonna have it within a certain period of time from the time that order was placed.
SPEAKER_03Yes.
SPEAKER_00All right. Uh just out of curiosity, are there ever situations where customers need something faster than normal?
SPEAKER_03Oh yes. Every day.
SPEAKER_00Okay. And uh how do you have to handle that?
SPEAKER_03Um well when when it does come down to it having to be there next day, if it's something not too far away and one of our carriers that are contract with us can handle it, we'll use them. When it gets a little too far away to get it to where it needs to be in a timely manner, we'll reach out to you.
unknownOkay.
SPEAKER_00And so when um when you let's say a customer calls and well, obviously you you must already have some kind of uh uh finished product that's ready to go out at a given time. How how just this is a side question. How often do people ask for stuff that you don't have produced yet?
SPEAKER_03Uh it probably happened about five minutes before this meeting. Um, and Dan let production know they can pull one in tonight so we can get it to the customer tomorrow.
SPEAKER_00Wow. Okay. So that's pretty cool. And my and uh full disclosure to everyone, all our customers listening, or I mean all the all the listeners to this podcast, the many tens of thousands of people that are gonna listen to this. Um uh I'm your single point of contact for whenever you guys have an expedited need or something that doesn't isn't able to be fulfilled by your normal carriers. Right. Contracted carriers. Okay. Um, so uh one more question for you, Kim, if that's all right. Um, whenever someone, you know, if somebody, if you get an order in late in the day and they're like, hey, and I need this tomorrow, is there I mean, I'm guessing there's a fair amount of the time where the your contracted carriers are not able to get in there today, right? So that'd be another situation where expedite comes up.
SPEAKER_03Normally that's that's not the way our system should run. We do have a lead time, but you know, there are those occasions, like I just said, the one that called in today needing help. So uh yes, it is a matter of if if our contracted carriers can't do it, we have no option but to call expedited.
SPEAKER_00Okay. Um, okay, I lied. I actually have more questions for you, Kim. Um we all know, uh well, we don't all know. Um LTL shipping, that's the most common type of shipping used all across America. And that's where you have route trucks that come in and make a pickup, and you know, they they make multiple pickups from multiple companies, and then that route truck goes to a terminal, that freight gets sorted onto another truck that's going toward where it needs to go, and then it gets sorted again, and probably what? Uh how many times would you say something, you know, going from here to Chicago, for instance? How many times do you think that's going to get transferred?
SPEAKER_03Probably at least three, if not more.
SPEAKER_00Three times, and that's three different times that workers need to be paying attention. Uh forklift operators need to be not crushing things and slamming things into each other. Um, and also, you know, that stuff makes it on the right truck. Three different all sorts of margin for for failure there. So um talk a little bit about the peace of mind whenever you call me, if you don't mind.
SPEAKER_03Well, there is major peace of mind when we call you. We've never had to be concerned. Um as a matter of fact, I wish LTL ran more smooth like your operation, but you're 100% correct. Uh, if you need something done now, LTL is not the way to do it. Um I have never been able to get an LTL delivered within three days of going up the street. It is exactly like you said. So having a service like yours has helped us tremendously. We need that service. And um hopefully we can't well, I wish we didn't need the service. I wish things could be planned a little bit better, but it just doesn't happen.
SPEAKER_00So not how the real world works, isn't it? We plan and then uh and then everything goes out the window. Everybody has a plan until you get hit in the mouth. I think uh very wise Mike Tyson once said that. Um you you touched on something really good though, because in the LTL world, not only do they treat your freight, you know, just like another, you know, it's just a pro number and it's getting sorted, and you know, there's a label that hopefully gets scanned every time so it goes to the right place. It's probably it's a lot, it's quite the same whenever we're talking about customer service. You're calling a call, usually probably a call center every time you need to do something, I'm guessing, and have to re-explain it. Um when you're using me, when you're using air. Oh, go ahead.
SPEAKER_03We're not having to deal with that. That that is a plus because our system allows me to reach out through the computer program, got it, get all the information right off of the screen so they don't have to ask me five times. But just as an example, last week I had one palette that I needed to ship, and it took them four days to show up to pick it up. That's unacceptable in my book.
SPEAKER_00And yeah, I agree. And I would say it goes back to that, yeah, you put it in on a computer. So there's no there's no accountability, there's no proverbial neck to ring, um, which is one of the main reasons that our customers like our service. And we're uh not all expediters provide the single point of contact like we do. And that's really something that sets us apart from everybody, not just in the not just from LTL. It's really easy to beat LTL, but we try to we try to set ourselves apart from everybody. And so the single point of contact means you're calling somebody each time you need them, and hopefully it's not too often that you need me, but each time you need me, I already know what you guys do. I already know I have an idea of how to work with you. You can contact me across a uh, you know, a few different modes, whether it's call me, text me, or email me. I think Dan has done all three. Um and um yeah, I I would say that sets us apart. Would you uh that's the last thing I'll ask for you.
SPEAKER_03A hundred percent. And Kevin, uh, in my experience last week when I had the failure, I dealt with four different people at that facility. So on my second call, they had no idea what I was calling for. Third call had no idea, so yeah, I had to go over it every time starting from scratch. So it was a pain.
SPEAKER_00Great. Hey, I appreciate it, Kim. If I um I would like to ask, I think Brad, I'll take Brad one more time. Um we'll segue into into Dan if that's all right. Sure. Um, what what um at what point do you have to get Dan involved in a situation? The plant manager.
SPEAKER_02Oh, really wants it uh for us when it comes to shipping, like we need ports expedited. Uh we have to get Dan involved.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, because the cost, full disclosure to the listeners out there, that the cost is, you know, we we were just spent all this time talking LTL down. But, you know, the reason people use it and the reason it's the go-to is because it's a fraction of the cost of expedite, um, especially on shorter haul stuff, right?
SPEAKER_02Very true, but we produce between our two plants here, the 55 side being about 8,000 drums a day. We're about 2,000 a day on the intermediate, about 35 to 40 truckloads a day. So when we go to Dan, it's more of a if we're out with like compound, whatever it might be, we I go to Dan as in the expedite fee is this, or we shut down not making drums starting at this time, and then that's you you got 60 hourly employees that were either paying to find something to do or we're sending home. So, and it also means obviously probably late shipments. So that's whether he's the plan manager, he's the one that has to make the final decision, but we just go either with him with the facts of how present him that math problem. And what do you what do we need to do?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that's man, you really hit I really that was that was awesome. You I appreciate that because um sometimes customers call me and I'll give them the price, and they like they couldn't be more offended by the price I just gave them. And I, you know, I I used to get upset by that, and now I just know that they're they're not my customer, um, because it's really not an emotional decision at the end of the day. It's hard not to get emotional, it's hard not to get anxious, and you know, we we all want to do a good job at what we do, but when it comes to freight cost, um, it's like you just said, man, could you give that equation one more time about uh like you lay out the math of um we're gonna shut down at this time and we have this many people? That uh if you could reiterate that out of precise.
SPEAKER_02Well, yeah. I mean, you tell you I said shutting down, like I said, we're you got hourly people on the clock, union shop. So even if they come into it, we're obligated to pay four hours for every employee gear if we send them home. Also, you got to remember we also deal with a lot of bigger customers of Unibar, uh, you know, BSF and uh Valvely, all these customers depend on drums. So us getting drums to them late, one, it's our reputation. Two, there's also a fee for us if we miss a shipment to get that expedited, also. There's a so they're either way down the road, it's either your reputation, you're paying a fee to another trucking company, or you just pay the fee to get what you need here now to keep the whole plant running.
SPEAKER_00Got it. And I uh there's one more. How how about um the machines? Um, I'm guessing, and I you know, I hope it doesn't happen too often, but I'm sure it's an inevitability that sometimes a machine on the line is gonna malfunction and you're gonna need a part. Uh is that something that comes up for you?
SPEAKER_02Yes. Yes, it has. And that's the same thing. It's it's it's the same scenario. If our machine's down, we can expedite a part and have it here two hours, three hours, whatever it might be, we can find it within that range. Then it's that whatever the fee is, it was 100% worth it to get the plan up and running and get people back to work. Because the plant being down is is more costly than the expedite fee in the long run. Yeah, I would say most of the time.
SPEAKER_00Uh and um thankfully we haven't had anything come up yet, but we offer, you know, one of the services we offer is charter, air charter. And when you're talking about, well, first of all, it's the fastest way to ship known to man. There's no other, there's no faster way to do it until they invent a teleporter. Um but you know, we're talking about a dedicated airplane. Let's say you've got this one part, and I'll just give an example, um, because the the value of the freight is not even a concern at that point. I had a company in, I think it was Texas, they had a machine down, and just like you said, they're doing the math. They're gonna be losing ten to twenty thousand dollars an hour once they go down. Um there's a five-dollar box of very, very specific screws that they need in New Jersey, and they're gonna be going down in three hours. Um that's that's where a charter comes into play. Uh, and again, don't wish that upon you. Hope that does not happen with you. Um, but again, you're looking at a $20,000 or $30,000 price tag for the shipment versus being down for a whole day if you wait for an overnight shipment. So the math is really sometimes it's easy, uh, even though that price tag is so high for a charter. Have you, just out of curiosity, have you ever been involved in one of those where you you guys had to charter anything?
SPEAKER_02No, I don't think we've automotive. We did a motor? Yeah overseas? Yeah, automotive we used to. Oh, an automotive, yes.
SPEAKER_00Our last we did do some over over of all the industries that don't mess around. Uh that's that's the one is automotive. They're they are so harsh all the way down the line to their supplier, and then they're harsh to their supplier. It's like a very cutthroat world. Uh, I appreciate your time, Brad. Uh, if I could talk to Dan just for a couple things to put a cherry on top here.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Hey Dan. How are you doing? Good, good. Um, so so I think Brad said you you're pretty much involved anytime there's an expedite, you I'm it's at least gonna cross your desk, it sounds like.
SPEAKER_01We do a scheduling meeting meeting every day at 1 30. So, based off the information of what we're gonna run and our cycle counts, everyone's pretty in tune with what might be inevitable. There's certain things that we might run out of. Uh, so fortunately, because of companies like yourself, and really exclusive to us, you're the only one we use to do this. Uh you've you've brought us peace of mind. As Brad mentioned, we're we're probably a top five volume company on the planet making steel drums. So, you know, for us to shut down, as Brad alluded, and shut down a customer, it's our reputation. But more importantly, if we didn't have those parts, we'll working Saturdays and Sundays to make up that difference because um we stay pretty full here in Mason. Easy decision for me to make because, you know, like I said, last week specifically, I know your company has shipped parts to other plants that we've been fortunate to have extras. Uh, and then last week or two weeks ago when we had our big corporate visit of all times to run out of one component that you cannot make a drum without it. Uh you you basically walked us to the finish line on that, and that was huge. And you're probably the first person, I think, that set you apart. You guys give us play by play when you pick up every hour along that route, and we have a true ETA of when we can start producing parts, when we expect something to hit the dock, and that's huge. And I'll be honest with you, Kevin. You're the first person at 11 o'clock at night that's kind of spitballed with me at that last situation. What do we do? And we both agreed, made the right decision, and got the product here, which was a game changer for us.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that was. And I actually wasn't gonna bring it up, I you know, um, but uh um, yeah, that was kind of an in interesting situation if we could talk about that, about kind of the logistics of it, pun intended. Um, so it was an it was on an LTL. You had a shipment of this particular component that you desperately needed. It was on an LTL company that maybe we, you know, no need, no need to name them, I guess. Um, because since you have a contract with them, probably. Um and it was stuck in Indy, Indianapolis for two days. Two days. So, and that I uh off the top of my head, that's about 150 miles, 160 miles from you guys, something like that.
SPEAKER_01Yep, from us. Um particular part, it's a fitting that for the customer they might fill the product through. Uh, and you have to have it on the drum. One to be DOT compliant for that particular profile that we'll run, and that's about 80% of the drums we run will always have that fitting on it. Two, we had seven corporate folks flying in to actually watch us run. And so to not be able to run was huge. But then lastly, the timing of receiving that part allowed us to start making whip and get out in front of the schedule so we could have parts on the floor to transition smoothly. Because when you don't have that, you're bouncing around, you're not running to your traditional schedule, so you're kind of stumbling a little bit, so to say, to get through that schedule because you're not running it how you normally would prescribe.
SPEAKER_00And that's kind of what you live and die by every day, isn't it? I mean, is that is that one of the things that you're just that's like makes it be a good day or a bad day for me? Well, 100%.
SPEAKER_01I was, I'll be honest, until I talked to you, I was absolutely sick feeling because I had exhausted options within our own corporate entity to help me get those parts. Uh, but really it was you that stayed in contact with your driver when you guys first initially picked up, uh, and that was 9 p.m. And then again at four in the morning, you were already on the phone prior to that with the driver to make sure that he got into that warehouse, secure those parts, and ultimately two and a half hours later get them to us, which uh was huge, huge. Because in that particular instance, as Brad had said, we had already exhausted probably about two o'clock that day, we had we would have exhausted all options to continue to run. Um after that, we would have had to shut down and we would have lost about two days production. Wow.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, you told I remember having the conversation with you because um you and you told me you had people flying in from several states, and I'm thinking that's a new one. I've of all the of all the thing, the pressure, uh, because we you know we do deal with high pressure shipments all the time. And I've been doing this almost 20 years now. So I've seen a lot of different high pressure situations. When you were telling me that, I'm thinking to myself, okay, I get we got it. We got to save the day for this guy. Uh, and this wasn't our first time working together. I already liked you. So um, so yeah, the LTL company, uh, you guys did all the proper steps to terminate the shipment with the LTL company in Indianapolis. And that's a very, I'll say aside, that's a very common type of a shipment that we handle at airfreight.com is people calling us to intercept to recover their shipment from an LTL company that has failed in some capacity. Sometimes it's not the LTL company's fault. Sometimes they just need to expedite it in the supply chain. Um, so you called, we're we're doing the intercept, we send the truck in, and of all, you know, we had all our I's dotted and our T's crossed. We had we get we had the carrier name, the driver had the pro number, um, and you had a contact at the LTL company telling you it would be ready at nine o'clock for pickup. Driver shows up at nine o'clock and he gets sent away and pretty much hurried off. They told him uh they didn't have any office people there. To actually uh process the termination. It was only doc workers there. And then security pretty quickly kicked them out. And they told him to come back at 4 a.m. Um, and that that's when you and I had the conversation about how to proceed because we were worried that maybe the LTL company would finally progress it onto Cincy, in which case that would be another probably day of lost time if they did, because that's just how that works. Um, but we took a gamble, you rolled the dice and had us go back in. Obviously, there's going to be a fee to hold that driver there and send him back in at 4 a.m. But again, math problem. You know, very, very uh easy decision for you to make. Roll the dice. Driver goes back in at 4 a.m. sharp, just like he's supposed to. And again, he's being told by a shipping clerk there that uh he doesn't have the number that uh he needs to have. So the driver called me, and I I was obviously I had alerted the carrier how important this was, as we do most of the time. Um, but this one, I'd like I said, I I had made the decision we were gonna make sure this worked. Um, so driver called, well, actually, I called, I was calling the driver, didn't get an answer, and then he called me back when he was in the shipping office at this LTL company. And uh, so then I kind of started having a conversation. The L the shipping clerk was very just unhelpful. He was just doing what he could to not have to process this for whatever reason. Um and I even sent you the recorded call. Like finally, I you know, I think he just I think he realized like I wasn't just gonna go away and this was gonna be a big problem for him if he did turn us away. Again, we had all our ducks in a row here. Um they they that would have been a bad black eye for them, and maybe it was anyway, but uh he, you know, finally he relents and he's like, All right, back it up, we'll get you loaded. Suddenly they knew what we were there for. Um, and then yeah, I think you guys got it about 5 a.m. Yeah, yeah, and and 6 a.m.
SPEAKER_01two two things on that, and and I say this wholeheartedly, there's not many people, if any, and Kim and I talked about this, and I told our leadership team that would have engaged at three in the morning, four in the morning, like you did. And and I think you're the one that got it to the finish line because you connected, you supported your driver, your knowledge to give me advice on rolling the dice, that's what helped me make that decision because I'm not an LTL guy. I don't know anything about the transportation world beyond what I get the privilege of learning from Kim, and then what I've learned from you. So it was uh absolutely the right thing to do, but your knowledge is what led me to that decision that, hey, I think that load is they've taken it off the trailer and it's sitting on their floor. And then lastly, when you got comp when I got that confirmation that, hey, the load is on the truck and we're pulling out, it's kind of like a massive weight was lifted off my shoulders. And I could I could alert the team that have the dock ready, these parts are showing up, have the machine ready, and boom, we're at we're in action and and producing parts.
SPEAKER_00It's my pleasure. I'm glad uh I'm glad that we were able to do that. Um and as far as engaging like that, yeah, that's how I've been doing it for so long. Um, that's one of the reasons I've been successful at it. There's not many, you know, not to toot my own home too much, but like you said, there's not many in transportation as a whole that treat shipments like that. Uh our airfreight.com does. And that's we don't have a ton of expediters at airfreight.com that do exactly what I do. Uh, but they all do have that same dedication. Um, and we appreciate your business. I think that's a good place to wrap it up. We appreciate uh, you know, everything you guys do. I hope you know, I I I know that I'll hear from you again, hopefully not too soon.
SPEAKER_01Well, be on standby because ironically, we're just talking at the scheduling meeting, and I've got a container held up. And I told them in the meeting, we'll call airfreight.com. If we have any issues, once I know that I've got a destination that's going to be set, I think I'll pay the premium and make sure that I get it here so we can keep going, business as usual. Uh, and I I I know speaking for myself and the entire Mason team, we appreciate working with you. You take it 10 steps further than anyone I've ever done this with. So thank you.
SPEAKER_00Agreed. Thank you very much, Dan. Thanks, Brad. Thank you, Kim. And if you're dealing with time critical freight situations, this is exactly what we handle every day at airfreight.com. Thanks to everybody who's listening, the tens and tens of millions of listeners. And we'll catch you on the next one. Stay in the air. Take care.