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Third-Party Logistics: Listening & Communicating

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“What you are, speaks so loudly I can't hear what you say.” Ralph Waldo Emerson

This summer I had the opportunity to attend a seminar at the Womens’ Business Enterprise Council National Conference about smarter listening. I was reminded we are born with two ears and one mouth, and we should listen twice as much as we should talk. Smarter listening yields better communication and the ability to hold one’s attention when you most need it.

Listening and then communicating defines our business.

Our customers engage us to be the experts in the 3PL field, and our job is to listen to their needs and then communicate our response. As you are well aware, this listening needs to go both ways. A true partnership is built upon both parties paying full attention to the other.

Kenco is known in the third-party logistics world as being a premier service provider. I believe this is because we listen to our customers and work respectfully with them so that they, in turn, will listen and work respectfully with us. We are doing something very right because this August we celebrated our 66th year in business.

I have never been more proud of Kenco’s accomplishments and success.

Since I had the honor of stepping in as Chairwoman and your CEO almost six years ago now, I have listened and learned so much from each of you. I have listened to our customers and experts in our field. In so by doing this, I have learned more about the third-party logistics world and the many changes and opportunities we face every day. As a result, I am especially proud of the accomplishments we as a company have achieved so far this year:

• We exceeded $530 million in revenue

• We have 5,000 employees for the first time in Kenco’s history

• We have new business with customers in the automotive parts, building supplies, flooring, food, and industrial markets

• We added Gary Kimball to our Board of Directors (Associate Professor and Director of the Managerial Studies Program at Vanderbilt University and formally served as the CFO of OHL).

• We won “Supplier of the Year” from Whirlpool, ranked as a “Top 10 3PL” for the fourth straight year, and won multiple awards from the American Trucking Associations (ATA).

Done properly and professionally, third-party logistics is much more than moving and storing boxes. It involves working together to build something greater than the individual and something that contributes to a need in society. It involves listening to a customer and delivering what is expected -- and more.

On behalf of the Kenco shareholders and Board, I want to thank you for helping us to achieve a record 66 years of business. I am so pleased that one of our Founders, Jim Kennedy, Jr., is still with us at 91 years to see all that you have accomplished and built from the two man operation begun in 1950. Like me, he continues to listen to you as your actions and results speak louder than words. And we are very proud!

Best Practices Selecting a 3PL

Jane Kennedy Greene

Written by Jane Kennedy Greene

CEO Kenco Group


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Kenco provides integrated logistics solutions that include distribution and fulfillment, comprehensive transportation management, material handling services, real estate management, and information technology—all engineered for Operational Excellence. 

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