Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44 Page 45 Page 46 Page 47 Page 48 Page 49 Page 50 Page 51 Page 52 Page 53 Page 54 Page 55 Page 56 Page 57 Page 58 Page 59 Page 60 Page 61 Page 62 Page 63 Page 64 Page 65 Page 66 Page 67 Page 68 Page 69 Page 70 Page 71 Page 7250 S G M A G A Z I N E | FA L L 2 0 1 6 B U S I N E S S + C U LT U R E 51 According to Andrea Taylor, executive director of the Douglas-Coffee County Economic Development Authority, the geographical location of Douglas-Coffee County, along with its strong infrastructure, makes it appealing to distribution industries. “We market Douglas-Coffee County as a central location that has access to major state highways with direct connections to four interstates (I-75, I-95, I-16, and I-20), as well as the Port of Savannah,” said Taylor. “The expansion of the port will offer future growth and have a positive impact on distribution increase in our area. In addition to the port, rail is a major factor for distribution centers locating to our community.” Just-In-Time Delivery Convenient access to major interstates, Class I railroads, and proximity to ports in Savannah and Brunswick helps provide South Georgia with a robust logistics industry. Transporting raw materials or finished products from point A to B is just part of the logistics process. Warehousing is another part of the equation. Paul Everett, co-owner of Outsource Logistics, explains that customers require warehouse space as a holding location until they are ready for the raw material to be sent to the manufacturer for processing or when the finished product is ready to be shipped to the customer. “We store the raw materials and the customer schedules the production. When the customer is ready, we provide the raw materials to their dock just in time, so they don’t have to store materials and operate a massive warehousing facility,” Everett said. “The manufacturer then produces the product, packages it, and places it on a pallet for pick up. The majority of the time the finished product will come back to our warehouse until it is ready to go to the distributor.” With more than 950,000 square feet of warehouse space located in Valdosta, Tifton, and Savannah, Outsource Logistics, a third-party logistics (3PL) provider, serves the logistics and fulfillment demands for clients locally and globally. “We do warehousing and distribution for clients locally, throughout the U.S., and globally,” said Everett. “The majority of our customers are in the agricultural chemical production space. We are located in the heart of farming country, and agricultural chemicals and products make up a large portion of what we store, distribute, and transport, although we also handle retail, food products, and pretty much anything other than frozen goods.” Everett explains that having two locations directly on I-75 (Valdosta and Tifton) and one at the Port of Savannah near I-95, along with easy access to U.S. 84 and 82 and I-10, helps provide the perfect logistics network. “South Georgia is a hidden gem. Logistically, if you look on the map, we are 230 miles north of Orlando and 230 miles south of Atlanta,” Everett explains. “We are in the middle of two major population centers. When manufacturers think of warehousing they automatically think of Atlanta, but our real estate is more readily available and more cost-effective, and we don’t have the traffic congestion of the larger cities.” Everett said the Valdosta-Tifton corridor is located as far north as possible to still service the entire state of Florida the next day, plus seven Southeastern states within 24 hours. “Logistically, South Georgia is the best location for servicing the entire Southeastern part of the U.S.,” Everett said. “We are also positioned with both freight and rail to assist Savannah and Brunswick in getting products out of the port as quickly as possible.” Outsource Logistics co-owners Lee Smith and Paul Everett operate warehousing facilities in Savannah, Tifton, and Valdosta Logistics Manpower Throughout Georgia, technical colleges and university system schools continue to develop programs to educate the next generation of logistics workers. In Lowndes County, industry leaders have expressed the need for postsecondary programs designed especially for the logistics and supply chain management degrees. “One thing we know, the need for logistics workers is not going away,” said Mike Jerome, general manager at Lowe’s Regional Distribution Center in Valdosta. “Where some career fields may shrink and fade away, we will always need logistics. There will always be a need to move products from one place to another, and the need for faster service continues to grow.” Jerome said there is a constant demand for individuals with skills in operations and transportation management and logistics planning. “The main thing we are looking for in any job function is leadership skills,” Jerome said. “Next we look for knowledge and skills in transportation, demand planning, information technology, warehouse management, maintenance, human resources, and other administrative functions that all support operation.” Wiregrass Georgia Technical College (WGTC) currently offers a logistics specialist technical certificate as part of the business management degree program or as an individual certificate of credit. “The combination of courses cover introduction to logistics, purchasing, materials management, and product lifecycle management,” said Jacquelyn Veuleman, associate dean of the Department of Arts, Sciences, Business, and Technology at WGTC. “The reason Wiregrass has been looking to begin a logistics program for over a year is watching Georgia grow into a national leader in the logistics industry.” Future workforce needs include professionally trained logistics workers in a variety of career fields. “Our community’s future needs will rely heavily on reliable and efficient logistics and supply chain organizations,” she said. “WGTC’s mission is to deliver personnel competent and qualified to answer the need.” As part of ongoing discussions with industry and community leaders, Valdosta State University started offering a minor in logistics and supply chain management this year. Dr. Ed Walker, professor and head of the Department of Management and Healthcare Administration at VSU, said the minor will complement basic business skills, including accounting, economics, finance, marketing, and management. Within the minor program students will gain an understanding of basic company operations, supply chain concepts, the importance of quality to the customer and company, channels through which materials and information flow, relationship among the links of supply chain, and basics of material movement. “Students will gain an understanding of what they need to know to work with a company like Home Depot or Lowe’s,” Walker said. “Graduates will be able to hit the ground running and perform at a higher level more quickly.” Walker said the next step is to develop a major within supply chain management that would consist of a set of core business classes, much like those within the Bachelor of Business Administration; a set of general supply chain management courses; and a choice of concentration areas such as quality, transaction law, or accounting. Georgia Region 11 Represents 18 counties: Atkinson, Bacon, Ben Hill, Berrien, Brantley, Brooks, Charlton, Clinch, Coffee, Cook, Echols, Irwin, Lanier, Lowndes, Pierce, Tift, Turner and Ware 158 3,147 1,536 LOGISTICS PROVIDERS LOGISTICS EMPLOYEES LOGISTICS USERS 29,973 $14Billion LOGISTICS USER EMPLOYMENT IN LOGISTICS USER SALES * Provided by Georgia Center of Innovation for Logistics. Source: InfoUSA database 2010 B U S I N E S S + C U LT U R E 51