Taylored-Made Expansion

Merger and acquisition activity in the third-party logistics sector continues to grow. In a major expansion, Taylored Fulfillment Services acquired the U.S. operations of Toll Global Logistics, a $8.7 billion Australian logistics company. Brian Southwell, vice president of business development and marketing, and Margaritta Topielski, chief administrative officer at Taylored, discuss the buyout with Inbound Logistics.

IL: What are the details of the buyout?

The buyout includes additional facilities in Los Angeles and Long Beach, New Jersey, and Miami as well as the distribution hotspot of Louisville, Kentucky. With the acquisition, we were able to add more than 200 employees to our payroll within various functional areas, including 98% of our warehouse staff.

IL: What are your integration plans?

Although all our back-office functions will be integrated into the Taylored systems, we were able to utilize the best practices and best software/tools existing in both organizations. The plan is to implement already existing automations in the current Taylored facilities into the newly acquired locations.

IL: How will shippers and customers benefit from the acquisition?

The acquisition allows customers to have a one-stop shop for all their logistics needs, providing them with warehousing, fulfillment, and transportation handled by the same service provider. While Taylored focuses on retail/e-commerce fulfillment, the combination of the companies will add a port-centric focus, including transload and cross-dock services with additional transportation capabilities. It also gives existing clients the ability to utilize our services in new markets.

IL: Is the buyout a base for expansion?

The buyout not only expands the services Taylored provides, but it also will increase the total footprint to more than 4.1 million square feet of Tier 1 distribution space.