Walmart honored 10 transportation suppliers “that have demonstrated excellence or exhibited significant improvement in meeting core business objectives, including small parcel, less-than-truckload and intermodal,” with Walmart Transportation Carrier of the Year awards.
“This year’s winners have shown a commitment to supply chain excellence and to their ability to adapt to protocols,” said Jerry Spencer, vice president of replenishment for Walmart. “Supply chain reliability is the single most important factor to achieving our in-stock and inventory management goals, which helps us ensure we have what our customers want available on the shelf when they are choosing to shop. Our transportation partners are a critical component of overall customer satisfaction in the stores.”
Suppliers recognized for best-in-class awards consistently maintained a high level of supply chain reliability performance by shipping on-time and in-full with minimal degrees of variability in performance. Gold, platinum and diamond designations are relative to fleet size, smallest to largest, respectively.
The 2011 Walmart Carrier of the Year award winners are:
• Diversity: Western Express, Inc.
• General Merchandise Gold*: Baylor Trucking, Inc.
• General Merchandise Platinum: Heartland Express, Inc.
• General Merchandise Diamond: Swift Transportation Company
• Grocery: John Christner Trucking
• Intermodal: J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc.
• National Less-Than-Truckload: YRC, Inc.
• Regional Less-Than-Truckload: New England Motor Freight, Inc.
• Sam’s Club: Swift Transportation Company
• Small Parcel: FedEx Corp.
“We appreciate the support and partnership with these suppliers who have been consistently reliable in the past year by focusing on supply chain fundamentals,” Spencer said.