3PL Perspectives
Robert Voltmann
President & CEO
Transportation Intermediaries Association
Since 1978, TIA has been recognized as the trusted voice of the third-party
logistics industry. TIA members are to establish and protect ethical, profitable, and growing businesses in service to their customers.
That’s the TIA Mission Statement. Thirty-two simple words, but they guide everything we do.
We are your trusted voice of the industry to new entrants, shippers, carriers, government officials and international organizations. We tell your story through print, video, lobbying, speaking and exhibiting at conferences, interviews, etc.
From the organizations’s beginning , members have helped members establish and protect their businesses. At first this took place in seminars and even in bars; newly established companies coming together to learn from each other, to swap successes and share horror stories.
You still do that. You do it through the development of best practice guidelines. The TIA Carrier Selection Framework, now in its 11th year of production, is the consolidation of hard-learned experiences from dozens of TIA members who were willing to share their time, talent, and treasure to borrow from the Methodists. Through the TIA Mentor Program, members are lending an ear to other members, sharing their experience to help other members overcome a hurdle with fewer bruises. The TIA New Broker Success Program, developed by TIA members, helps start-ups get off on the best possible footing, because you’ve always known that a growing industry is a healthy industry.
You help with each other’s staff. The Certified Transportation Broker Program was developed by members. In fact, every TIA course was developed by members to help other members. It is TIA members who will build the TIA Logistics Academy to train your rising leaders. We will launch the first part of the Academy later this year.
The addition of the TranStrategy Partners suite of consulting services to TIA will allow us to expand how we help you grow your business. Through TIA Consulting Services, we now offer: New Hire Assessments, New Employee Success Program, Sales Assessment, 360 Degree Business Assessment, Business Accelerator Program and the Advanced Business Accelerator Program. These assessments and success programs are geared specifically to your business and incorporate four decades of knowledge and best practices. These assessments, coaching and tools are available now.
You’ll notice a change in the TIA Logistics Weekly too. We know that in the internet age, you get news 24/7, so what we provide to you in the Weekly will be information you need to stay ahead of the curve. Not a regurgitation of news you’ve already read, but the information you as a 3PL need; information that you can use to stay ahead of your competitors.
I’ve said many times that I believe our best days as an industry are ahead of us. But, those days will be different than the days before. You have to keep your business ahead of the change curve. TIA’s mission is to help you stay there.
