Making sure Wayne Farms’ amazing chicken products get to their final destination takes some amazing transportation and logistics business partners. Each year, Wayne Farms recognizes those contributions during the annual Carrier Awards banquet and awards ceremony.
This year’s event, held October 24 at Lake Lanier Islands, saw both established and new transportation partners in the lineup for awards recognizing superior logistics and transportation services provided to Wayne Farms during 2018.
“Our transportation partners help to ensure our products are safely and efficiently handled and customers are happy—we depend on them to be quality focused,” said Craig Watkins, Wayne Farms Director of Logistics and Inventory. “Hitting their key performance indicators—on time delivery, load handling, safety, acceptance—all these factors are critical.” Long-time Wayne Farms provider and past Carrier of the Year winner RE Garrison received the 2018 Partnership Award, a new award that recognized the company’s diverse range of services and “can do” attitude. “In addition to transportation, they provide services we just couldn’t do without,” said Watkins.
“They’re always available to help us out—extra loads, storage trailers, last minute changes—they know our business and they’re partners in every sense of the word.”
The 2018 Carrier of the Year Awards went to two companies representing large territory and regional territory providers respectively. In the large territory category, Albritton Farms and subsidiary RWH Refrigerated Solutions received the award. Albritton has done business with Wayne Farms since 1988 when the owner made his first delivery for the company. That legacy of service has continued over the course of many miles of coast-to-coast, long-haul and regional transportation services provided for Wayne Farms. Regional territory Carrier of the Year winner was Brannon Golden, a new carrier who stepped up during this year’s volatile freight market to handle shorter hauls. “The freight market was extremely tight, but Brannon Golden jumped in quickly with a high level of service and helped us deliver on time and on budget,” said Watkins.
An Award of Appreciation was also presented to Matthew Schrad, who worked for CH Robinson over the last four years to oversee CH Robinson’s Wayne Farms Transportation Management System and ensure seamless logistics, inventory management and supply chain processes were in place to support the company’s transportation goals. CH Robinson was also recognized for their contributions during the ceremonies.
