Comprehensive Logistics named to Inc. magazine’s list

BY GRAIG GRAZIOSI

ggraziosi@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

If auto manufacturing is the backbone of the Mahoning Valley’s blue-collar workforce, Comprehensive Logistics Inc. is its bloodstream – and the country is beginning to notice.

Comprehensive Logistics, a third party logistics service provider based in Youngstown, was named to Inc. magazine’s list of 5,000 fastest growing U.S. companies.

CLI was ranked 2,831 out of 5,000, growing 123 percent between 2013 and 2015. The company is the only logistics company to appear on the list.

The company has 22 facilities in 10 states as well as locations in Ontario, Canada, manages more than 5 million square feet and employs just shy of 3,000 employees – with more than 460 of those employees working locally.

Brad Constantini, CEO of CLI, attributes the growth to his employees and his company’s ability to provide reliable and cost effective services to clients.

“We’re able to compete with and beat our larger competitors,” Constantini said. “We couldn’t do it without our people, whether they’re hourly, management or our executive team.”

Part of what makes CLI attractive to potential clients is its ability to undercut production costs at manufacturing plants by utilizing a combination of streamlined management systems and comparatively lower labor costs. The company effectively makes it less expensive for a manufacturer to ship parts to CLI for assembly than for the manufacturer to assemble it themselves.

Logistics – the management of complex processes involving multiple actors working toward a common goal – generally includes the management of a client’s supply chain, from warehouse storage to the final delivery of a product.

CLI’s operations impact the production of more than 5,400 vehicles per day, said Gary Bobalik, the director of marketing at CLI.

Constantini describes CLI as a third party logistics provider to major manufacturing clients, such General Motors, but he is quick to explain that the company – as evidenced by inclusion in the Inc. list – has grown to become much more than logistics alone.

In recent years, CLI’s leadership has sought new clients outside of its traditional automotive manufacturing stomping grounds, and found them in agriculture machinery manufacturing. Along with this new focus, CLI also offered a new service; contract manufacturing.

“Anything that needs to be assembled, we’re interested in it,” Constantini said.

Contract manufacturing is the production of a brand’s goods by a third-party firm. If, for example, GM wants to outsource roof assemblies for a line of cars, it can contract CLI to build the order as well as store and deliver the parts after completion. Incorporating assembly into its offered services has allowed CLI to expand their potential client base. While the company’s roots are firmly planted in automotive manufacturing, Constantini intends to court clients from industries such as aerospace, home goods, appliances and recreational vehicles.

CLI’s growth into new industries has helped to keep the company relatively sturdy in the face of recent layoffs.

After the announcement that the GM Lordstown Assembly Complex is cutting its third shift, CLI announced layoffs of its own, cutting 160 employees locally.

Constantini said he was unhappy that any employees had to be released, but said the GM Lordstown layoffs would not derail CLI’s current trajectory.

“Certainly we’re disappointed that they’re dropping a shift, we’re having to lay off over a hundred people, but it’s the nature of our business. We have to be nimble as a service provider.,” Constantini said. “Business ebbs and flows ... while we had to lose people locally we’ve been growing and hiring in other parts of the country.”

Part of what keeps CLI nimble is its insistence on developing proprietary systems for managing their operations.

CLI uses a proprietary system for warehouse management, keeping the entire operation paperless. The system – STREME – provides visual, live updates regarding the supply chain being serviced. CLI’s warehouse employees are trained on the system and use hand computers to keep track of inventory.

Building proprietary systems expands beyond the warehouse for the company. CLI engineers facilities, assembly-line sequences and develops control programs for automated systems, all in house.

As a result of their devotion to in-house development, CLI can boast an exceptionally low mistake rate.

Most of CLI’s clients – and clients of similar size – would require their shipping and logistics suppliers to have no more than 25 mistakes for every million parts processed.

Companies with stellar reputations for quality report no more than five mistakes for every million parts processed. CLI claims to have under one mistake for every million parts processed.

Constantini is confident the combination of his company’s focus on proprietary efficiency systems, low labor costs and willingness to assemble anything that needs built will keep CLI growing in the years to come.

“We’re definitely playing in the big leagues,” Constantini said. “We’re ready to bring our bag of goods to other industries now.”