Herschend Family Entertainment (HFE) owns, operates and manages 26 themed entertainment properties across ten states. Having multiple purchasing and receiving departments HFE wanted to leverage the transportation buying power of their goods coming into their properties, improve visibility as to where those goods were and create a vendor compliance program they could enforce. After looking at their options HFE realized their best choice was to find a company who could manage that process for them.
Herschend Family Entertainment looked for a company whose background was managing inbound transportation and had experience with both attractions and resorts. They knew this unique combination of experience and knowledge would be hard to find but selected Jeff Kline whose company would later be known as LTL Expert.
In 2003, Kline began working with HFE. He conducted an analysis of their inbound transportation and identified ways to reduce Herschend Family Entertainments costs by 26%. Kline recommended a freight management company that leveraged volume from hundreds of clients to provide freight savings. The company also provided HFE cost-free services including: freight bill auditing, general ledger coding, consolidated invoicing, claims management and vendor routing/compliance. HFEs properties across 10 states would be able to use a proprietary web-based transportation management system at no additional cost to them. It would enable them to have full visibility to all of their inbound orders. The new program reduced their freight costs 26% and helped HFE streamline operations.
Today – HFE continues to rely on Jeff Kline to help manage their inbound freight. For over 10 years, Kline has protected HFE from LTL carrier general rate increases that averaged about 5% every year. Retail Planner Barbara Stanley at HFE Corporate has seen firsthand how Jeff Kline has orchestrated freight savings. According to Barbara, “while the savings have helped her budget, the main reason that HFE has such a long history with Jeff is his expertise and customer service. He is always willing to go the extra mile.”
About Kline Global
With more than 30 years of experience in transportation solutions, Kline Global (www.klineglobal.com) is uniquely qualified to help your company reduce freight costs. LTL Expert provides transportation consulting services for Domestic LTL and Truckload freight; and, Global Freight Expert specializes in International Air, Ocean, Warehousing & Customs.
You’re Invited to save – If you want low freight rates and a staff of experts working for you like in a Logistics department of a billion-dollar company, Kline Global can help. They can conduct a cost-free, no obligation audit of your LTL, truckload and international shipments and help your company reduce freight costs.
Contact Jeff Kline at 901-850-0645 or jeff@klinetrans.com.
