This interview is with Landon Pyle, VP of Marketing, Sales & Business Development, R&S Logistics.
To help readers get to know you, how do you describe your role in 3PL fulfillment today and the kinds of merchants and operations you oversee?
My name is Landon Pyle, and I’m the VP of Business Development for a Southeast-based 3PL (third-party logistics) provider headquartered in Knoxville, TN, called R&S Logistics. We specialize in third-party logistics services, warehousing solutions, distribution, transportation management, and ecommerce fulfillment. In short, we ship products to people that need them.
Since I’m in Business Development, I encounter a wide variety of customers who need our services.
How did you get into warehousing and third‑party logistics, and which milestone most shaped your approach to fulfillment?
Kinda by accident, I started out in transportation management. However, at the time, almost 15 years ago, R&S really needed help growing and scaling operations. We were expanding our third-party logistics services for automotive manufacturers, chemical distributors, food and beverage distributors, and growing e-commerce and online brands.
So, instead, I stepped into doing more sales and business development, and as the old adage goes, the rest was history. For me, the moment that I stepped into leadership at the company was a significant milestone. I saw opportunity after opportunity for different brands to really grow if they had third-party logistics services to handle their e-commerce fulfillment for them. It has made it exciting and fun to pursue more growing brands that want to scale.
On the tech side, what is one guiding principle you use when selecting or implementing a WMS or integrations, illustrated by a recent decision that improved performance?
For us at R&S, it’s probably similar to others in the industry. If the WMS (Warehouse Management System) doesn’t serve our current customers, we must find a solution that works. Additionally, as we’ve grown to work with more eCommerce stores and brands, we’ve had to ensure more integrations work, including platforms like Shopify, Magento, Wayfair, Walmart, QuickBooks, and others.
Without these integrations, our team and their team cannot see their inventory, receive orders, process them, or ship them out. It’s essential to have the WMS and eCommerce integration technology for effective eCommerce fulfillment.
Operationally, what layout or slotting change in your facilities most improved pick‑and‑pack speed or accuracy, and what result did you see?
We’ve made designated lanes for pick-and-pack customers. This means that there’s a designated row or aisle where pickers select items. We put the fastest moving items there, so speed can increase. The fastest moving items are close together, allowing a team member to pick all the items for an order more quickly, eliminate inaccuracies, and get them off to be packed and shipped more efficiently than if items were spread out across a warehouse.
On the people side, how do you plan labor and incentives for peak ecommerce seasons to maintain SLAs without overspending?
For us, this has been a constant balance of supply and demand (pun intended). As much as we can, we try to remain agile. We plan ahead as much as possible, staff for the needs that have been communicated, and then jump in if extra help is needed or if something unexpected happens.
We’re a team where no job is too small for anyone, and if it’s an all-call, all hands on deck job, we roll up our sleeves and pitch in. It’s really a matter of agility, because we can all plan and communicate as best as we can between brands and a 3PL provider, but we know that sometimes supply chains change quickly.
For startups new to third‑party fulfillment, what does your onboarding checklist prioritize to ensure clean data, accurate inventory, and a smooth go‑live?
For start-ups new to third-party logistics services, we onboard in as little as 2 weeks. Though sometimes more time is needed, we can make it happen if necessary. We use several different tools and resources to test, modify, and verify that data is coming through as it should, inventory is syncing, and a go-live launch date is set for the smoothest setup.
We talk a little bit about how we prepare for that onboarding as we’re talking to an e-commerce customer here.
As clients expand into omnichannel and retail distribution, what repeatable process do you use to prevent EDI errors and retailer chargebacks?
This really varies with each customer and depends on their policies with their customers. This is something we typically discuss with each customer prior to launch to ensure we’re on the same page.
Turning to transportation, how do you structure your carrier mix and service levels to balance cost, speed, and reliability for first‑mile and last‑mile?
Typically, we’ve obtained the best rates with UPS and FedEx across the board. Since we’ve been in business for almost twenty years and have shipped millions of packages, we’ve negotiated rates that work well for our customers.
This often depends on each customer and the expectations they have set with their customers.
Zooming out to network design and commercial real estate, what single metric or model most influences your decision to open a new warehouse or select a specific market?
We’re really doing this in ways that others aren’t. Since warehouses are so expensive to build and construction prices continue to rise, we’re looking for buildings that may be overlooked and converting them into productive 3PL facilities. It’s a more prudent financial move, brings work back to that local economy, and revitalizes a building that was once useless.
For us, it’s a matter of opportunity in the area, a building that’s been overlooked, and a customer that has a need.
