2010s...
In the Fall of 2010, A. Duie Pyle began solar installation at the Parkesburg, PA warehouse campus. Over 4,000 solar panels were installed, allowing this 570,000 square foot facility to run on 100% Solar Energy.
Serious and extensive upgrades began in 2011 on the Allentown, PA Service Center with the opening in October. In this same year, A. Duie Pyle attained certification under the Responsible Care® Program and was named “Responsible Care Partner of the Year”. Technology upgrades and security enhancements included the purchase of the Descartes Route Planning Optimization Software and the migration of all servers from the corporate office in West Chester to offsite data centers.
In 2013 the company formalized the Customized Solutions Group which encompassed Truckload/Brokerage, Custom Dedicated, and Warehousing & Distribution. This group, headed by Keary Mueller, capitalizes on the synergies and flexibility enabled through the extensive infrastructure and equipment resources of the company and most importantly the culture, enthusiasm and commitment of the Pyle people. Pyle’s operating expertise in the Northeast provided the perfect base for expanding dedicated and brokerage services. The eighth warehouse was added to Pyle’s total inventory adjoining the Westfield, MA campus and providing additional rail served warehousing. Steve O’Kane retired as president of A. Duie Pyle having made many significant contributions during his tenure of service with the company. Randy Swart was named Steve’s successor and will operate LTL Solutions as it continues to grow and acquire greater market share within the Northeast.
The severe winter and record setting low temperatures of 2013-2014 enabled the company to further differentiate from other carriers via its asset based Protect From Freezing (PFF) Service.
In July 2014, A. Duie Pyle opened the Baltimore, MD Service Center. This facility extended the company’s LTL footprint into Northern Virginia. Rolling stock was increased with the purchase of over 110 Freightliner and Volvo tractors and over 170 new trailers, including 81 heated trailers bringing the Pyle heated trailer fleet to over 440 of its 2,000 units. Pyle also implemented a new fleet maintenance software system and introduced aerodynamic side skirts on the 53’ Line Haul trailers to enhance fuel economy.
In the first quarter of 2015, A. Duie Pyle opened a first-of-its-kind Logistics Center in Westampton, NJ. The 32-acre campus included over 100 doors for progressive loading and unloading and more than 132,000 square feet of warehousing space. A new companywide Dock Management System (DMS) replaced a paper based process with mobile touch screen devices. The flexible system allows for future development to match the ever changing needs of Pyle customers. Manual automated transmissions became a fleet standard while Pyle also began implementing additional fleet safety features including lane departure warning sensors and forward facing cameras.
During the second quarter of 2015 the 56 door Wilkes-Barre, PA Service Center opened with room to grow as capacity is needed. Pyle’s first Leadership Development Program graduates finished their program in May of 2015 and were deployed throughout the Pyle network. June marked the retirement of Jim Latta, one of three 3rd generation owners, after 42 years of dedicated service to the company and whose presence will be missed. Pyle’s investment in facilities and the environment continued with the opening of the environmentally-friendly Allentown, PA shop. Bays are lit by natural sunlight fed into the facility rather than overhead lighting. A large pool beneath the facility has the ability to collect 250,000 gallons of runoff water and return it back into the ground supply.
In September 2015 Brian Singelais won the Tank Truck Division at the 2015 American Trucking Associations’ (ATA) National Truck Driving Championship in St. Louis, MO. Singelais has been a driver with Pyle for over a decade.
In 2016 Pyle announced the opening of a new transportation service center in Newburgh, NY about 60 miles north of New York City to serve customers throughout the Hudson Valley. Container chassis were purchased and implemented into the Carteret, NJ operation for movement of shipping containers in and out of the ports of New York and New Jersey.
At the end of 2016 and during 2017, 71 Express Solutions vehicles were rolled out. These 18’ non CDL liftgate equipped straight trucks are used to support the expansion of E-commerce, residential deliveries and same day services.
2017 began with the opening of a new service center in Portland, ME and the introduction of MobileComm Handheld units for P&D drivers. A simple photo of the Bill of Lading goes directly to the new billing workflow application before the driver returns to the service center. These new processes increased billing velocity resulting in earlier availability for Linehaul and inbound planning processes. Pyle also invested in electric powered pallet jacks for handling heavy freight, helping to improve efficiency of dock operations at all service centers. In June, Billy Latta joined the company and after completing the Leadership Development Program, he moved into a Custom Dedicated role. Construction on the Bronx, NY service center was completed in the fourth quarter. Frank Granieri was named Pyle’s COO of Custom Dedicated and Warehouse & Distribution service offerings.
Thanks to the tireless commitment and perseverance of everyone involved, in January of 2018 Pyle officially opened its Bronx, NY service center on the East River in Hunts Point. The 77 door cross-dock facility further strengthened Pyle’s AM delivery and pickup capabilities in the New York metro and Long Island regions while increasing freight velocity and flexibility for the company’s many New York metro clients. With the addition of this facility into Pyle’s dense network, the company becomes uniquely positioned for reducing the impacts of congestion carriers often experience entering and exiting the city. Approximately 100 new Pyle team members come on board as a result.
The resolve of the whole Pyle team was tested in the late Winter of 2018 as four Nor’Easters directly impacted the Northeast in less than a month in March. Ever resilient and prepared, the Pyle team overcame the unprecedented challenges and continued providing exceptional service amidst building bill count levels. Surmounting these obstacles underscored Pyle’s operational excellence within the challenging Northeastern landscape and lent further credence to Pyle’s claim as being best equipped and unmatched within its primary service territory.
After 10 years of service, COO Randy Swart retired at the end of April 2018. Swart contributed greatly to Pyle, and under his leadership the company accomplished many strategic initiatives and materially advanced the Pyle Team’s cause. The leadership transition sees John Luciani assume the role as COO of LTL Solutions, while Frank Granieri maintained his role as COO of Pyle’s Dedicated, Brokerage and W&D segments.
The capacity issues within the industry attract increasingly more national media coverage as the spotlight is focused squarely upon the worsening driver shortage. In this climate, Pyle moved forward with initiatives for creating more quality capacity for its customers with a number of expansion projects. Construction began at Pyle’s Albany, NY, location, which will double the size of the service center to approximately 80 doors. Expansion into the Hagerstown, MD region begins with the opening of a 21 door service center, with plans underway in the region for an 80 door integrated facility with 200,000 square feet of warehouse space. The Hagerstown expansion will help alleviate capacity pressures from the York, Baltimore and Altoona service centers while enhancing Pyle’s service footprint. Additionally, land is purchased and plans are developed for the construction of a similar facility in Portland, ME.
On April 15th, 2019, Pyle celebrated 95 years within the transportation and logistics industry as a number of initiatives aimed at securing the company’s future progressed.
2019 proved to be a year of expansion and development for Pyle as numerous service center projects broke ground and saw their completion. Among these was the opening of a sixteen door service center in Burlington, VT, new service centers in Saco, ME, and Concord, NH, and doubling the number of doors at the Albany, NY Service Center. Pyle also relocated its Newburgh Service Center from a leased site to a larger, company-owned location.
Significant progress continued toward the construction of the Hagerstown Integrated Logistics Center. In response to early demand for the Hagerstown site, Pyle leased 150K sq. ft. of space in the area.
2019 also saw Pyle joining with two new partners, Speedy Transport for service to Eastern Canada and Oak Harbor Freight Lines for service to the West Coast. The partnership with Oak Harbor marked Pyle’s first venture in servicing shippers’ needs to and from the West Coast market.
2019 marked the 30th year Pyle was named as a Logistics Management Quest for Quality Winner. It was the fourth year in a row Pyle took home the top overall ranking in the Northeast/Mid-Atlantic Regional LTL category.
In April of 2019, Pyle piloted two FUSO electric trucks out of its Bronx service center to more adeptly service the congested New York Metropolitan area. The vehicles were the world’s first fully electric-powered, medium-duty trucks and A. Duie Pyle was one of the first North American carriers to implement them into their fleet.
While A. Duie Pyle has overcome a great deal over the decades, a new and unprecedented event tested the entire Pyle team in June of 2019 as the company fell victim to a cyber ransomware attack which completely disrupted the company’s network communications systems. The level of disruption was substantial; however, the 24/7 collective efforts of the Pyle People along with open and continuous communication directly from Chairman and CEO Peter Latta helped mitigate the damages incurred. Within days of the ransomware attack, Latta said the company was back online with little disruption to its customer service network.
Revenue totaled $491,000,000 which marked another year of significant growth for Pyle.