CHEP acquires LeanLogistics for $45 million

The two companies plan to pool their supply chain data to help customers reduce transportation costs.

By Staff -- Modern Materials Handling, 3/4/2008

Pallet and container pooling company CHEP announced today it is acquiring LeanLogistics for $45 million.

The transaction is expected to be completed by this Friday, March 7.

Based in Holland, Michigan, LeanLogistics, is a supply chain software supplier that provides on-demand transportation management systems (TMS) for more than 40 major corporations.

According to CHEP senior vice president Brian Beattie, this acquisition made sense for the company on several levels. Beattie says CHEP and its parent company, Brambles, worked with LeanLogistics on getting this acquisition locked in for several months.

“We see an opportunity to leverage cross-customer supply chain data, which CHEP captures from its pooling business, to help customers reduce transportation costs,” Beattie says. “We will be working closely with the LeanLogistics team to test the services and then roll out further once we validate the savings.”

LeanLogistics president and CEO Dan Dershem says leveraging this data will result in services that customers can use to drive supply chain efficiencies.

 “As diesel prices rise, all parties to the shipment face the need to improve efficiency to offset the cost increases,” says Dershem. “A key source of efficiency may come from managing the overall process more efficiently with information. There are an extremely small number of sources with the critical mass of these data. The combination of CHEP and LeanLogistics creates the largest, most viable source of this information.”

LeanLogistics will operate as a division of CHEP, and the company will remain in Holland, Michigan.

Jeff Berman, Senior Editor for Logistics Management, contributed to this report.