Category: Customer News

Today we welcomed members from Graphic Packaging, one of our valued customers based out of Shelbyville, IL, to our facility. As most of you know we haul freight out of these Graphic Packaging Facilities:

• Shelbyville, IL
• Centralia, IL
• Augusta, GA
• Texarkana, TX
• Clarksville, TN
• Pittston, PA

We were happy to show them what goes on behind the scenes at MK and glad to have been given the opportunity in treating them to lunch! We’re thankful to have a great customer relationship with them and are appreciative of their loyalty.

On May 21, 2020, right in the middle of the country’s COVID shut down, we received the news that we lost one of our biggest customer accounts, Mars Petcare.  I just remember feeling completely shocked – we were hauling 40 or more shipments a week for them!  It was a giant blow for our Customer Team because we had spent so much time building our entire network around the lanes we hauled for Mars.  We signed up for all kinds of freight coming out of areas where we were not going to have trucks.  So, like so many other companies that go through adversity, we had to adapt and overcome. 

The Customer Team worked hard to sign new customers as well as increase the number of shipments with our existing customers.  We not only survived but ended up coming out of the past year stronger than when we started.   In addition, we made sure to stay in contact with Mars Corporate and the Mattoon plant all year long to remind them that we are still here if they needed help.  About 5 months ago, they finally reached out and had us help haul some lanes that their new carriers were falling behind on.  They realized that they had made a mistake contracting with carriers who were not providing the same type of service that Marvin Keller provided them.  We were invited back to bid this year and we were awarded lanes out of Mattoon and Gibson City again! 

This says a couple different things:

1. We have the best fleet of drivers on the road.

2. Our customer service is top notch.

We are so happy to have Mars back.  The freight is very carrier friendly – most of it is drop and hook on both sides.   We will be delivering to Lancaster, TX, Columbia, SC, West Jefferson, OH and a few other locations.  I look forward to continuing to prove ourselves as a true asset to Mars Petcare. 

Author: Mindy Miller

Another account that we haul for is Conagra Foods, formally Pinnacle Foods.  We run inbound and outbound loads out of central Illinois, Indiana, Prattville, AL, Elgin, IL, and some out of the Chicago area. 

Conagra was first founded in 1919 by Frank Little and Alva Kinney, who brought together four grain mills.  The company began producing flour at its own mill, and in 1942 ventured into the livestock feed business.  In the 1950s and 1960s, households started purchasing more and more prepared and instant foods.  Conagra started going in the opposite direction and focused more on raw foods like poultry and expanding its livestock feed business.

Some of the products Conagra currently produces are cooking oil, frozen dinners, hot cocoa, hot dogs, peanut butter, and many others.  Some of the major brands include Hunt’s, Healthy Choice, Marie Callender’s, Orville Redenbacher’s, and Slim Jim.

Conagra also founded the Child Hunger Ends Here campaign in 2013, which would donate up to 3 million meals to help fight child hunger.

Author: Donna Reed

Nestle in Bloomfield, MO has been a customer of ours for around 9 years. This is just one of Nestle’s Tidy Cats brand kitty litter factories. We are currently doing outbound lanes to Menards in Plano, IL as well as to Walmart in Spring Valley, IL and Seymour, IN. We also have an inbound lane coming out of Decatur, IL that supplies the containers for the kitty litter.

We are one of the carriers that they will accommodate drop and hooks, which is convenient for drivers. Recently, they went live with a new warehouse management system and, at the same time, expanded their warehouse. Doing both at the same time has been very challenging, which has caused some problems with preloading trailers timely. They are working hard to get back on track and we know that will be soon!

Author: Melissa Shain

Weekly, Marvin Keller hauls 40-50 loads out of Graphic Packaging in Shelbyville. Many receivers we deliver to are actually warehouses that deliver smaller amounts of product to their local businesses like Wendy’s and Dairy Queen. We have new shippers for Graphic Packaging where volume continues to increase. The shippers that supply finished goods are Shelbyville, IL, Centralia, IL, and Clarksville, TN. These facilities ship paper items such as cups, lids, cup sleeves, microwave trays, beer cartons, etc. Other GP facilities ship raw materials, instead of finished goods. These are the GP Mills. As we continue to grow with GP, more sites will be introduced with different products being hauled.

Author: Rachel Fry

Agri-Fab, a well-known business located in Sullivan IL, was founded in 1975 when the company developed a new type of lawn sweeper. It was the best-performing sweeper in the market and that turned the small, Midwest company into a major fixture in the lawn and garden-attachment industry. Over the years, they have developed a product line of lawn-care attachments and equipment, including fertilizer sprayers, aerators, lawn carts, snowblades, and wheelbarrows.

Agri-Fab has collaborated with Hydro-Gear of Sullivan to create solutions for the lawn-care and machinery industries. Together, they employ roughly 1100 jobs in the small town of Sullivan. MK hauls freight for both companies. The main lanes we run for Agri-Fab are based in OH, IN, IL, and MO. Chances are good that your home lawn and garden equipment could have been manufactured right here.

Author: Rachel Fry

Hydro-Gear has been in business since 1991.  It started as a joint-venture with Agri-Fab to assemble hydrostatic transmissions and axles before supplying them to the OEM (original equipment manufacturer).   Today, they design and produce components and drive products for commercial and industrial markets. 

Most of the freight that MK hauls is components, metal parts to build this machinery.  These parts come together to create transmissions, axles, drives, piston pumps, wheel motors, and other transmission and drive systems.  It’s likely that Hydro-Gear parts are used in the power equipment we use at home, such as lawnmowers.  Our usual lanes from HG deliver to the warehouses in Princeton KY and Mattoon IL.  Then those get taken over to the factory as needed.  A lot of our HG lanes are out east.  Saint Marys PA, Berea OH, Massillon OH, and Middleburg Heights OH are our frequent lanes.  Their busy shipping season is during the fall and winter since a lot of their equipment is being assembled for spring work.

Author: Mindy Miller

Sherwin Willams is one of Marvin Keller’s largest and best customers. We deliver to so many different locations for them and provide excellent service. When you hear the name Sherwin Williams, you automatically think of paint, right? They also sell home goods that don’t involve paint, like wallpaper. You can buy that at any one of their stores. They are also branching out in order to spark more creativity. They have created a design center where anyone can go and try their hand at decorating their own home, complete with the ability to see what it would look like as a finished product. Very impressive!

Sherwin Williams does not just sell paint in the United States. The company has a rather large presence throughout North America, but also in both South America and Europe. The company’s name came from its founders. When it first started in 1866, two different individuals made the decision to go into business together and sell paint. One carried the last name Sherwin, while, you guessed it, the other was Williams. They decided it would be easiest to create a company that carried both of their names. Altogether, there are approximately seventeen different brands of paint owned by them. With so many different options for paint and other items, Sherwin Williams is the largest paint company in the world and employs approximately 52,000 people!

Author: Donna Reed, Customer Team

Marvin Keller has been hauling products for ADM/Stratas Foods for about 12 years and has been steadily increasing our load volume. They are our 3rd largest customer. We are primary on several Stratas lanes including Walmart in Brundidge, AL, Opelika, AL, and New Albany, MS, and Kroger in Forest Park, GA, and Valdosta, GA. We also haul several loads a week for ADM Milling warehouses. MK is considered a top carrier for ADM/Stratas, which puts us in the position to have our trailers preloaded and be able to use their drop lots. We are known as a carrier who is reliable and can make deliveries on time without problems. Big shout out to all drivers as this helps with feeding families around the world.

ADM is an American multinational food processing and commodities trading corporation. They operate more than 270 plants and 420 crop procurement facilities worldwide where they transform natural products into ingredients. Some of the major ingredients they supply are cereal grains and oilseeds that are processed into food and beverages, animal feed, fuel, and other industrial products for their markets worldwide. They also provide agricultural storage and transportation services. Products are transported with dry vans, refers, tankers, hoppers, railcars, planes, and cargo ships.

In 2008, ADM and ACH Foods formed a 50/50 joint venture forming Stratas Foods, whose corporate office is located in Bartlett, TN. They are a leading supplier of a variety of fats, oils, sauces, mayonnaises, and dressings for food service (food ingredients) and private label markets of retail facilities, such as Walmart, Kroger, Aldi, and Supervalue grocery stores. They have production facilities in CA, IL, GA, NJ, TN, and TX. With supplying to both the foodservice and retail markets, Stratas was able to adapt quickly during covid shutdowns.

Author: Mitch Wilson, Customer Team

Today’s customer spotlight is one you may be familiar with – Wal-Mart! Walmart distribution centers (or Walmart DCs) receive merchandise that is not delivered directly to the stores. At the DCs, merchandise is held, sorted, and delivered to Walmart stores, Sam’s Clubs, and even customers via direct delivery. One distribution center can support up to 100 stores. In the event of a natural disaster, Walmart also has disaster DCs in place to support local communities. An individual Walmart DC unloads over 200 trucks each day. Each facility is over 1 million square feet in size, with over 50 million square feet combined across the US!

We have seen a tremendous increase in volume for Walmart in the past year. What started with a few loads per week has grown to 40 to 50 loads. Our main shipping states include TX, MO, SC, AL, and GA with the majority of these loads going to Missouri, Kentucky, or back to Illinois. The majority of this freight is drop and hook at their DCs which makes it nice for Drivers. We haul all sorts of commodities from furniture and pet food to toys for the little ones on Christmas!