Tennessee carrier expands into second building for accounting, brokerage divisions

By Al Muskewitz
 
Jim Peters always knew the time would come when TLD Logistics Services would outgrow its original campus.
 
As rapidly as the company has grown over its 11 years, it was just a matter of time before the Knoxville, Tenn.-based carrier would need to spread its wings to comfortably accommodate all the elements of its thriving business.
 
Earlier this summer the company moved into a second building to contain its accounting department and growing Brokerage 360 operations, accommodating more than 60 employees when fully staffed.
 
“The office set-up we have now would not have allowed us the space necessary we felt like we needed,” said Peters, TLD’s president and chief operating officer. “We really want to try to build a little bit of a new office structure/environment, so we felt like we really needed to move off-site to a different type of office set up.”
 
The 8,000-square-foot single-story structure is located about eight miles from TLD’s main office just off Exit 369 of I-40/75 in the Farragut suburb east of Knoxville.
 
TLD had planned on moving into a new building around the start of the year but ran into a slight snag and had to seek another location. The management team found an existing structure in the city limits and renovated it to fit their needs. They took occupancy in June.
 
The new building is state-of-the art for the industry, designed for comfort and functionality, reflecting the modern workday environments and sensibilities of a new generation of workers, providing an environment that promotes maximum productivity. It’s that type of commitment to both sides of the workday equation that has made TLD a Top Fleets to Drive For five years running.
 
“It’s very conducive to conducting business,” Peters said of the new building. On the business side, there are sound-proof work stations and Zoom and traditional conference rooms. On the lighter side, there’s a recreation area with video and sports games to help associates blow off a little steam.
 
“When we expand into that (brokerage) market we’re going to be looking to attract people who are just graduating from college perhaps or younger people who don’t have any experience in the transportation industry and we wanted to make sure we had a facility that lent itself to that type of talent,” Peters said. “A lot of people were very impressed about the technology and also the effort to try to make sure it was just an employee-friendly type environment.
 
“Obviously, everything in there is new from that perspective. I don’t think there’s a whole lot of businesses in Knoxville that had concerns about what type of activities would you like in the game room, what type of amenities in terms of trying to make it comfortable. From a perspective of a transportation office I think it’s a little bit unique and I think something that really will become kind of a hallmark of TLD’s future.”
 
TLD’s main campus still houses the home office, a driver training school, dispatch, maintenance, safety, HR and shop operations.

Al Muskewitz is Editor of Wright Media. He can be reached at musky@wrightmediacorp.com

To learn more about TLD Logistics Services, click here www.tldlogistics.com