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Former Apple and UPS executive Gal Dayan has just joined Ascent as COO, and talks big forwarders, tech – and aircraft ownership
Large freight forwarders are struggling to deliver the customer service their marketing promises, according to Mr Dayan, who argues that specialist operators have more room to invest in shipper relationships.
Mr Dayan, who became chief operating officer of Ascent Global Logistics on 1 October, told The Loadstar consolidation and the pursuit of efficiency had come at a cost to customers.
“I don’t feel that the multinationals truly value their customers,” he said.
Drawing on his experience as head of logistics at Apple, he questioned whether large forwarders’ claims to put customers ‘at the centre of their operations’ were reflected in the service they actually delivered.
“It’s been very challenging to really see the value the multinationals are bringing,” he said.
Mr Dayan, who also spent 23 years at UPS as SVP procurement, subsequently moved into marine and project logistics with Horizon Air Freight and Swift Marine, before joining Ascent.
He argued that the higher margins available in specialist logistics allowed providers to devote more resources to customers, while competing for general cargo required a different calculation.
“Can you go and serve all the verticals? Absolutely, you can,” he said, adding that the question was whether the return justified the investment.
Ascent has also focused on investment in technology to reduce the manual work involved in receiving orders, sourcing capacity, and preparing quotations, freeing staff to spend more time developing customer solutions.
The company is upgrading its proprietary PEAK marketplace, which connects customers with providers of services including expedited trucking, air charters, and onboard couriers. Separately, legacy transportation management systems in its brokerage operations are being replaced with a newer version of Oracle’s TM.
Gal Dayan
Mr Dayan said PEAK could return a proposed solution and quotation within six minutes of an enquiry. He contrasted this with the manual effort involved in arranging large numbers of charters ahead of Apple product launches.
But Ascent’s platform ambitions extend beyond its established automotive customer base, added.
“We have aspirations to actually continue to expand it, not just for the automotive, but to create a global platform that connects all the multinational airlines in the world with the freight forwarders and customers,” he said.
However, he did not give a launch timetable or explain how the proposed expansion would differ from existing airfreight booking platforms.
One of the most interesting aspects of Ascent is the fact that it owns aircraft via its USA Jet airline subsidiary, a notoriously difficult asset to manage, and one that has proved challenging for forwarders before. USA Jet has one MD-83F, and five MD-88Fs, while a further two are parked, according to planespotters.
The fleet has an average age of more than 35 years, and while cheap to own, they are not fuel efficient – 2013 data shows that on a trip between Miami and Memphis, an MD-88F would burn 13% more fuel than a 737-400F.
Mr Dayan acknowledged that the age of some aircraft was making spare parts harder to obtain. The airline was examining options for its next generation of aircraft, although he did not identify potential types or a replacement schedule.
Investment would be linked to demand and partnerships, he said, rather than fleet expansion for its own sake.
The airline remained central to Ascent’s proposition because it gave time-critical customers confidence that capacity would be available. The freighters operate on an adhoc charter basis through North America, Ascent’s main playground.
USA Jet remains “a critical element of our business”, confirmed Mr Dayan, although Ascent also uses partner airlines for longer-haul charters.
“We’re working now on a project from Korea, so we do offer our international charter services outside North America, relying on some other partners and not our fleet.”
On fleet investment, he added: “We don’t go and invest in new fleet just for the purpose of doing it,” explaining that expansion involved working with customers and strategic partners to ensure demand.
Mr Dayan sees further opportunities in life sciences and high-value technology shipments, where service requirements can outweigh relatively small differences in freight costs.
The hi-tech sector could be particularly interested in Ascent’s time-critical services for high-value shipments, combining shipment visibility and operational support with additional security.
“If we can package it with the proper security protocol, it will be a perfect answer for some of the high-value products that we’re able to provide to our customers,” he said.
But, he added: “I’m not suggesting that Apple is going to be my customer tomorrow, even though I have a great relationship with them. But I definitely see how the product we’re developing here will be very interesting to this hi-tech industry.”