States Logistics, Inc. Partnering with Clif Bar & Company – In Good Company 2009 New Orleans

States Logistics, Inc. has been invited by our business partner Clif Bar & Company to participate in a community initiative called “In Good Company”. Clif Bar & Company supports causes they believe in which has been part of the company’s identity from the start. They know that they have a special role to play in working toward a healthier, more sustainable world, and Clif Bar & Company have learned that their efforts can be even more effective when they partner with others. With this in mind, they reached out to businesses that share our interest in serving our communities––both local and global––to join us in growing In Good Company. The idea behind the program is to bring like-minded, community-oriented companies together to focus awareness on people and places in need through hands-on action. In Good Company is designed to evolve traditional philanthropy into a more active, engaging, personal part of life.

This year States Logistics, Inc. will be sending two associates, Val Itula and Todd Christensen to join with Clif Bar & Company in this exciting project. The devastation of Hurricane Katrina and the spirit of the people of New Orleans have transcended the distance between communities, making New Orleans local to all of us. This is ideal ground for In Good Company, which promotes community on multiple levels at once by fostering relationships among employees, businesses, nonprofit organizations, and local residents, as well as creating opportunities for collaboration and shared learning among companies.

Partner Organizations in New Orleans
They will be working directly with 3 organizations while they are down in New Orleans, Rebuilding Together, New Orleans Food and Farming Network, and Bayou Rebirth. Each of these organizations is still working hard to restore the community of New Orleans by getting their neighbors safely back into their homes, while also providing access to reliable sources of fresh and healthy food for one and all.


1. Through Rebuilding Together, we have elected to sponsor one home and will be working on a variety of projects together, ranging in levels of difficulty, so there will be something for everyone interested in home restoration.
2. For those who are interested in food and farming issues, they are excited to be working with New Orleans Food and Farming Network and will have an opportunity to work on a range of projects, including completion of several backyard gardens for those who like to get their hands dirty.
3. They also wanted to make sure that we had a broader perspective on the environmental risks facing the area that have been amplified by a combination of regional development and increasingly intensive weather systems that have ravaged the local swamp and marshlands. They all will travel one day east to Big Branch Reserve to work together with local park rangers and experts from Bayou Rebirth on a habitat restoration project that will replant marsh grasses in a very vulnerable area of the bayou.

Green logistics: Industry expert cites ways of going green and cutting costs at the same time

WALTHAM, Mass.-It's possible to save money and the environment at the same time, and if you need proof, just look at the Green Machine.

That was the message Jack Ampuja, president of the consulting firm Supply Chain Optimizers, and executive director of the Center for Supply Chain Excellence at Niagara University in Lewiston, N.Y., was trying to get across at a Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP) New England Round Table event in Waltham, Mass. Tuesday night.

The event featured, among other things, a description of a new type of tractor for hauling freight, which Ampuja dubbed the "Green Machine" because of its environmentally-friendly design.

The tractor, he said, was conceived and built by a number of former trucking industry workers and veterans in Michigan. The tractor, Ampuja said, contains a long list of "green" enhancements, including nitrogen-filled tires (ordinary air escapes through the rubber over time), carbon-fiber springs, and a special hydrogen injector system for the engine.

Right now, companies like office furniture maker Hayworth, along with Pepsi, Anheuser-Busch and other companies, are expecting to save thousands of gallons of fuel per truck per year, and cut greenhouse gas emissions by amounts measured in metric tons.

But Ampuja was selling a point, not a truck: for all the cutting-edge improvements and patented design, Ampuja said the tractor is built out of off-the-shelf parts, and therefore costs the same as any other tractor on the market, so using them will not cost extra. If anything, Ampuja said, using them will save money long-term.

And that, Ampuja told the packed room, is the reality of the green movement in the corporate world.

"They (cutting costs and helping the environment) are not at odds," he said. "They complement each other."

Ampuja cited a recent study by the Aberdeen Group which found that leading companies are "greening up" by, among other things, redesigning logistics systems and redesigning packaging.

In addition to technological advances, Ampuja challenged the audience of supply chain managers, consultants and vendors to look to their own operations for other ways to go green and save money. Network optimization applications, he said, will be another major component of a green plan in the future, especially with oil prices expected to rise.

Read the rest of the logisticsmgmt.com article here.

As a company, part of our mission is to support our local communities. One of the organizations that we continue to support is the Alzheimer’s Association. The Orange County Alzheimer’s Association is having their annual Memory Walk on Saturday, October 17th at 10am on the campus of Cal State University of Fullerton. The Arizona Alzheimer’s Association is having their annual Memory walk on Saturday, October 24th in West Valley at the Beardsley Recreation Center at 9am.



The States Logistics “teams” for CA and AZ have been created on Memory Walk web site, where you can join the team and we can all walk as a group – or just support your fellow co-workers. Click the following link to go directly to the States Logistics Team Pages for CA and AZ:



http://memorywalk.kintera.org/csuf/stateslogistics



http://memorywalk2009.kintera.org/westvalley/stateslogistics



In addition to walking, we have also reached out to the Alzheimer’s Association about volunteer opportunities on the day of the walk. For more information contact the States Logistics Human Resources Department.



The States Logistics family has participated in the Memory Walk for the past several years. It is a great opportunity to support a worthy cause … get in some light exercise … and spend a couple of hours with family and friends.