Jim Thompson has over 25 years of executive level experience in logistics and distribution. A graduate of the US Merchant Marine Academy, Jim sailed as a Deck Officer for Lykes Bros. Steamship Company. Leaving the sea, he graduated from the University of Illinois with a MBA in Finance and joined Xerox Corporation; where he spent sixteen years, working in virtually every area of logistics. Among his accomplishments, he was part of the team at Xerox Corporation that pioneered Benchmarking, auditing more than twenty leading companies and generating more than $5 million in savings for Xerox from his observations. As VP of Logistics for Agfa Corporation, Jim combined the import, export, customer service, transportation and warehousing operations of four companies, saving $3 million while throughput increased 27%.
As co-owner of Delphus, Inc., a consulting and software marketing firm; Jim helped design and implement a highly successful visual scorecard system for monitoring very large data sets. At Menlo Logistics, he introduced several innovative approaches to carrier management, including a third party logistics transportation management center devoted to the publishing industry. He also created a very successful central routing center that managed over $90 million in freight for Frigidaire Corporation, implemented a truckload bidding model, electronic load tendering, mode optimization, pickup/delivery failure alerts and JIT truckload delivery to plants within 30 minutes of schedule; all while reducing costs by $12 million.
As President of AMR Global Logistics, Jim developed new customers in Eastern Europe for supply chain consulting, warehousing and transportation services; pruned several poorly performing operations, expanded the truckload brokerage business and implemented profitable regional delivery for a pharmaceutical client. Revenue increased 26% under his tenure, setting the stage for successful sale of the division by the parent. At Ryder Integrated Logistics, Jim directed the multi-client warehousing business area; directed project improvement initiatives in the US, Mexico and Europe; and directed the restructuring of all US Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI) activities as a third party logistics provider to Dell.
He is a recognized expert in warehousing, transportation, inventory planning, and third party logistics (3PL) project implementation. His strengths include network analysis, cost reduction and project startup. He has worked in the automotive, publishing, high tech, aerospace, consumer goods, pharmaceutical and retail industries.
As a consultant, Jim has successfully fulfilled engagements to analyze supply chains for major multinational companies, such as Motorola and American Standard. He has consulted for Volvo Parts, IRI, Bristol-Myers Squibb Canada, Standard & Poor’s, United Technologies, StorageTek and other leading companies. Jim has spoken at national and international conferences on demand forecasting, benchmarking, quality measurement, transportation optimization, VMI operations and improving operational productivity.
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