We contracted PLG for an Energy Sector Strategic Research & Actionable Opportunity Project. Our goals were to determine specific expansion opportunities within G&W’s core short line and regional freight railroad business. I saw Taylor Robinson at SWARS and reported that the accuracy of the market predictions, and opportunity target areas PLG delivered provided the information we needed to achieve our goals.

We engaged PLG Consulting for an assessment of our rail logistics to assist in our business planning and strategy. The experience PLG brought provided us good suggestions both organizationally and strategically on how to improve the management of our logistics functions. The assessment identified specific business opportunities, strategies to optimize our fleet, and tools to analyze our performance and suppliers. Our engagement with PLG was on time, efficient and provided us with actionable suggestions, support, follow-up, and gave us confidence moving forward.

We have used PLG on many projects to help us understand the implications of complex industry trends and the resultant positioning of certain specific assets.  This includes a recent experience in which PLG helped us evaluate a port and rail terminal and its ability to become a significant logistics hub.  What distinguishes PLG is that they understand their markets from an insider’s point of view; not just as a consultant analyzing data.  So they are able to bring to bear industry experts who have the knowledge and operational experience in specific market sectors, and who can thereby provide unique views.  For excellent commentary and quantifiable data analysis in logistics and chemical niches, we use PLG.

We commissioned PLG to analyze the impact of shale fracking on the North American chemical industry renaissance. Quality Distribution is the leading chemical bulk transportation carrier in North America, and PLG helped us understand how the shale-driven low-cost natural gas feedstock positively affected chemical supply chains. PLG provided chemical and energy experts who helped us understand where to make investments in facilities and equipment to support the substantially improved industry volumes. The PLG study delivered the information necessary to enable us to make good decisions about the appropriate chemical growth markets so we could optimize our network design.

This was the first time in the history of the Petroleum Supply Monthly that we had incorporated crude-by-rail data, and we worked collaboratively each month with PLG navigating huge data sets with an accelerated deadline that was met within budget. The PLG experts developed strategies and ways to connect segments of data that enabled us to have transparent and accurate crude–by-rail data. The accurate reporting method we built with PLG aligns with the way the EIA presents data and is utilized in presentations by various organizations. Our efforts were recognized as #2 of the top 15 EIA accomplishments in 2015.

Solvay ships almost all of our products by rail.  We operate a sizable rail car fleet, and we ship from a manufacturing facility in Wyoming.  We engaged PLG to help us determine if we were utilizing our infrastructure efficiently.  Solvay’s growth plan had rail infrastructure implications, and we needed to evaluate our infrastructure to determine how best to make investments to achieve our goals.  Our need for assistance fit into a very specific niche, and our scope of work was well-defined.  PLG made several key recommendations on how to better utilize our current rail management system, and the overall use of our railcar track and trace infrastructure.  The PLG team provided the expertise and very practical and pragmatic solutions we could implement to reach our objectives.

Having a 3rd party expert deliver the as-is view, convey the complexity and challenges and then deliver reasonable and specific recommendations addressing the issues (and not trying to turn it into a year-long engagement) really brought the senior management sponsors into alignment which helped bring all other stakeholders into alignment behind the effort. PLG Consulting’s experts also have the experience to discuss regulatory, commercial and contractual impacts of these implementations.