"Together Talks" feature # 115: Thymly Products presented by KLS, freight company
Some Background on Thymly Products
Today's edition of "Together Talks" campaign, KLS had the opportunity to interview Thymly Products and Paula Linton, Purchasing & Logistics. Thymly Products Inc. is a 4th generation family owned manufacturer of quality food ingredients since 1967. They serve all aspects of the food industry and have the ability to formulate ingredients to your needs. Thymly is well known for their baking powder, yeast foods, dough conditioner, food grade chemicals, grain blends, shelf-life systems, & dry milks. They also offer custom blends that allows you only to scale and stock one item. These blends have safeguards built in to make your batter or dough more tolerant. Thymly's blends are widely used by the following industries; sweet good, bread, tortilla, and the snack food. They also offer onsite professional technical help to solve any of your food related problems.
Since 1967
The company began operations in 1967. With a demand for bakery blends and food creation being not fulfilled, Harry Muller-Thym, Sr. set out to fill that gap. In due time, the company became a staple for their formulations that provided a solution for a baker's specification. Fast forward 50+ years later, and Thymly is not only excelling in those two sectors, but has branched out further to be provide even more created value for their customers.
Being in business as long as Thymly has, is a testament to the relationships they have developed. Growing over five decades allowed them to not only work with small companies but also national and even worldwide bakeries. Their commitment to service has propelled them into one of the industry leaders. The relationships created have morphed into partnerships with Thymly believing that in order for their operation to grow they need to play a pivotal role in their customers growing as well.
In speaking with Paula, she stated one of the ways that Thymly remains an industry leader is their innovation. With an industry that is constantly changing, evolving, onto the next "it" thing, she credits their drive and passion to innovate which allows continued growth. The entire company is proactive which has them prepared for the next new phase in the industry. "Our core group of people are so devoted to innovation that allows us to excel, but we can't forget about our customer service.", Paula explained. She continued that all departments strive to provide the best all-around service for any customer that works with TPI.
Paula wasn't able to narrow down one area or department of the company that is their strength stating, "if every area isn't strong then there is something broken and it needs to be reviewed." Instead she praised Thymly’s team atmosphere and how everyone is pushing the company forward into new heights. She credited her success starting at the top with the president and trickling down. With the bar set high for expectations and work ethic, the team first mentality promotes not only professional but also personal growth. She stated that the longevity of some of the core employees is truly invaluable due to their knowledge and experience.
Covid Challenge bring opportunity
When Covid hit it was the fear of the unknown, followed by regrouping, and problem solving. Thymly never shut down during the pandemic. Once they understood the landscape they realized it was an opportunity. It turned out to be a huge growth period for the company as they did what they did best, problem solve for their customers. Paula did reflect on how difficult it was to not only get in supplies, but also keep up with demand.
In addition to trying to maintain inventory levels, they had to deal with the new transportation outlook. "Prices shot up immediately and it became harder to source trucks and products.", Paula shared. (Our favorite buzz term during that time SUPPLY CHAIN SHORTAGES). Post-Pandemic Paula shared she doesn't feel freight costs or reliability have returned much to levels prior to Covid. This has presented challenges in trying to meet customer demands while keeping them in budget and remaining profitable at TPI. Having any type of delay can cause massive implications for their customers as missing one ingredient can shut down production. Paula said the communication, transparency, and reliability of all aspects of their supply chain is critical to once again provide the best possible service for their customers.
Paula depicted the upcoming goals for Thymly which is to gain a larger presence on the west coast. While already dealing with some large wholesale bakeries, they would love to expand and increase their footprint with small to midsized bakeries as well. Being an industry leader, that pushes innovation, also allows the company to not just be known for one thing, but blossom into other areas they can provide value. By always learning and developing Thymly is poised to continue to expand their reach and growth through innovation of not only new products, but ideas as well. Paula also was kind enough to share a beneficial tool they use, receiving and understanding market reports from vendors has been very insightful for them. A great learning point many of us can implement, thanks Paula!
Partner with KLS
KLS offers LTL and FTL for both dry and reefer transportation.
Our nationwide coverage provides companies a reliable, consistent, and dependable logistics partner to handle your trucking needs.
For more information on how we can help call our office today 708-980-0920 or reach us via our email quote request here!
One of a kind team
Paula has now been with Thymly for over 11 years. Prior to joining the company she worked in a purchasing role, albeit a much smaller scale. She shared she had no knowledge of the baking industry or logistics prior to her transition. She was hesitant that she would be able to step in and deliver immediately, but she told us about very early in her time there, "I remember taking a PO to Vince to sign off on and he asked me what I am doing. My last job was so micromanaged, I couldn't do any aspect of my job without it being signed off on. Here I realized early I was given the freedom and trust to perform my tasks which was so empowering."
The early part of her career with Thymly Paula shared an office with Vince. She told us how initially she thought it would be so detrimental, but looking back it was the ultimate opportunity. She was fortunate enough to be able to listen, watch how he handled situations and problems, and constantly strived to learn. She was under his learning tree and taking full advantage to better her own skillset. He was critical in her development through teaching, training, guiding, and supporting her.
The amount of support geared towards development from employees is unique in Paula's estimation. She said it makes it easy going to work when it is as enjoyable as possible. Enjoying your work also brings a different level of confidence in completing her tasks she explained. This support gives her the chance to grow in light of mistakes as well. She told us a story about sending product to the wrong location for one of their larger clients. "That immediate sense of panic sets in. But I took a step back and assessed the situation. We found out where the truck was and got it rerouted. It wasn't ideal, but we fixed the problem and communicated with our customer." She explained that despite the mistake she was able to take away the importance of slowing down and being thorough with the logistics portion as it is always changing.
Piece of Advice
The conversation with Paula ended with her sharing her piece of advice:
The conversation with Paula ended with her sharing her pieces of advice:
"I can sometimes be a little close minded and hard on myself, but being open to learning new ideas, concepts, strategies is important. The team at Thymly is always looking at the future, and uses resources at our disposal to read, study, and learn. Be educated and prepared to adapt with changes and evolution within an industry. Look at what is coming down the road, what is the next “in” thing, be open to that and ready to handle it.
As for personal growth welcome it, don’t shy away, instead chase it. But remain positive while doing it. Gaining confidence from growing has a huge impact. Coworkers, family, friends see that. Confidence can lead you to incredible new places, that you never previously could have envisioned.
For years had I rented, always wanted to buy a home but was terrified. Vince and I have a great working relationship. He suggested buying a house, but I shared how scared I was. We broke it down and I ended up realizing I could do this. He is my biggest cheerleader and I am grateful for that. I've owned my house for over 5 years now! Doing things out of my comfort zone has been huge and after completing, I think back and wonder why was I scared. Great opportunity to grow, but also learning from mistakes. Own it, how can I improve, be ready to implement new skills to be better with the next opportunity."
Interested in being featured with "Together Talks"?
KLS is booking our upcoming schedule now!
Contact us as we would love to learn your story and share it amongst our audience.
Weekly we provide 2 companies our platform to expand their reach courtesy of our campaign. Let's collaborate!!!
In Closing
KLS wants to thank Paula Linton, Purchasing & Logistics of Thymly Products for today's "Together Talks" feature. Follow along for their journey with their social handles below!
Klimson Logistics Solutions - Together Talks with Thymly Products feature # 115
*Klimson Logistics Solutions is an Industry Leading Customer Service 3PL. Our focus and commitment to our clients has us striving to be the BEST customer service 3PL for LTL, FTL, Reefer, and Drayage in the country. KLS, freight company, is a 3PL providing nationwide logistics solutions. KLS shipping services include: LTL freight, FTL freight, Reefer LTL freight, Reefer FTL freight, and Drayage. Klimson Logistics Solutions thanks you for viewing our marketing campaign, "Together Talks". If you have any interest in being featured or questions regarding your freight operations please contact us today!
Why KLS?
Our precise and reliable effort.
We handle every shipment with the exact same process. It does not matter if you move one shipment a year or ten per day, you will receive the same level of customer service from us. When we started this company, we had one goal in mind, treat every shipment like it was our own. With our vast knowledge of the industry, we understood what a customer would want from a communication standpoint. We applied that process to be the standard here at KLS. Our reliability and being able to depend on our consistency is why we have such long-standing relationships with our clients.
Our Process?
Every shipment in our industry starts with a quote. We are firm believers that time is money, thus we strive to have quotes back in a 5-10 minute reply time for LTL and FTL, any FCL quotes are at the mercy of the carriers getting back to us. For LTL we have the flexibility to quote both off of NMFC and also Density depending on the carrier. Utilizing our services, you’re allowing us to use our expertise to class your freight accordingly to ensure we are providing the best rate we possibly can.
Once a quote has been submitted and a client chooses to proceed with KLS handling the arrangement of the shipment our full process begins. We create the BOL that will be used for the shipment. If it is a new location for our system, we will obtain all the important/special details (reference numbers, contact details, shipping hours, closed for lunch, dock/doors, etc.). We meticulously build every detail into our software for all future shipments involving that location. After we have both locations built and necessary reference numbers have been applied we will tender the shipment to the carrier. We use this method because it provides us a real time pickup number from the carrier to obtain updates prior to pickup. Our staff will either email the BOL directly to you or to the shipper (at your request) the minute after the tender has been accepted by the carrier. LTL carriers require a 2 hour window prior to close time in order to schedule it for a same-day pickup attempt.
The following morning you’ll receive an email from us. It will either provide the reason the pickup was missed (driver’s trailer filled up, driver missed the close time, truck broke down, shipper said no freight, etc.) or if the pickup was successful you will receive the PRO (tracking) number from us, along with the eta for delivery. Our staff will track it throughout the duration of transit and advise if anything happens that will alter the estimated delivery date. The day the shipment delivers we will email you with confirmation and the POD (Proof of Delivery), should you require it.
Your shipment has been quoted, scheduled, picked up, and delivered. The next step is waiting for the carrier to invoice us and make sure the rate matches up. If it does, we close out the invoice from the carrier in our system and automatically your invoice is created and sent to the requested party at your company. In the event the carrier has an additional charge on their invoice “Variance”, we will never send you an invoice with an additional charge without first identifying you of the charge.
Let us repeat, NEVER WILL WE JUST BILL OUT AN EXTRA CHARGE WITHOUT YOU BEING NOTIFIED.
You are our customer, we represent you. Should the carrier provide an extra charge on an invoice, “Lift gate, additional weight, reclass, detention, etc.) We notify you of the charge via email first. Second, within that email we identify what is required should you choose to dispute the charge. Again our goal is to honor your request, if you want to dispute, we will dispute. During a dispute we will provide you updates every step along the way. Once a dispute is closed out, whether it is approved or rejected, then we will invoice you as the invoice has been resolved.
For reference, our company only had 6.2% of all shipments go to dispute in 2022 and we successfully won 91% of those disputes on behalf of our customers.
This is our process for every single shipment you move with us. We don’t cut corners, we don’t hide from difficult situations. We believe in being available, honest, and transparent. We don’t ever want to tell you that a shipment is lost, damaged, misrouted, but it is our duty to notify you the second we find out something has gone wrong. We hate to present bad news, but it is part of the job. What you can guarantee is that we will work a shipment all the way through and turn over every stone until we get a resolution for our clients.
Services offered?
Our core business is LTL and FTL. Within these options we have options for both dry and refrigerated/frozen. We also offer FCL/Drayage options. Our company as a 3PL has nationwide options and services clients across the US.
Let’s breakdown our services more in-depth
LTL:
Standard and Guaranteed
CFS (Imports & Exports)
Tradeshows
Hazmat
Anything that is on a pallet can be moved LTL. Typically LTL is up to 10 pallets, but the sweet spot for a carrier is 6-8 pallets at most for an individual shipment. LTL quotes are good between 5-30 days depending on the carrier. LTL can be quoted either via NMFC or density to determine the class (we do this for you).
Volume:
Anything over 10-12’ of space in the truck is the technical rule for a volume shipment. When we run a quote for you we will determine if it qualifies for volume and provide you a rate if available. Volume moves allow you to get a reduced rate for larger shipments. The caveat to volume shipments it the quotes are only valid for 3-7 days and they move on capacity between terminals. If a terminal is backed up they will move their LTL freight first before the volume freight, which can lead to longer transit times for volume moves.
FTL/Dedicated/Expedited: 53’ Dry and Reefer 26’ Box trucks with lift gate Sprinter Van The main difference for FTL vs LTL is space and transit time. For standard pallets you can fit either 26 or 30 pallets in a 53’ dry van. The other main difference is transit time, for FTL each day counts in the transit time, whereas LTL does not count the day of pickup, weekends, or holidays in their transit time.
Reefer/Frozen:
LTL and FTL
We specialize working in the CPG space with food manufacturers. We regularly deliver to
the following locations:
Kehe
UNFI
Core Mark
DPI
Wegmans
Cugini
H.T. Hackney
Netrition
HEB
ALDI
Chambers and Owens
EBY Brown
Nassau Candy
Harris Teeter
Wakefern
NU INC
Long Distribution
What makes KLS different?
There are thousands of freight brokers and 3PL in our industry. Barrier to entry is rather easy and agents or owners will often hire sales people without any intention of properly training them. It results in high turnover for many freight companies and a forgettable experience for the client. We choose to operate differently through our consistency. We truly care about doing right by our clients and prospects too. While we would love to help provide our services to every company we speak with, that just isn’t realistic. We won’t always be the right fit for every company that moves freight and that is ok. Our authenticity as a shipping company sets us apart from the competition and that is backed up by our testimonials. We also run a marketing campaign bi-weekly called “Together Talks”. We interview, highlight, and promote two businesses every week. Our goal is to grow our network, make new connections, and learn something new with each collaboration. Check it out on our website and if you’re interested in being featured reach out.
Our company also runs a year long charity promotion. Book your first shipment through KLS and we donate to the charity of your choice in your name. Our way of thanking you for giving us an opportunity to show you the KLS way and what makes us one of a kind. This entire package is what we offer to every prospect and every client. Our goal is to help provide answers that customers may have when it comes to shipping. We want to always be available as a resource and will always offer a lending hand whenever we can.
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