JACK COOPER HOLDINGS
The most important keyword at Jack Cooper , one of North America ’ s oldest and most trusted logistics companies , is integrity : a core company value that it ’ s determined to retain into the digital age
There isn ’ t , surely , a single large and growing enterprise that has not been transformed by technology – a transformation that is never complete , since technology never stops evolving . This has presented challenges , as it ’ s easy to lose sight of the importance of human relationships in a world of automation : Jack Cooper , the largest over-theroad transporter of light vehicles in both the US and Canada , is one company that has met this challenge .
Jack Cooper is a household name throughout the North American car industry fulfilling since its foundation in 1924 the key task of delivering finished automobiles from plants to dealers . Today it has a network of 51 strategically located terminals , across the United States , Canada and Mexico : its largest customers being General Motors ( the OEM it started with , as a carrier from GM ’ s Leeds Assembly Plant in Kansas City , Missouri ), Ford Motor Company and Toyota . As well as taking cars from North American plants , its fleet of specialised transporters moves shipments of imported vehicles , and its logistics arm has a major presence in the rental and lease markets . If you buy a new or used car in North America , chances are Jack Cooper had a hand in delivering it to you .
When Kirk Hay the company ’ s Chief Information Officer ( CIO ), started his career in IT over 30 years ago , computer enabled systems and technology were very much a back office function , a service to make easier the work of departmental managers – who largely dictated what the IT guys
210 September 2017