On the move: American Fast Freight: American Fast Freight was born in Alaska to serve the nation.

• Author: Martin, Gary L.
• Position: Cover Story

American Fast Freight will move it for you. Anything. From a ton of iron beams to a carton of eggs, AFF will arrange for the transportation of your merchandise to its destination and get it there on time, says Mike Jones, Alaska's general manager for sales and operations.

AFF, a $100 million transportation and logistics group that began in Anchorage, now has its headquarters in Seattle. There are many things that separate AFF from its competitors, according to Jones. Technically, AFF uses the most up-to-date software and computer systems to organize and track projects. Also, there is a corporate philosophy to embrace challenge and be creative when necessary.

"All those years I lived in Alaska, I figured if we could create a freight company that had a can-do spirit and resolve, we could be successful everywhere," said Tim Jacobson, corporate CEO and one of the founding fathers. "We had to get products into a market without superhighways and expanded rail systems. That uniqueness forced us to be innovative to survive."

EMPLOYEES A KEY FACTOR

Another key factor in the company's success is its work force; AFF's employees take pride in their capacity to make transportation projects easy for their clients.

"As an example," said Jones, "someone can call us from Chicago, who wants something transported from Virginia, and he'll say, 'Take care of it for me.' And we do it. That customer doesn't have to make another call and can rest assured the more will happen and he'll be satisfied.

"Most other companies don't have the same reach as we do. When someone calls them with a similar situation, they may have to call several other companies, but we just call one of our terminals and ask them to take care of it. We are a very customer-oriented company."

AFF is also a very employee-oriented company that promotes from within; Jones is a good example. He grew up in Kenai and is a 1992 graduate of Soldotna High School who majored in business management at the University of Alaska Anchorage.

Jones, 32, did not start off in his current managerial role. After high school, he worked as a blue-collar man, kicking boxes in the warehouse, before moving up the corporate ladder. In 2002,Jacobson relocated to the Lower 48 to take over the day-to-day management of the entire group of companies and Jones was promoted to replace him.

"That's another thing that I think separates us from our competition," Jones added. "Since AFF likes to promote from within, we know what...