Moving target.

Byline: Jessica Perry

Somerset-based Budd Van Lines is lowering the cost of moving through its so-called Load It Once system, the brainchild of Owner and Chief Executive Officer David W. Budd Sr.

Under the system, company employees load a customer's belongings into a modular storage container that fits on the back of a truck and then the Budd employees drive it to the destination. This process of loading the contents takes 17 minutes whereas the old method of manually loading trailers takes six and a half days, said Gary Grund, the company's senior vice president.

The company specializes in corporate moves and services Fortune 500 companies in the U.S. Budd said it is saving clients about $3,000 per move.

Grund explained the containers are sealed in front of a customer, delivered to a warehouse and removed from the frame and trailer in their entirety with the load still inside the unit and stored in the warehouse. The containers are designed to be stacked, which allows goods within to be off-loaded and loaded without any manual labor or re-handling of goods, Grund said.

The sealed containers are placed on the truck and trailer when it is time to deliver to its final destination. The trailer section of the Load it Once System is easily separated from the front section of the truck.

The savings come from the lack of multiple sets of handling and storage, said Greg Sobiesiek, director of facilities at Budd.

"The old system is archaic if you think about all the extra handling we have to do," Grund said. "Furniture is not meant to be moved. When you move it six times, for all the years that moving has been around, it really made no sense. David had the concept of having it be modular years ago."

This method results in improved control of hours of service, improved customer satisfaction, increased security of the products being transported, decreased storage damage and claims; improved fuel efficiency and reduced carbon impact, Sobiesiek and Grund said.

The old system is archaic if you think about all the extra handling we have to do.

Budd is using the Load It Once technology for about 35 percent of its customers who are moving from New Jersey. Moving companies are hit with damage claims on about 20 percent of moves, Grund said. Moves involving Load It Once result in claims about 2 percent of the time, he added.

The customer witnesses Budd Van Lines employees seal their belongings in a modular container and the container is then loaded onto the...

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