Trains, Planes, and Automobiles (and Ships and Trucks)An Update on the Logistics of Delivery in Nevada

 

Whether it’s a late-night (or early morning) order from a big box retailer, a new outfit from a small business, or a bedroom set from overseas, every successful shipment has one thing in common: good logistics.

Logistics in Action

As the director of operations for Amazon Robotics sites across Nevada and Arizona, ensuring good logistics is Bruno Arnal’s day-to-day.

“My job is mainly labor planning,” he said. “I consider the volume of inventory coming, say, in the next week, and work to make sure we have what we need to process it – both the people and the internal system support.”

Under Arnal’s leadership, hundreds of thousands of packages, along with other inventory waiting to be shipped, passes through each warehouse every day.

His knowledge of the ins and outs of each warehouse is meticulous – it has to be. But all the knowhow can’t be centered with one person. That’s another big piece of logistics, he said: training and development.

Technology and artificial intelligence (AI)

“Upskilling our employees and helping them to not only understand the technology we use, but to be in front of the technology upgrades, is something I focus on,” Arnal said.

Arnal helped lead the opening of Amazon’s Las Vegas robotics fulfillment center nearly five years ago, the first of its kind in the state. Together, humans and robots work together to package and fill orders.

Technology’s sophistication has only grown since then, especially with the increasing popularity of generative AI.

“We could spend a day just talking about how technology has changed the way we manage logistics,” Arnal said.

In short, though, he said the goal is “opening career opportunities for our employees.”

A mix of robotics and generative AI are used to reduce repetitive tasks, like packaging, in order to make time for humans to take on more creative or difficult work.

“While running these buildings, technology has also helped us to know where to best place inventory,” he said. “We’re able to move product closer to where customers live, or to where they need to ship it, which helps us in two ways: speed and sustainability.”

When a package can move from a warehouse to a home quickly – say, in under two hours, as many Amazon products advertise – less carbon is admitted into the atmosphere, and customers are happier. That’s a win-win for everyone.

ITS Logistics, a Nevada-founded supply chain logistics company valued at over a billion dollars, is also rapidly adopting technology to stay on the cutting edge of the supply chain industry. Its CEO, Scott Pruneau, said their goals are similar to Amazon’s: buoy employees, not replace them.

“We are not leveraging technology to replace people,” he said. “We deeply believe in the value of human connection in problem solving, innovation, and quality of life. We are laser focused at developing the right technology ecosystem to empower our team and business partners to process more, have better visibility for decision making, and ultimately deliver value through improved efficiency.”

While Arnal’s team mostly works with distribution centers and the receiving side of network transportation, ITS Logistics touches more areas of logistics.

The biggest touchpoints for ITS Logistics are network transportation (trucking fleets and freight brokering); distribution centers; and drayage in connection with intermodal transportation (moving product through different transportation hubs, such as truck to ship to container yard).

More complicated offerings mean even more complex logistics. In the last five years, two systems have grown exponentially at ITS Logistics: a proprietary transportation management system (TMS) and ITS Engage, a visibility assistant.

While every logistics operation will have a TMS, many are one-size fits-all. All load management and communication pass through the TMS – something that the ITS Logistics team wanted total control over.

“At a practical level, we are developing proprietary TMS technology that is aligned with our unique business model,” Pruneau said. “We’ve rolled out the baseline product and have moved into the innovation phase with some very cool AI enabled features to help our folks be more productive and ultimately deliver a continuously improving experience to our business partners – and we are literally just scratching the surface on the possibilities.”

This internal TMS is used both for the trucking side of the logistics operations and the container movement – a feature unique to ITS Logistics, where generally trucking and containers would be under separate systems.

ITS Engage, however, is where container tracking truly shines. “ITS Engage is our enterprise integration, visibility, and analytics platform that allows external business partners of ITS to share data, get shipment visibility, reduce transaction friction, and much more,” Pruneau said.

The second a container gets on a ship, the ITS Logistics team can track its movements, second by second, across the ocean. As soon as it arrives at a port, a team is already prepared to pick up and transport.

This is important not just for peace of mind, but also financially – fines for early or late pick up can be hefty and are levied quickly.

Embracing the Future

While ever-growing amounts of data can obviously be helpful in decision-making, Pruneau said that sometimes it’s information overload.

“As far as big movers that are helping or hurting logistics – my opinion is we are still learning the most effective ways to make fast, efficient decisions based on the amount of data that is now available,” Pruneau said. “Sometimes the decision that looks right on paper is not the most efficient decision for the practical movement of goods.”

That’s where the human side of logistics comes in. “It is great that we now have access to so much more information vs. several years ago, and on the whole, I believe it is driving improvements, but at times it can be a little paralyzing or some can become overly dependent on it.”

Arnal shares the same concern about the turn to technology. “I spend a lot of time making sure no one gets left behind,” Arnal said. “If the technology is more efficient, but our team can’t use it, it’s not as meaningful.”

But when it comes to the challenges facing Nevada’s logistics industry in particular, Pruneau said it’s a tie between two big drivers.

“It is a toss-up between talent acquisition and development and infrastructure,” he said. “My point isn’t that these are bad, it is that the appetite of opportunity in front of us is very large and we need both to take full advantage of it.

Nevada’s People

Arnal said Amazon has created 20,0000 jobs statewide, all while ramping up technology use and holding fast to diversity commitments.

“I’ve worked on three continents,” Arnal said. “I’ve been in Europe, in Africa, in the U.S. – I can speak to diversity in the workplace. I can very easily state that the workforce in Nevada is amazing. I’m always enjoying the inclusiveness of our workforce across centers; it makes here a very healthy space to run our business.”

Government entities throughout the state, from local leadership to the governor’s office, have also made room for logistics companies to blossom in Nevada.

“[There is a] business-friendly regulatory environment [and] growing investment infrastructure,” Pruneau said. It’s because of partnerships with Nevada leaders that Amazon has expanded so quickly, Arnal said. “The state has been a good ally,” he said. “Our relationship is very healthy.”

Strength in Geography

“Logistics in Nevada, like the broader supply chain and transportation industry, is in a constant state of evolution,” Pruneau said. “In my opinion, as a state, we are working to leverage our strengths, [like] being centrally located within the western 11 states…to amplify opportunities in our industry.”

Reno, where ITS Logistics is headquartered, is particularly central, with similar distances to the Bay Area, Las Vegas, Portland, and Salt Lake.

“We can [also] reach Los Angeles, Seattle, Denver, and Phoenix pretty efficiently,” Pruneau said. “That way, if goods are consolidated here, you can have consistent delivery time schedules to those markets.”

Arnal said Nevada plays a big role in Amazon’s effort to prioritize “regionalization,” which is the relocation of production and supply chain toward large or burgeoning markets. Fulfillment and distribution centers, as well as warehouses, are strategically placed based on Amazon’s division of North America into multiple regions.

Nevada is a pivotal piece of the western region. “The strategy is about five years old,” Arnal said. “It took time to decide the regions, to determine the right size for each node, and then to implement delivery states where they’re needed most, but ultimately, Nevada was a center.”

Across the state, Amazon has a significant presence: warehouses with million-unit capacity, cross docks, and delivery stations.

“We found success in Nevada because we scaled small,” he said. “We have the right sized resources exactly where we need them. We built in order to have the right footprint in terms of efficiency and selling capacity. We’re never in excess – staying smart and small.”

That doesn’t mean Amazon is done expanding. The company is spreading into the rural parts of Nevada now, with an Amazon distribution center opening in Fallon in early 2025 that was designed to become a delivery hub. Land in Wells was also purchased with the intention of growing Amazon’s logistics capabilities.

Compared to other states, Arnal said Nevada’s positioning is superior. “If you ask me to look to other states, for instance, Washington state, I am not seeing this density of nodes,” he said. “We don’t see this strength in both speed and options in other parts of the west.”

The Next Generation

While Nevada continues to invest in growing the logistics industry, the industry leaders are investing right back.

In 2021, ITS Logistics worked with the University of Nevada, Reno to fund the Supply Chain and Transportation Management program, offering minor, micro-certification and major opportunities for students.

In the years since its sponsorship, ITS Logistics continues to consult and advise the program.

“We’ve had folks from our team help create curriculum and even teach classes and help advocate for more community business involvement to push growth for the program,” Pruneau said.
The hope is that with more direct involvement from local logistics industry leaders, the next generation of creative and technical minds will be drawn to the field.

So far, it’s worked. “Over 100 people have been in the program since its inception,” he said.

The courses are also keeping up with the challenges facing logistics that both Arnal and Pruneau outlined, giving students the best chance at staying on the cutting edge.

“The content is [both] modern and aligned with real trends in the industry to help prepare folks in the program to make an impact with companies in our community,” he said.

While the logistics industry is thriving in Nevada, it’s poised for even greater things in the future.