Case Study
How Meridian Adhesives unified 12 freight networks with Uber Freight to unlock a savings of 22% on $14M in addressable spend
Solution
Opportunity
Customer
Meridian Adhesives is a leading manufacturer of high-performance adhesives and sealants, serving up a range of solutions for a range of industries, including electronics, infrastructure, flooring, packaging, and product assembly.
Customer Profile
When Meridian Adhesives was acquired by private equity partners, one of the first initiatives was to evaluate the company’s logistics operations for savings and efficiency opportunities. The company, formed in 2018 through a series of acquisitions, had grown into a network of 12 different glue, adhesive, and sealant manufacturers across the U.S. and Canada. Each operated independently with its own systems, processes, and carrier relationships.
Freight operations were fragmented and largely manual. Sites managed quotes and carriers through spreadsheets and emails, with no centralized visibility or oversight. It was impossible to scale logistics operations efficiently or understand true network-wide freight spend.
Adding to the complexity, Meridian's products require specialized handling. Some shipments involved hazardous materials or bulk-tank loads, demanding special qualifications and equipment. Others involved temperature-sensitive adhesives that could freeze in transit and adhesives with a short shelf life that can’t be overstocked.
Reliable, just-in-time freight execution was a business necessity.
It was up to Daniel Moran, Meridian’s one-person logistics team, to find a solution to unify the network, simplify freight operations, provide visibility, and drive meaningful savings as the company continued to grow.
Opportunity: Bringing 12 freight networks together under one scalable operation
To begin the transformation, Daniel and the Meridian team launched their first competitive freight RFP. Uber Freight quickly rose to the top, not just for its technology but for its flexible and partnership-first approach. Rather than offering a one-size-fits-all solution, Uber Freight empowered Meridian to shape the engagement around its budget, resources, and operational preferences.
Daniel wasn’t just looking for technology, he needed operational support. “My team is essentially me,” he said. “I was looking for a team and a partner to really lean on in my day to day.”
Meridian chose Uber Freight TMS, along with support from Uber Freight’s managed transportation team. This combination of technology and team gave Daniel access to powerful, scalable technology and the dedicated logistics expertise to run it, without needing to add headcount. Uber Freight’s team—the true Uber Freight TMS superusers—manage Meridian’s freight for Daniel, taking tasks like routing, executing loads, and exception handling off his plate while keeping him still fully in the loop.
Daniel continues to own Meridian’s carrier strategy, and Uber Freight supports that approach by sharing access to its carrier network when needed and offering recommendations for Meridan’s highly specialized freight requirements. It’s a flexible model that plays to each partner’s strengths.
What made the partnership truly different was Uber Freight’s ability to deliver enterprise-grade logistics power to a fast-growing company like Meridian. Historically, this level of service and expertise was reserved for only the biggest shippers with the biggest budgets. With Uber Freight, Daniel gained access to the ideal combination of technology, team, and capacity that fit Meridian’s scaling needs.
Solution: A flexible technology-and-team model—Uber Freight TMS and Uber Freight’s managed transportation expertise—built to Meridian’s needs
To learn more about how Uber Freight’s flexible transportation management solutions, connect with an expert today.
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Results
Industry
Specialty Chemical Manufacturing
Size
~560 employees globally, 25 facilities, and 5,000+ customers
Solution: End-to-end transportation management
Blue Bird needed a logistics partner they could trust—one that would provide both enhanced insights and opportunities to reduce costs. After frustration with their previous provider, they turned to Uber Freight for a smarter, more reliable solution.
With Uber Freight’s end-to-end Transportation Management System (TMS), Blue Bird gained the visibility they were missing across their entire supply chain. The all-in-one platform allows them to plan, execute, and manage shipments seamlessly across different modes and regions. Thanks to real-time tracking with MacroPoint, they always know exactly where their shipments are at the load level—no more guessing or hidden costs.
Sophisticated data analysis by Uber Freight’s transportation experts has enabled Blue Bird to access optimization insights that have transformed their operations. This dedicated team has helped Blue Bird centralize their procurement management, execution, business intelligence, and call-ahead standardization, driving continuous improvement and maximizing their supply chain performance.
“Before, I didn’t have access to my data and now I have access and visibility to the information I need,” Holland says. “Any reports I want to see, I’m able to get those quickly. If there’s anything I can’t find, my operations team jumps right in and gets those to me. They’re always in the weeds every day, getting our loads to execute.”
With this holistic approach, Blue Bird can ensure materials arrive on time, keeping production lines moving and avoiding delays — which can be particularly costly in the automotive sector. Uber Freight helped Blue Bird take control of their entire supply chain, including Ocean and Air freight.
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Results: A unified freight operation in Uber Freight TMS, with 22% savings on $14M in addressable spend and greater visibility
Uber Freight and Meridian opted for a phased rollout, thoughtfully onboarding the sites in waves instead of a single “big bang” implementation. Every step of implementation from initial planning to full integration was handled by Uber Freight’s in-house teams—not systems integrators or external parties—including a hypercare team that worked directly with site-level users to train them, resolve issues, and promote adoption.
Onboarding success hinged on getting team members comfortable with the system. If team members didn’t feel comfortable in Uber Freight TMS, they’d be less likely to use it—and it would be “one of the higher points of failure,” Daniel said.
"The biggest aspect for us was just getting at the user level, getting them comfortable with the system, the new contacts with Uber, the new carriers,” said Daniel. “Uber's team really led the charge on that to make sure that every site felt comfortable using the technology.”
Because each site operated slightly differently, Uber Freight invested time in learning the nuances of every location and tailoring their support accordingly. Meridian’s Columbus, Ohio, warehouse was the first to onboard with Uber Freight TMS in November 2023. By February 2024, all sites were booking shipments in Uber Freight TMS. And the first step of unifying Meridian’s freight network was complete.
Thoughtful change management that drove Meridian-wide adoption, powered by Uber Freight’s in-house implementation team
Meridian’s initial goal was to find savings and efficiency opportunities. Since implementing Uber Freight TMS and managed transportation, Meridian has achieved both, with measurable financial results and long-term operational improvements.
In Meridian’s initial 2023 RFP, Uber Freight identified a 22% savings opportunity across $14 million in freight spend. One year later, after fully implementing Uber Freight TMS and managed transportation, the company realized 12% savings on $9.5 million in actively managed freight. Meridian also avoided an additional 3% in costs by procuring spot freight capacity through Uber Freight Exchange, a dynamic procurement tool that helps shippers streamline the bid process.
Beyond savings, the technology has unlocked a new level of transparency. Uber Freight TMS provides a level of transparency that the company simply didn’t have before—Meridian can see their spend, identify trends, and create actionable next steps based on reliable data.
“Hands down the biggest impact has been the reporting, visibility, and improved data into our freight network,” Daniel said during Uber Freight’s Deliver 2024 conference. “We didn’t have any of this prior to being in Uber Freight’s TMS, which made just pulling basic data very difficult. Having Tableau integrated in the TMS [has helped me] pull and create dashboards and reports for use in countless meetings with the Meridian leadership team.”
Even smaller features like live tracking links have streamlined communication with internal teams and external customers. “That used to involve many emails back and forth between all of our different carriers,” Daniel said. “It’s allowed our teams to be more efficient and free up their time to focus on other things.”
Consolidating invoice and carrier data for a freight bid used to take six months of manual effort—now, it takes 15 minutes, thanks to centralized shipment data in Uber Freight TMS. “Since being in Uber Freight TMS, a lot of those manual processes have gone away for us,” Daniel said.
Beyond data, Uber Freight has also helped Meridian navigate its more complex freight. Uber Freight’s team has supported Daniel with the expertise and carrier network to ensure even the most sensitive or specialized freight moves reliably and on time.
“We are a smaller company, so I don’t have a huge team dedicated to this,” Daniel says. “For me, personally, it’s been great having Uber Freight’s team to lean on.”
As Meridian continues to grow through acquisitions and network expansion, Uber Freight remains a strategic partner. Daniel is already considering shifting more bid and carrier management to Uber Freight in future cycles. Meridian has also joined Uber Freight’s Design Partner Program, empowering Daniel to provide feedback on the products he and the Meridian team use every day.
With a unified system, a flexible operating model, and a trusted logistics team behind them, Meridian is better positioned than ever to scale.
And Uber Freight’s technology, team, and capacity will be there to evolve alongside them.
A scalable solution for a growing network
