Blog

Long-Term Relationships

Long-Term Relationships
Many of our clients have worked with Ascend for 15 years. Most of the time we find our clients through referrals, networking, or they come to us with a specific problem or goal. Our intentions are to certainly assist to the accomplishment of the short-term desire, however, we go way beyond that. From interim positions…
Read more

Construction

Construction
In general, there are three sectors of construction: buildings, infrastructure and industrial. Building construction is usually further divided into residential and non-residential (commercial/institutional). Ascend has expertise in all three sectors and possess success stories for companies of all shapes, sizes, and sectors if this industry. Some continuing trends to look for in 2017 in the…
Read more

Distribution and Transportation

DEFINITION of 'Transportation Sector' A category of stocks relating to the transportation of goods or customers. The transportation sector is made up of airlines, railroads and trucking companies.

Ascend and its experts has worked inside the Distribution and Transportation markets, including ownership, for over 25 years. Businesses at every stage of the life-cycle have been turned around, enhanced, or sold, with our unique style of achieving results. Ownership is completely involved and in fact, control the process through their objectives.

There are eight critical factors in this sector that must be front of mind as you navigate your way to your ultimate end game:

  1. Filling the Workforce Capacity and Future Leadership Voids
  2. Building and Maintaining Infrastructure
  3. Fixing the Highway Trust Fund and/or Re-evaluating the Federal Role
  4. Improving Intermodal/Multimodal Connectivity
  5. Maximizing the Utilization of Passenger and Freight Infrastructure
  6. Incentivizing Expanded Use of Private Capital in Transportation Infrastructure
  7. Responding to Changes in Energy Markets
  8. Understanding the Changes in Manufacturing and Sourcing

These issues and more can plague a small business and the inability to have economies of size must be mitigated.

Warehouse and Logistics

Industry Snapshot Warehousing and Logistics. ... Logistics is the management of the supply chain, controlling the movement of goods from the point of origin to the point of destination using the most efficient, cost effective methods.

Some of the key issues facing the Warehouse and Logistics space:

  • Warehousing has suffered from a poor image. It has often been viewed as a career with limited options and therefore has not generated a lot of interest from prospective job seekers.
  • This industry, like many other transport sectors is faced with the challenge of an ageing workforce.
  • The lack of Language Literacy and Numeracy skills is preventing further career progression of some workers and as technology is incorporated into operations, there are concerns that some workers may fall further behind. The skills and aptitude required of workers has risen as the duties are becoming more complex.
  • With the growing need for technology within businesses to deliver real time information for analysis, companies are further investigating how to integrate items such as tablet computers into their day-to-day operations. Some of the challenges associated with this include the durability of devices in high impact environments and implications of downtime during maintenance.
  • As the number of workers from culturally diverse backgrounds is increasing, a greater level of sensitivity is needed from management when engaging and communicating with workers.
  • A greater level of investment is needed to train people at higher levels eg managers, but industry is faced with the challenge of not being able to release key members of staff for prolonged periods of time.

Ascend has worked with hundreds of clients in this space over the years and has unique knowledge, applications, and solutions to cover the myriad of issues facing this sector.