ACL Airshop: "Voice of the Customer" Validates Strategy, Service Model, and Investments

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Mar 19, 2021, 21:00 ET

GREENVILLE, S.C. and AMSTERDAM, March 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- ACL Airshop, a technology enabled global leader in air cargo "ULD" logistics solutions, has used periodic Customer Surveys in the past 5 years to define strategy and guide growth investments. By utilizing a professional outside expert agency, these Voice of the Customer assessments and metrics yield clear pathways for continuous improvement.

In 2015 and 2016, the company's direct surveys and interviews with major customers yielded an over-arching strategy that was in direct response to customers' suggestions: "GROW THE NETWORK." That became the company's battle cry, and accelerated growth began. One customer said, "We like you in 23 cities, but we'd love you in 43 cities." Today ACL Airshop has cargo logistics services and equipment capabilities at 55 of the world's top air cargo hub airports.

Behind that strategic mantra, there were hundreds of sub-tasks and substantial growth investments, shaped largely by customer feedback. New hub service locations were propagated around the world when each targeted airport's cargo metrics, customer "pull," city pairings, and other decision criteria were met. The ULD fleet investment caused the company's deployable assets to grow from 23,000 units a few years ago to nearly 60,000 today, and still growing. As the network has expanded, the company's own efficiency has increased as each node becomes operational. This allows customers to pick up ULDs in one airport and drop them off at another. ACL Airshop has intentionally developed "network power."

In 2017 and 2018, there were growing comments from customers regarding the need for real-time tracking and tracing, and more sophisticated logistics tools to enhance fleet efficiencies for thousands of ULDs. In response, ACL Airshop beefed-up its legacy "ULD Control" fleet management programs and expanded its Global Ops Center in Amsterdam. A joint venture was created with an expert technology company to add low energy Bluetooth tags that could help identify and track ULDs by serial number, location, and status. That was a first-to-market advancement, and today ACL Airshop remains teamed with that company's large publicly traded global networks parent. Beta tests are in-work today for even further enhancements of the technologies that have become popular with multiple airlines.

In 2019 the company introduced its innovative new FindMyULD App, putting the power of all the logistics programs into the palm of the customer's hand. Any smart phone can become a bar-code scanner, and real-time automatic reports on worldwide ULD locations and status can be accessed from a desktop or a coat pocket.

In 2020, ACL Airshop won a worldwide Innovation Award for the FindMyULD programs, and continues today steadily improving all its systems to allow better efficiencies for customers.

In early 2021, the company's latest Voice of the Customer survey, conducted "blind" by an outside agency, has revealed some new ideas and confirmed the overall strategy, service model, and investment thesis for ACL Airshop. This survey focused on the COVID-19 pandemic, and the role of air logistics in such an unusual phenomenon. Customers were asked their plans for the remainder of 2021 regarding vaccine shipments and the possible need for additional cargo control products in their expanded and/or heavily flown freighter fleets. And what do they see in the year ahead as Peak Season 2021 approaches, as some market analysts predict air cargo will emerge even stronger post-pandemic?

A major industry publication will soon publish those key findings as a service to the entire air cargo ecosystem.

Steve Townes, Chairman & CEO of ACL Airshop and Founder/CEO of Ranger Aerospace said: "Periodic Voice of the Customer surveys have allowed us to listen, learn, and act. When the customer himself helps you co-author your growth strategy, it is smart business to respond to that. Customer feedback has also reinforced our goal to always remain a High-Performance Culture. A strong and caring employer for motivated teammates who all have The Right Stuff. ACL Airshop is widely known for its speed of responsiveness to customer requests—handled in minutes or hours, not days or weeks. For 38 years, our secret weapon has always been OUR PEOPLE."

Customers know they can get an immediate response from the global team of ACL Airshop simply by emailing to [email protected], which is handled like a "rotational alert" in our 24/7/365 operations.

ACL Airshop has grown to 55 major cargo hubs on six continents in the past several years, more than doubling the breadth of its global network and the size of its fleet of ULDs. The large inventory of ULDs are always ready for short-term leasing or long-term contracts when airlines need them—anywhere, any time. The company is developing more scale and better efficiency as its worldwide services system expands. Growing for nearly 4 decades, ACL Airshop has become a leading one-stop shop for leasing, sales, repairs, logistics control of Unit Load Devices, and cargo control components manufacturing. Its technology initiatives now flow across each line of business as an accelerant factor.

ACL Airshop LLC is a wholly owned subsidiary of Ranger Airshop Holdings, Inc., the latest aerospace consolidation platform created by Ranger Aerospace and its 4 large institutional investment partners.

For more information: http://www.aclairshop.com and www.rangeraerospace.com. The Mobile App is available for free wherever App's are offered, just enter "FindMyULD." Details about it can be checked at www.FindMyULD.com, and a quick video about the App is at the company's YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNQyWVtPNls.

Forward Looking Statements: The Companies mentioned in this News Release from time to time may discuss forward-looking information. Except for factual historical information, all forward looking statements are estimates by the Companies' management and are subject to various risks and uncertainties that are beyond the Companies' control and may cause actual results to differ materially from management's expectations.

SOURCE ACL Airshop