Interview: Sidney Brown, CEO, NFI

Giving back

Locating HQ in Camden County an ‘opportunity to give back to the community’

Sidney Brown

CEO – NFI Industries

Why is Camden the ideal location for NFI Industries’ HQ? When we moved here two years ago, there were a few things that attracted us. One was access to a greater labor force, both from South Jersey and from the Philadelphia metro area. As we grow, we need more talent. Sourcing that talent from a greater area made sense to us. We also saw this as an opportunity to give back to the community, to hire folks from Camden and create training opportunities. Being along the interstate highway system, the airports and the rail system is very convenient for our employees. The state of New Jersey also provided incentives, which made it attractive to develop here in Camden.

How strong is the logistics market in the region? When the pandemic hit, people diverted their attention from experiences to tangible goods. People were spending money on fixing their homes, buying new appliances, and so forth. Goods were being purchased and, therefore, there was a huge spike in demand for tonnage being shipped. Ships were overloaded, there weren’t enough containers and the ports couldn’t handle the volume. The capacity crunch in terms of warehouse, trucking and marine capacity has caused rates to rise. This demand hasn’t slowed despite the pandemic beginning to recede, in part due to a very strong housing market but also due to the continued push for people ordering online. By ordering online, there is a change in the supply chain. Warehouses have become the new retail storefronts. This isn’t new but the pandemic accelerated this — and this trend toward online purchases isn’t going away. In fact, it’s a secular trend that is going to continue at a strong growth rate for the foreseeable future. Warehousing and transportation is what we do, so we are in a very good position and many of our competitors are also doing well. I have never been more optimistic than I am now about the future of what we do, the services we provide and the outlook for our industry over the next three to five years.

Specifically in Burlington County, we have a significant initiative that will add a tremendous amount of warehouse space and jobs, and help South Jersey continue to be a leader in distribution in the Northeast.

In what ways is technology impacting the supply chain? Autonomous trucking and robotics in warehouses have been a huge topic of discussion. I believe that as more demand is created, technology will have some solutions in addressing labor shortages. The solutions may not be fully autonomous or fully robotic but there are some very interesting technologies that we have been experimenting with that will continue to evolve and affect the landscape. This is not a static industry and how we innovate is key to our success.