Tejas Tried and True

by Leigh Davis, Director of Marketing and Communications, Greater Waco Chamber

Tejas Logistics System is a full-service, third-party logistics company headquartered in Waco, Texas offering approximately one million square feet of space across its three Texas locations in Waco, Hillsboro and Waxahachie for storing products including, construction materials, lumber, paper and pharmaceuticals. The company attributes its success to listening to customer requests and responding to customer needs.

In October, I visited with Tom Greene, President, and Matt Reynolds, Vice President, from Tejas Logistics to gain their insight into the local logistics and supply chain industry, and to discuss the company’s history, as well as its current business condition. Sitting strategically distanced in Tom’s office, Greene and Reynolds painted the picture of a company with deep roots in Waco and a fervent commitment to its employees and customers.

Tejas Logistics is a part of Waco’s rich history, opening as a cotton compress and commercial and agricultural warehouse in 1902 under the name Exporters & Traders Compress & Warehouse Co. in its current location on Pleasant Street. “In the early 1900s, cotton compresses were located in the downtown areas of towns, in close proximity to their rail systems. Waco was unique because we had four rails coming into this location, outside of the downtown area,” stated Greene. The Waco location progressed into primarily warehouse space under the name Tejas Warehouse in the 80s touting 562,000 square feet to offer customers for storage, while the Hillsboro location of the company continued pressing cotton into the 90s. “A lot of people had not seen a bale of cotton in their life, much less pressed,” said Greene. He reverently noted the cultural aspect of the pressing process, specifically the songs sung, which, Greene added, created a “unique rhythm” to the process and aided in its success.

Commitment to the Industry & Evolution of the Company

In 1980, Tom Greene came to Waco for a part-time, summer job and never left. “I’ve been in warehousing my entire life. I studied at Texas State Technical Institute (now known as TSTC) for it. I came for a part-time job, which became full-time, and then part-time again 40 years later, due to the pandemic,” stated Greene. Citing the city’s location as “the best place to be for a Texas product“ with close vicinity to Austin, Dallas, and Houston, he also remarked on the Greater Waco area’s changes over the last 40 years, “When I got here, this area was unrecognizable to what it looks like today. Waco has seen incredible growth over the last several years.”

The company also experienced growth and evolved to its current iteration in 1993 as a third-party logistics provider under the name Tejas Logistics and exemplified its commitment to its employees by becoming an employeeowned company, providing its employees a solid stake in its future. Concerning the expansion of the company’s scope of business, Greene noted, “People get warehousing and logistics confused. Logistics will store, repack, and unload a product. We do everything and anything that needs to be done, including trucking and shipping. We are a one-stop shop.”

Although they explained that their customer base is confidential, Greene and Reynolds did note that it has comprised dignitaries and federal agencies, in addition to local and global clients. “We don’t share the names of our customers; however, we’ve had major ones from right here in Waco and from around the world. We store anything and everything and have stored some very interesting things in the warehouse,” Greene said, but understandably would not elaborate on the curious items. Greene remarked on his tenure working in logistics and warehousing, “I’ve seen the industry change from pencil and paper to all computerized. It used to be important to have a weak mind and strong back. Now, you need a strong mind and weak back.”

The Effects of the Pandemic

According to Greene and Reynolds, their day-to-day business practices did not change due to the pandemic since they were identified as an essential business, rather they adjusted their approach to conducting business. Greene commented on their implementation of a social distancing plan in response to the virus, “We took that 562,000 square feet at our Waco location, and spread out our people to combat the virus, which, knock on wood, we’ve had no cases here.” Greene added, “As far as our customer base, we saw a lot of changes. Corporate offices from up north cut back and we saw less movement of goods coming in. We actually lost a few customers, due to the pandemic. Now, some of the companies are trying to restock their inventory. They are finding out it is hard because they’ve sold down to the bare walls and they are struggling to produce enough to keep up with their sales and add back to storage so they have merchandise available at all times. We are actually seeing quite a bit of this in quite a few of our customers.”

Forecasting the Future and Current Trends

On the future of Tejas Logistics, I asked Tom and Matt if it was possible to forecast the next six months to five years and Tom candidly responded, “With our nation right now, you cannot go five years out. I am thinking 12 to 18 months is as far as you can go. I am seeing that being in a political year with the vote for a new president and the pandemic we thought was getting better, we’ve actually had quite a few new people approach us and got new customers, whereas, it is usually right after the first of the year following a presidential election. I think it is starting earlier than ever before that people are getting back out and doing stuff. We are hearing from small companies to major corporations that are asking for quotes and bids.”

Reynolds elaborated stating, “A few of our customers out here see the things that could happen if there was a political change, so they are ordering heavy from certain countries throughout the world and are stocking up on that stuff just in case tariffs or other things start going south and they wouldn’t get the supply of that product in as quickly as they normally would. The tariffs from China put a whammy on our customers.”

Greene added, “Everything affects the supply chain. A lot of customers do commodity buys. When the commodity buy drops in value, customers buy a product and get it shipped over here and then sit on it until the price goes up. We see it weekly over here. And, if longshore men go on strike, you cannot get your products in at all.”

Industry Predictors

I touched on industry predictors and Greene responded that they are not getting into a lot of secrets. However, he did share that he has several contacts from different industry associations and that Matt is beginning to get into that part of the business. Greene stated, “We talk about what is moving and what isn’t moving. The market is going up in this and going down in that. The cardboard industry is a good example. The economy is bad if cardboard isn’t in demand.”

The Next Chapter of Tejas Logistics System

As we concluded the interview, Tom Greene mused that people probably wonder when he is retiring and said that he plans to stay around for a while. “Waco is a beautiful town and has a lot going for it. I think the zoo is a hidden gem,” he said. We reminisced about former businesses in the community and Greene again lauded the economic growth that he has witnessed over the past 40 years. As he looked over at Matt Reynolds, the future president of Tejas Logistics, he said, “I think Waco has a great future in front of it. We’ve got a lot of young people coming up that will make us proud, just like the ones in the past.”