Colton, California, USA-headquartered Lineage Logistics, LLC (Lineage), a temperature-controlled warehousing and logistics company backed by Bay Grove Capital, LLC (Bay Grove), announced on June 18 that logistics and transportation veteran W. Gregory Lehmkuhl will become its new chief executive officer, effective in mid-July. Current CEO Bill Hendricksen will transition into the role of vice chairman at that time.
During the last six years, Lineage has grown into one of the largest temperature-controlled logistics companies in the world. With 16,988,329 cubic meters of port and inland warehouse space on line in the United States, it ranks only to Americold Logistics’ 28,095,138 cubic meters of cold storage available in six countries.
W. Gregory Lehmkuhl is the incoming ceo of Lineage Logistics.Lehmkuhl comes to Lineage from Con-way Inc., where he was corporate executive vice president and president of Con-way Freight, Inc., the company’s less-than-truckload motor carrier and largest subsidiary. In those roles, he had responsibility for overall operating and financial performance, strategic planning and business plan development, and direction of the organization’s continuous improvement processes.
“Greg is a skilled leader with a stellar reputation in the logistics industry for driving growth. He has the energy and the experience to fulfill our vision of becoming the world’s most dynamic temperature-controlled logistics company,” said Adam Forste, co-chairman of Lineage Logistics and managing director of Bay Grove.
“I’m thrilled to join Lineage, to work with a talented team of supply chain professionals and to partner with Bay Grove,” stated Lehmkuhl. “We have an exciting opportunity to leverage our vast warehouse network and broad value-added services in combination with new technologies to create something truly differentiated in the temperature-controlled logistics industry for customers.”
Bill Hendricksen is transitioning from ceo to the role of vice chairman of Lineage Logistics.After more than 35 years as an entrepreneur and leader in the cold chain industry, Hendricksen will assume the role of vice chairman of Lineage, where he will continue to help support key customer relationships, ongoing strategy development and the company’s participation in industry groups and boards.
“My decision to step down earlier this year was based on finding the right person to take Lineage into the future. Every company has different stages of growth, and each stage requires a ceo with specific skill sets. Greg is an exceptional leader who has expertise integrating and transforming growing companies and possesses the character to inspire our team. I’m excited to help support him and Lineage for many years to come,” said Hendricksen.
Dialing up HPP Capacity
Meanwhile, Lineage has announced that it is installing additional High Pressure Processing (HPP) machines and packaging equipment at its facilities in Allentown, Pennsylvania, and Mira Loma, California. The capacity expansion follows an increase in consumer preference for clean labels and demand from companies wanting to protect their brands, preserve product condition and extend product shelf life.
High Pressure Processing is a post-packaging, non-thermal pasteurization method of killing potentially harmful pathogens, such as Listeria, E. Coli, and Salmonella using isostatic pressures of up to 87,000 psi. The flavors and other characteristics of products remain unaltered because HPP doesn’t use heat. Lineage expects implementation of the new machines from Hiperbaric USA to be completed in Allentown by September and in Mira Loma by October.
In related news, Mark Morgan has been named to the newly created position of vice president of HPP Operations, reporting to Tim Smith, executive vice president of Sales and Business Development, effective immediately.
