Reile’s Transfer & Delivery’s goal is to create world class supply chain solutions for small manufacturers that they would not be able to create by themselves. By combining regional freight coming in and out of Canada, the company offers efficient logistical solutions for importers and exporters by working with our trade partners to the North. Reile’s Transfer and Delivery currently owns over 840,000 square feet of warehousing and storage space, but their origins go back to the humble task of delivering milk.
Reinhold and Ruth Reile left their farm in McClusky, ND in the 1950’s and moved to Fargo to begin a milk delivery service. They soon moved on to small package delivery, working out of their garage and enlisting their three children for help. The size of the deliveries increased and the company grew into less than truckload (LTL) freight and warehousing. These days, the company is run by their son, Ken Reile, and has expanded to two warehouses in Fargo and one in Grand Forks.
Reile’s attracts clients that need help in building supply chain solutions that each individual company could not achieve on its own. These target customers, typically small and mid-sized companies, want to expand their sales without adding capital expenditures. For these companies, Reile’s provides “pick and pack” services, along with other types of order fulfillment requirements. Reile’s will warehouse the company’s products, then build individual orders from the company’s stored goods, and ship them out to the destination via the appropriate mode of transportation. Reile’s uses LTL, small package, and air freight to move most goods.
These services are especially helpful to internet companies needing faster delivery times, as the marketplace has created an expectation that customers can receive orders in two days. These small, frequent shipments are very demanding and expensive for small and mid-sized companies, but when combined with other companies’ shipments, such methods become feasible.
Reile’s collaborates with organizations such as STEP (Saskatchewan Trade and Export Partnership), AMC (Agricultural Manufacturers of Canada), Manitoba Food and Beverage, McKenna Distributing and others to serve Canadian manufacturers interested in distributing in the U.S.
Canada remains the prime target market for Reile’s, although the company is looking to increase its U.S. client base.
“We’re mainly working with small companies from Canada that are selling into the U.S. market,” said Rick Jensen, Business Development Manager at Reile’s. “But we want to continue to grow the market into Canada as well. We have a partnership in Winnipeg with a company that allows us to offer U.S. customers nearly 60,000 square feet of warehouse space.”
Also offered in Winnipeg are racked and bulk storage, product bundling and assembly, as well as short and long-term warehousing. Reile’s partnership in Winnipeg also has agreements for reduced pricing on shipments moving beyond Winnipeg to the west via truck and small package services.
Reile’s has recently branched out into the organic industry, as well. Earlier this year, Reile’s completed certification as a warehouse under the USDA National Organic Program.
“We’re one of the few regional providers of organic storage,” said Jensen.
Beyond their services to small manufacturers in the U.S. and Canada, Reile’s has a significant partnership with United Sugars to store, test and ship out sugar in bulk and via truck load to food manufacturers in the U.S. They also do storage and warehousing for other big names in the food processing industry such as CHS, ADM and Red River Commodities.
Reile’s has steadily grown from a husband-wife team to a warehousing and third-party logistics company with over 25 employees.
Not bad for a former milk delivery service.