Kickstart: Keep on trucking

Making perfect items, ready for delivery, is hard enough. Getting them delivered to customers on time can add another level of complexity, especially in recent years with supply chain shortages, threats of strikes and business shutdowns including the unexpected closure of Yellow Corp. earlier this year.

The answer for at least some businesses has been to add transportation logistics to company services.

PolyQuest Inc., a resin distribution firm and recycler, announced Sept. 20 that it is buying Baker Transportation Inc., a trucking firm based in Utah with operations focused in the southeastern U.S., including ports in Wilmington, N.C.; Charleston, S.C.; and Savannah, Ga.

While PolyQuest, based in Wilmington, will continue to buy freight services from other vendors, "the Baker acquisition promotes extreme flexibility in tailoring current business partners," CEO John Marinelli said in a news release.

PolyQuest isn't alone in making new investments in transportation.

PN's Bridget Janis wrote last month about composites molder Bedford Reinforced Plastics Inc. opening a trucking division, Reinforced Logistics.

"We were having trouble finding reliable carriers. We have dealt with some brokers in the past and thought, you know, we can do that ourselves," Eric Kidd, marketing manager, said.

Reinforced Logistics currently has six trucks and eight drivers and is looking to recruit more people to cover all of North America.

While uncertainty grows concerning the UAW strike against the Detroit 3 automakers, at least the Canadian auto industry has avoided similar turmoil.

Canada's Unifor union announced Sept. 19 that it had reached a tentative deal with Ford Motor Co.

The union and Ford negotiated for six weeks, extending a midnight strike deadline to keep talks moving forward, making a final agreement nearly 24 hours later, our sister paper Automotive News Canada writes.

"We believe that this agreement will solidify the foundations on which we will continue to bargain gains for generations of autoworkers in Canada," Unifor National President Lana Payne said in a statement.

No one ever said safety was sexy, but does safety have a beat?

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission just released its first mixtape, a collection of songs from multiple artists across multiple genres to boost safety awareness. Because the songs are aimed at teens, hip-hop, K-pop and reggaeton styles are heavily featured. (Whether teens' reactions will generate anything beyond an eye roll is a whole other issue.)

Helmets get a call out in a couple of the songs, including Protect Ya Noggin'.

"OK let me flip scripts

Kick push, then I kick flip

I can do this all wearing lipstick

I got on a sick fit

Just one more accessory

Let me pick the helmet that will tie it all together please."