Supply Chain Now Radio, Episode 74
“High Tech Disruption Comes to Junk Removal”
#TechConnect Series on SCNR
Greg Workmon is the Founder and CEO LoadUp, an innovative tech start-up that streamlined its supply chain to make the process of junk removal more convenient, affordable and transparent for consumers and e-commerce retailers. Prior to 2014, Greg was working inside sales at one of the nation’s largest waste management companies when he received countless calls from people who needed to dispose of their old mattresses.
The waste management company wouldn’t touch them and the “big junk” franchises that would remove them, used convoluted sales tactics that were designed to overcharge people. In 2014, he started LoadUp as a way to offer the most honest, convenient, affordable junk-removal solution on the market. Today, LoadUp is the only junk removal company that offers guaranteed, upfront pricing and the only one that uses crowdsourcing to recruit independent, licensed & insured junk-hauling professionals. This leaner, and more efficient supply chain allows the company to charge an average of 20 – 30% less than competitors, with no compromise of quality or coverage.
In addition to removing the junk of more than 70,000 consumers, LoadUp partners with e-commerce mattress retailers, like Avocado and Bear Mattress, to give them a competitive edge by removing customers’ old mattresses at no cost to the customer. The company currently has 270+ driver teams in 170+ U.S. cities, and achieved nearly 3,000% growth in the last three years alone. LoadUp is a certified Great Place to Work®. Connect with Greg on LinkedIn and learn more about LoadUp at www.goloadup.com
Riaz Virani currently serves as the Chief Technology Officer at LoadUp, an innovative tech start-up that has streamlined the supply chain of junk removal to make the process of removing unneeded items more convenient, transparent and affordable for consumers and e-commerce retailers than ever before.
As LoadUp’s CTO, Riaz leads the company’s technological innovation program that aims to further improve customer experience and streamline the flow of unneeded items – from customer to Loader to disposal point – be it recycling center or dump. Over the last four years, Riaz and his wife have led one of the largest technical industry groups for web developers using web-application framework, Ruby on Rails, with 3,000 members in Atlanta alone. He’s also the co-organizer of the Atlanta React Meet-up, a group for developers that use React Native, a framework that makes websites, like Facebook and LoadUp, interactive in real time.
Prior to joining LoadUp, Riaz was a senior software engineer at web performance and monitoring company, Rigor, and worked as a consultant on Deloitte’s federal projects, that included Health and Human Services, U.S. Senate’s financial system in Washington D.C. You can connect with Riaz on LinkedIn and learn more about LoadUp at www.goloadup.com
Ashley Liebke is the CEO of Vision Media Group, LLC, Co-Host of Supply Chain Now Radio’s #TechConnect series, a Wine consultant with Scout & Cellar, and Co-Founder/Chief Editor and YouTube Creator with her Epic-Taste lifestyle blog. She was formerly the Vice-President of Marketing for Deposco, a provider of Supply Chain Software solutions for Coca Cola, Chickfila and hundreds of other shippers, ditributors and 3PLS.
Ashley is a 12 year veteran of UPS, where she mastered the retail technology arena and implemented a new Retail Partner Marketing program. She frequently consulted with company Presidents and Enterprise retailers such as Macy’s, QVC, Cabela’s. Ashley managed UPS and ComScore’s multi-year, global research project, the UPS Pulse of Online Shopper Studies, to inform retailers and industry of consumer preferences and suggest necessary supply chain solutions to better meet their needs.
As a long–time member of UPS’s Customer Technology Marketing group, Ashley launched global software upgrades for millions of shippers in multiple languages, managed complex address validation and shipping Web Services and APIs, and managed Strategic Alliances with Amazon, Google, Manhattan Associates, Ozlink now part of Descartes Systems Group. Ashley, aka @thevisionchic, has spoken at numerous events, webinars and is a blogger on her own Food & Lifestyle Blog Epic-Taste.
Passionate about fashion and food logistics, Ashley and her firm are helping brands, restaurants, organizations and technology companies to optimize their brand and leverage the latest technology for automation of their marketing and logistics. Ashley lives in Peachtree Corners, GA with her daughter and son and enjoys eating while photographing food, yoga and fitness. Connect with Ashley Liebke on LinkedIn and learn more about Epic Taste here: http://www.epic-taste.com/
Scott W. Luton is the founder of Supply Chain Now Radio and also serves as Managing Partner for TalentStream. He has worked extensively in the end-to-end Supply Chain industry for more than 15 years, appearing in publications such as The Wall Street Journal, Dice and Quality Progress Magazine. Scott currently serves as Executive Vice President of APICS Atlanta, was recently named a 2019 Pro to Know in Supply Chain by Supply & Demand Executive.
He served on the 2018 Georgia Logistics Summit Executive Committee and currently serves as Chair of the 2019 Atlanta Supply Chain Awards Planning Committee. He is a certified Lean Six Sigma Green Belt and holds the APICS Certified Supply Chain Professional (CSCP) credential. As a Veteran of the United States Air Force, Scott also volunteers on the Business Pillar for VETLANTA, and maintains active membership in the Georgia Manufacturing Alliance & CSCMP Atlanta Roundtable.
Connect with Scott Luton on LinkedIn and follow him on Twitter at @ScottWLuton. Learn more about TalentStream, a leading recruiting & staffing firm that helps companies find top talent in the Engineering, Manufacturing and Supply Chain space, by visiting their website here: www.talentstreamstaffing.com
Upcoming Events & Resources Mentioned in this Episode
SCNR Tunes, Track 1, featuring Tommy Townsend & Will Haraway: click here
APICS Atlanta CSCP and CLTD Boot Camps at Georgia Tech: click here
Veteran Scholarship Opportunity for SCM Certifications: click here
Upcoming VETLANTA events: click here
Georgia Manufacturing Alliance: https://www.georgiamanufacturingalliance.com/
Blueprint 2019: https://blueridgeglobal.com/blueprint-2019/
2019 Atlanta Supply Chain Awards: https://youtu.be/z8QCs8lgyMM?t=1
AME Atlanta 2019 Lean Summit: https://www.ame.org/ame-atlanta-2019-lean-summit
Transparency 2019: https://www.freightwaves.com/transparency19
EFT 3PL & Supply Chain Summit: click here
Gartner Supply Chain Leadership Conference in Phoenix: https://www.gartner.com/en/conferences/na/supply-chain-us