Rep. Womack: ArcBest doing better than Congress in ‘defeating the status quo’

“Defeating the status quo” was how U.S. Rep. Steve Womack, R-Rogers, tied his thoughts – and frustrations – on moving things through Congress with ArcBest’s new system to move things through supply chains.

Womack on Wednesday (Feb. 21) toured ArcBest’s Innovation Lab in Fort Smith and spoke to around 90 employees of the Fort Smith-based shipping and logistics company.

The company on Feb. 13 rolled out its Vaux Smart Autonomy system that, in conjunction with other Vaux (rhymes with box) products, promises to reduce materials handling in warehouses, distribution centers and other facilities from “an hours-long process to mere minutes.” The company previously unveiled the Vaux Freight Movement System which used a mobile platform system to change how freight is loaded and unloaded. That system was named one of TIME’s Best Inventions of 2023.

According to the company, the Vaux systems combine “autonomous mobile robot (AMR) forklifts and reach trucks, intelligent software and remote teleoperation capabilities to autonomously handle materials movement within warehouses, distribution centers and manufacturing facilities — all while keeping humans in the loop.” The company declined to say how much it has spent establishing the innovation lab and developing the Vaux system but said it invests $175 million annually in technology and innovation designed to improve supply chain systems.

After a tour of the Innovation Lab at 8100 S. Zero St., in Fort Smith, Womack answered questions and spoke about the “frustrations” of serving in a Congress in which compromise is rejected because too many people “want 100% or nothing.”

“Right now, Congress is behaving in such a way that leads to gridlock,” Womack said.

He noted that the “enemy of progress” in any arena is the status quo, adding that he was impressed with how ArcBest is using the lab to “defeat the status quo” and find new ways to move products through complex supply chains. He said Congressional gridlock is making it difficult to engage in the type of governance that helps move beyond the status quo on many pressing issues the country faces.

Michael Newcity, chief innovation officer of ArcBest and president of ArcBest Technologies, said after Womack’s remarks that defeating the status quo may become a new slogan at the lab.

In an interview with Talk Business & Politics after the tour, Newcity said ArcBest has about 600 employed in its ArcBest Technologies division, with about 100 employed at the Fort Smith lab. He said ArcBest is working with 20 Fortune 500 companies in pilot programs to test “a portfolio of use cases” with different iterations of the Vaux systems.

He said because some companies are “looking at large process changes” within their supply chain system, turning interest in the systems into customers can be a “long sales cycle.”

“We’re working with one large auto manufacturer … and one of the very first things he (a vice president of operations) said was this, ‘We’re never going to go through that again.’ And what he was referring to was all the supply chain disruptions that happened during COVID-19 and post-COVID. And so they are looking at all kinds of solutions, and he sees this (Vaux) solution as a way to solve some of the problems they dealt with in supply chain efficiency,” Newcity said.

The company is not finished with testing new innovations, Newcity said, but declined to offer any specific products or services that might be next to go public.

“I can tell you that we are investing in AI (artificial intelligence). We’re looking at machine vision … and software technologies. We’ll have a stack of technologies. We’ll have an ecosystem of technologies,” he said.

Some of those technologies could include automated trucks and other unique transportation methods that may face government regulation. One of the audience questions for Womack was about the extent of potential regulation. Womack said he hopes the federal government will apply regulation only where needed to ensure public safety and avoid broad “burdensome” regulations.

“Where is the intersection between the innovation happening in the logistics arena and the need for the federal government to do something from a regulatory perspective that doesn’t suppress the movement, but at the same time does provide the level of protection, safety, and confidence in the American public? I think we have to find that sweet spot,” Womack said.

Founded in 1923, ArcBest has around 15,000 employees at 250 locations. ABF Freight is the largest subsidiary and is a less-than-truckload carrier. On Feb. 6, the company reported a full-year net income of $195.433 million, down 34.4% compared with $298.209 million in 2022. Revenue in 2023 totaled $4.427 billion, down 12% compared with $5.029 billion in 2022.

ArcBest shares (NASDAQ: ARCB) closed Thursday at $130.80, down 6 cents. During the past 52 weeks, the share price has ranged between $146.24 and $82.18.