With rapid growth, Elite Transit Solutions moves into Downtown office
If the fear is that automation will kill jobs, then Elite Transit Solutions isn't scared.
The Pittsburgh-based freight management and transportation logistics startup uses software and technology to automate much of the behind-the-scenes logistical work needed to transport goods, taking jobs that once required about 75 people and reducing that to 10 in some cases, said Nick Van Winter, national accounts manager at Elite.
That automation hasn't forced the company to cut back on hiring. Instead, the company has seen explosive growth, going from about 30 people in December to nearly 50, with plans to top 100 by year's end.
In January, Elite moved from its cramped, conference room-sized office in Green Tree to an entire floor of an office building in the heart of Pittsburgh's Cultural District, Downtown.
CEO Mike Johnson is already looking to expand in that building.
“We've been able to differentiate ourselves in the industry,” Johnson said Tuesday as he gave a tour of the company's new office. “I've always wanted to move toward tech.”
Elite helps loads find trucks and trains to haul them and vice versa. Requests, schedules, tracking data and other information comes to Elite in many ways, but it would end up being manually put into a database. Employees would repeatedly fill in the same fields with the same information, Van Winter said.
Now, some of that information is automatically put in the database and fields are automatically populated. Elite even uses software that can scrape emails for information, Van Winter said. This frees employees to develop relationships with customers and look for more business.
“You're always going to need people. We just felt it is better to use them for jobs that need a brain,” Van Winter said. “We don't need a person to sit there and click 15 buttons all day.”
Elite's new office is wide open. Rows of tables with computers fill much of it. Conference rooms and offices ring the border.
Alexis Ehlers, the continuous improvement manager at Elite, said the entire Green Tree office could fit inside the conference room where she was training the latest batch of hires. There is a bar and long table in the back of the office where employees gather for breakfast, lunch or dinner. Elite runs 24/7. There's a pool table and video game machine.
Johnson said when he moved to Pittsburgh in 2013, he purposely stayed out of Downtown, which he didn't feel was developed enough. The neighborhood has changed dramatically, and Johnson wanted to be a part of it. He said the new location has helped in recruiting and retaining employees.
“The only con we've found was parking,” Johnson said.
This story has been updated to correct the number of employees Elite Transit Solutions had in December 2017.
Aaron Aupperlee is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at aaupperlee@tribweb.com, 412-336-8448 or via Twitter @tinynotebook.
