Vision Transportation’s New Facility in Belleville Is Useful for Canadians during COVID-19

March 15, 2020

Aaron Lalvani, the General Manager of Vision Transportation, believes Belleville, Ontario in the Bay of Quinte region has tremendous opportunities. Vision is a think-outside-the-box transport company that can move any freight anywhere across North America in 7 days by road and rail, though rail services may exceed 7 days to markets like California.

“We’re making more capital investment and more labour investment because Belleville is a really good environment for business. As a third-party logistics we’re investing millions of dollars in a new facility because we believe manufacturers are going to need creative solutions to move their products across North America,” states Lalvani.

Vision Transportation embodies many qualities that are now more important than ever. Their creative approach for adapting to industry changes continues to serve them well with respect to the recent COVID 19 restrictions. Their long-term vision, commitment to investing in the Bay of Quinte region, and reliable transportation network are a combination that will produce success for many years to come, even in the face of challenging circumstances.

Vision Transportation Has Great Access to North America

Aaron says, “We’re bullish about the Bay of Quinte because it’s a great geographical location with a community of manufacturers and processors who need goods moved. It’s a more rural area than Toronto, but it doesn’t function that way at all. It’s an area we can service just as easily as we can service Toronto for our clients.”

Vision has built a network that seamlessly services their customers as if they were in a metropolis. However, their customers get an advantage being in the Bay of Quinte because

• Land is lower cost
• Taxes are lower
• Development is lower cost
• Operating costs are lower

Their customers gain from the savings operating outside of the GTA, and Vision can give them cheaper service because they’ve taken advantage of those savings too.

Vision Transportation Transformed the Transport Industry

Vision invests in talent and Lalvani believes it’s important to seek new and fresh talent.

“You can’t train attitude, so we’re always able to train someone who has the right attitude. You can’t really just go to school to learn this business. On the job experience and training is 99% of any job.”

Vision hired top talent, including a data scientist to analyze what they’re doing and its effects to give even more value to their customers. They also hired a software engineer to work on their systems.

“We are paying more for higher talent to help our customers grow. This helps us move our customers’ freight better and network it across our transport systems. We can bring a creative value to them because we’ve developed all of this infrastructure and network knowledge and systems,” says Lalvani.

An Industry Leader in Moving Freight Safely with Social Distancing

 Lalvani and his team have put new procedures in place to keep all people in the supply chain safe while they continue to move freight. Although he admits that many of these procedures have slowed down the pace of filling orders, they are necessary to protect all people who handle that freight.

1. Each MHE is wiped down when forklift operators change over equipment. We monitor and document who has changed equipment and verify that the wipe down was done properly.
2. Warehouse staff and dispatch (operations) teams are limited from crossing over into the other work spaces.
3. Drivers are only in the shipping office for minimal time before they quickly return back to their cabs.

Vision Transportation Invested $20M in Their Belleville Location

“We just made a $20M investment in our new College Street location in Belleville. We had the vision and means to add another facility  because we want success for the region as a place to do business, and to help our customers grow,” states Lalvani.

To make sure their warehouse jobs are filled with less turnover, Vision implemented compensation packages with bonuses for the warehousing, dispatch and transportation groups. Each group has clear monthly goals to work towards.

“It’s the future of business to be able to think outside the box and get the talent you need in a competitive talent and labour environment. And the bonuses are significant, they’re not small increases,” says Lalvani.

Vision’s customers asked them to be in the region so they made the commitment 15 years ago. They have a really good array of customers who work with them, it’s not just about pricing. It’s about bringing their customers total value.

QEDC Helps Companies LikeVision Transportation Succeed in the Bay of Quinte

As Vision Transportation continues to expand and service more customers in eastern Ontario, the Quinte Economic Development Commission (QEDC) will be there ready to help the business grow.

Businesses in different sectors benefit from the resources provided by the QEDC.

Contact our office or visit our website to learn more about how your business can benefit and prosper in the Bay of Quinte.