Peter Ralston
Transportation Planner with 6+ years of experience managing truckload and rail transportation operations
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About
Transportation Planner with 6+ years of experience managing truckload and rail transportation operations for a leading manufacturing company. Proven track record of coordinating over 100 shipments per week while maintaining an 80% on-time delivery rate. Experienced in transportation planning, carrier management, purchase order coordination, shipment visibility, and supply chain optimization.
Recognized for reducing routing time by 30% through process improvements and technology implementation. Proficient in SAP, Salesforce, Microsoft Excel (including VLOOKUP and XLOOKUP), and Microsoft Office.
Experience
Transportation Planner at Old World Industries (2020-02 – 2026-07)
- Plan and coordinate approximately 100 truckload and railroad shipments each week across North America.
- Maintain an 80% on-time delivery rate by proactively monitoring shipments, resolving transportation issues, and coordinating with warehouses, carriers, and customers.
- Track and trace truckload and rail shipments, providing accurate ETA visibility and proactive communication to internal stakeholders.
- Coordinate and manage purchase orders to ensure inventory availability, shipment accuracy, and on-time customer deliveries.
- Partner with warehouses, trucking carriers, railroad carriers, and distributors to resolve inventory and transportation challenges while minimizing customer disruptions.
- Coordinate inventory availability with distributors and reroute customer orders through alternate warehouse locations when necessary to prevent shipment delays.
- Support transportation operations for major customers including Target, Sam's Club, Ford, Chrysler, CNH, and Grainger.
- Collaborate with Class I railroads, railroad short lines, trucking carriers, and major distribution partners including Shell, Mitsubishi, MEGlobal, Koch Fertilizers, Nutrien, and CF Industries.
- Utilize Microsoft Excel functions, including VLOOKUP and XLOOKUP, to analyze shipment data, reconcile transportation records, validate purchase order information, and improve reporting accuracy.
- Reduced collect transportation routing time by 30% by implementing more efficient Microsoft Office and Adobe Acrobat workflows.
- Trained and mentored two Transportation Planners, contributing to the successful expansion of the transportation planning team.
- Build strong cross-functional relationships with operations, customer service, warehouses, and external transportation providers to ensure efficient and reliable logistics execution.
Education
Bachelor of Arts – University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (2019)
