Freight People Podcast

Mike Vincent has spent nearly 40 years in freight. Founding team at FreightWaves. Seven years hosting WHAT THE TRUCK?!?. Today he's EVP of Strategic Growth at Spartan Carrier Group and runs its media arm, 146 Media.In this episode:(02:07) Why the driver shortage finally turned real(05:47) What happens when the tractor and trailer become the operating system(10:44) Why grey fleets may replace the trucking company itself(13:18) Where a carrier should actually start with AI(15:49) What Alvys Foundry Agentic Platform gives carriers who want to build their own tools(25:49) The logistics problem hiding inside plastic recycling___Full chapter list:00:00 A hundred years from now00:49 Autonomous trucks: what's real and what isn't02:07 Why the driver shortage finally turned real03:21 9,500 CDL mills shut down03:42 The Louisiana bribery scandal04:22 Why Spartan's driver turnover runs lower05:16 Aurora, Fort Worth, and the Alvys integration05:47 When the truck and trailer know everything06:21 "Eventually you're not going to need a trucking company"06:59 Outrider, yard automation, and running a yard in 199107:50 Brick phones and why the curve doesn't stop08:58 One connected network: Qued, CarrierSource, Sonar, APIs10:44 Grey fleets and why FreightVana already has trailers11:33 What carriers should be doing today12:23 Disruption, and the IBM guy who called the laptop a fad13:18 Where to actually start with AI14:09 AI is a tool, not the solution14:52 The blockchain lesson15:49 Alvys Foundry, in Mike's words18:33 Choose your adventure: prebuilt agents or build your own19:17 Where humans fit as AI advances20:22 AI video silliness, good intentions and bad22:09 Knowledge versus intelligence22:18 The dead internet theory23:14 Human-made as the new organic24:35 The driver as exception manager25:49 Guitar picks, ocean plastic, and a logistics problem26:24 Micro recycling plants in a 40 foot container27:32 Six cents a pound to 47 cents a pound30:50 Stewardship without the politics32:00 Nothing is unrecyclable, the infrastructure just isn't there32:21 Plastic bags and backhaul logic

We're back and we're talking AI in Trucking. Ava Barnes Davis sits down with Kendrick Dawson, VP of Operations at Spartan Carrier Group to hear exactly how Spartan is using AI to automate operations for their 650 truck fleet. He is also the person who actually set up Spartan's AI workflows. In his own words, "Tech is not my first language by any means." Everything he describes in this episode he set up himself, with support from the Alvys team.Spartan Carrier Group is a $75 million asset carrier running 650 assets across 12 locations in the US, Mexico and Canada. Spartan was one of the first fleets to put Alvys Foundry, an agentic AI platform built inside the TMS, into live operations.The results Kendrick reports3X to 4X more miles driven per year on the same headcountRoughly an hour per shift given back on customer reporting aloneZero added back-office hires as volume growsUse case 1: Automated customer tracking reportsEvery customer wants a different template on a different cadence. Customer A wants one data set. Customer B wants similar data laid out differently, every 30 minutes instead of every hour. Foundry pulls live ETAs, arrival and departure times, and last known location straight out of Alvys TMS and sends each customer their own format on their own schedule.Use case 2: Automatic coverage requests when a driver calls offSpartan's network runs on W-2 company drivers. When one calls off, someone has to cover the route. Foundry watches for any route with no driver assigned inside a four-hour buffer before dispatch. At that mark it fires an email to every carrier in the system that has run a similar route or originated near that pickup. No one has to notice the route that needs coverage, no one has to send the email.Use case 3: Detention pay calculated per customer policyDetention terms vary by shipper. One is $50 an hour after two hours. Another is $35 an hour after one hour. There are too many combinations for a team to memorize, and the SOPs live buried in a drawer or a Teams chat. Foundry already has the shippers, the routes and the times, so it applies the right policy and flags what's owed. Kendrick reviews a report at the end of the week. Nobody has to do the math, and drivers don't lose money to a missed calculation.Use case 4: Custom references as a translation layerSpartan uses Alvys custom references to make one event mean the right thing to every department. Example: when they have to buy external capacity instead of running internal drivers, field ops describes the reason one way and dispatch describes it another. Finance and the C-suite need to know why unplanned outside capacity is being used. Foundry reads both inputs and resolves them into the answer finance actually understands. The same custom references push route detail, fuel info and daily specifics to the driver app, so drivers get the full picture up front instead of calling in and waiting on hold.Why inside the TMS instead of bolted onKendrick's build-versus-buy take: you can probably bolt an external AI platform onto your TMS. The question is whether you want to hand another company access to your customer rates and your contact list. He describes Foundry as a sandbox. What's in there stays in there, nothing leaks out and no false data comes in. Alvys runs SOC 2 compliant infrastructure and holds enterprise agreements with multiple LLM providers, so customer data stays protected.What they will not automateKendrick is direct about the human element at Spartan never going away. The point of automating the mundane work is to give dispatchers time to actually take care of drivers, think through hard problems and grow into bigger roles. Spartan's driver retention is a competitive advantage and they're not trading it for efficiency.

Take the guesswork out of fighting freight fraud and scaling profitably. CEO Adam Blanchard (Tanager Logistics, Double Diamond Transport) breaks down the exact tech stack, hiring system, and operating rhythms behind his $65M asset-based brokerage. You’ll learn how to protect your company against double brokering and identity spoofing, a secret unlock for building a nearshore team, and align asset and brokerage ops without blowing margin.What you’ll get:• A layered anti-fraud framework you can deploy this quarter.• The asset/brokerage tech stack that actually moves the needle• Field notes from Capitol Hill: what policy shifts mean for carriers and brokers today.Perfect for carriers and brokers who want to grow, stay paid, and sleep at night.

Before they even found Alvys, Stevens Trucking discovered a tech-driven strategy that changed everything for their drop-and-hook efficiency, and in this episode of Freight People, Cole Stevens breaks it all down.It’s the exact move that helped them reduce idle time, optimize trailer pools, and scale like a tech-first fleet.Host Ava Barnes sits down with Cole Stevens, the Chief Strategy Officer of Stevens Trucking, to unpack the full journey from a hotshot in the Oklahoma oilfields to a 400-truck powerhouse named one of the Top 10 Workplaces in Oklahoma.“We’re a 46-year-old startup.”“If I wouldn’t drive for us, how can we expect anyone else to?”You’ll hear the founding story, the family values that still drive operations, and how smart tech layered with old-school grit has made Stevens a standout in freight.Biggest takeaway: The drop-and-hook playbook that changed the game

From Combat to CEO: The Grit, Faith & Vision Behind Spartan Carrier Group | Freight People PodcastIn this episode of the Freight People Podcast, host Ava Barnes sits down with Carlos Llanes Jr., CEO and founder of Spartan Carrier Group—a man whose story will stick with you long after the episode ends.Carlos walks us through his bold journey from musician to Marine to multi-million-dollar logistics founder—growing Spartan Carrier from $0 to $54M in just over 3 years, with no outside funding. But this isn't just a business success story. It’s a story of purpose, grit, faith, and building something bigger than money.You'll hear how Carlos landed Toyota as one of Spartan’s first clients, what it really takes to scale with integrity, and how he views automation not as an end—but as a means to serve people better. He also shares the powerful love story with his wife, the moment he found his faith, and how he's using his business as a platform for impact—from driver retention to AI and CDL schools.If you're a freight leader, entrepreneur, or just someone craving purpose-driven inspiration, this one’s for you.Listen to how Spartan is flipping the industry on its head—one mission-led decision at a time.Timestamps0:00 — Why automation only matters if it improves people’s lives1:00 — From musician to Marine to logistics founder3:30 — Winning Toyota with no backing8:00 — Walking away from corporate America14:00 — Carlos's love story + faith journey27:00 — Building a driver-first company30:00 — Why Spartan chose Alvys as their TMS33:30 — Advice for freight founders35:00 — Carlos’s final message on peace, leadership, and letting go of worryLearn more about Spartan Carrier Group: https://spartcargroup.comFollow Spartan on Instagram: @spartancarriergroupWant tech that grows with you? Check out alvys.comSubscribe for more raw, real conversations with the people moving freight forward.#FreightPeople #LogisticsLeadership #SpartanCarrierGroup #Alvys #FaithInBusiness #FreightPodcast #TruckingTransformation