In 2006, we were challenged to bring new value to the marketplace. We answered the challenge by fundamentally changing our network. In the 1960s, we faced a similar challenge. We responded with a revolutionary way to transport less-than-truckload shipments. The entire LTL industry eventually copied the breakbulk-satellite system developed by Otto E. Liipfert. Sadly, Mr. Liipfert, died Saturday, April 8, 2006, at his home in Winston-Salem, N.C. He was 91. In this article, Al Snelson, a retired Roadway vice president, shares his memories of Mr. Liipfert.
In memory of Otto E. Liipfert
Former president of Roadway
In an industry that has produced a host of characters, Otto Liipfert stood out. He was instrumental in the development of the trucking industry as it evolved after World War II. Having worked as a truck driver, he walked the walk and talked the talk of a trucker.
In those early years, he was sort of the Marlboro man of truck drivers. Tall and lanky, he sat as easily in the cab of an International K-47 as at a terminal manager's desk. But he was more than a driver. He watched, learned, and mastered the business.
In the process, Otto came to thoroughly understand traffic lanes and trucking operations in the South, along the East Coast, and into the Mid-West and West. Within a couple of decades, he was a leader in transforming the trucking industry into the transportation industry.
Otto's innovative contribution to modernizing trucking began with his development of the breakbulk system, originally within the Carolina area in the 1950s. He began by concentrating on lowering costs by increasing efficiency. He reduced long peddle runs by opening small satellite terminals throughout the Carolinas. He referred to them as "Shade Tree" terminals. This method also reduced business involving connecting line carriers and kept more of the revenue dollar within Roadway.
The Carolinas were Otto's proving grounds and what evolved was the pioneering concept of breakbulk/satellite operations. After moving to Akron in 1967, as vice president of operations, he had the authority to implement the "Carolina concept" nationwide within Roadway.
To make it work, a new relay system was put in place and collectively the new breakbulk/relay system redefined the way Roadway did business.
It proved to be an excellent money-maker. In 1974 Roadway earned more than 23 percent on its invested capital and financed its entire capital spending and dividend payout from cash flow.
The changes were ideal for a long-haul, LTL business with emphasis on wide coverage and reliable service. By the time he retired in 1977, many other LTL companies had copied the Roadway System.
Otto was a real "people person" and a student of the industry with a determination to stay ahead of the competition. Trucking was his lifelong interest, and he remained an advisor to executives who followed in his footsteps.
Years after retiring, he visited the Winston-Salem facility frequently, even into his 90s, and always talked to the professional freight handlers, drivers, and supervisory personnel. His security badge showed his picture and the wording "Big O — AGO President Emeritus."
Otto was born in Winston-Salem on December 25, 1914. He attended R. J. Reynolds High School, Fishburne Military Academy, and graduated in 1934 from North Carolina State University with a degree in chemical engineering. He worked for R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. as a tobacco buyer.
Otto began his career with Roadway in 1943, as an assistant manager in Detroit, Michigan. In 1944, he was promoted to terminal manager in Winston-Salem. He left Roadway's employment briefly to become an owner-operator hauling cigarettes. Once back with Roadway, he subsequently became a district manager and then vice president of the Eastern Division.
In 1963, Otto was elected to Roadway's board of directors and in 1966 he became vice president of operations and was based at the corporate office in Akron, Ohio. He was named vice president of field operations in 1967 and, in 1975, president of the company. He retired December 31, 1977.
Survivors include his wife of 65 years, Anna Leak Scott Liipfert, his daughter, Analeak Scott Liipfert Bowers, and her husband, Richard, of Charlotte, N.C.; his son, Otto E. "Eddie" Liipfert, Jr., and his wife, Susan, of Wadmalaw Island, S.C., and two grandsons, Otto E. Liipfert III of Beaufort, S.C., and Richard Scott Liipfert and his wife, Sally, of Mt. Pleasant, S.C.
