The fourth-party logistics (4PL) provider Redwood Logistics has acquired the supply chain technology advisory firm JBF Consulting, and will launch a new business venture called Redwood Advisory, the company said.
According to the Chicago-based 4PL, Redwood Advisory helps shippers decide what to change in their strategy, operating model, technology, and data, then aligns with them to make the change work. Its specific areas of coverage will include transportation management system (TMS), warehouse management system (WMS), global trade management (GTM), and artificial intelligence (AI) strategy and selection, as well as broader governance, transformation, and strategy issues.
“Building an advisory team from scratch would have taken us years. JBF brings significant experience building trust with shippers navigating their most critical logistics and technology decisions,” said Erin Breen, Chief Growth Officer, Redwood. “We spent two years getting this right. Our customers kept asking us to get involved before a TMS selection or an AI program was locked in. Now we can do that with a team that has been doing this work for two decades.”
Redwood Advisory will keep JBF’s vendor-agnostic approach, ensuring that its recommendations are based on what fits each shipper’s network, including the systems and partners the shipper already runs. Shippers can engage Redwood Advisory on its own or as the first step in a broader 4PL relationship.
Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. But JBF founder and CEO Brad Forester and Tara Buchler, principal of strategy and former vice president of product management at e2open, join Redwood along with the JBF team.
