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Schulz Logistics, a fast-growing freight brokerage, watched manual EDI work and disconnected tools pile up as it scaled. The team lacked consistent visibility into lane performance and pricing, and every workaround added the operational complexity they were trying to avoid.
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Schulz Logistics, a fast-growing freight brokerage based in Lincoln, Nebraska, has built its reputation on doing things differently. With nearly a decade in business, the company has scaled from a two-person startup generating $60K in revenue to a $60M+ operation with a team of 20 and growing.
Serving primarily the food service industry, Schulz Logistics manages high volumes of full truckload freight across dry van, reefer, and flatbed shipments. But what truly sets the company apart is its philosophy: a commitment to fairness, transparency, and long-term partnerships with both customers and carriers.
As Schulz scaled, however, maintaining that philosophy while managing increasing operational complexity became a challenge.
Like many growing brokerages, Schulz relied on a combination of a TMS (McLeod), spreadsheets, and manual processes to manage operations. While this approach worked in the early years, it began to break down at scale.
At peak growth, the team was managing hundreds of loads per week, but lacked a clear, consistent view into pricing, lane performance, and overall operational variability. Critical workflows (especially EDI processing) were highly manual. Each load required up to 45 seconds of repetitive data entry and cleanup. Across thousands of loads, this translated into a significant operational burden.
Beyond EDI, the team faced additional challenges:
The impact was clear: time was being spent on tasks that didn’t add value, limitingthe team’s ability to focus on strategic growth and service quality.
For Schulz, the goal wasn’t to add more technology, it was to simplify.
“We’ve always believed business should be as simple as possible. As companies grow, they tend to add layers of complexity. We wanted to do the opposite.
— Joe Schulz, Owner, Schulz Logistics
After evaluating several vendors, Schulz found that most solutions either couldn’t address their specific challenges or added unnecessary complexity. What stood out about Rygen was a different approach.
Rather than offering a one-size-fits-all product, Rygen focused on understanding Schulz’s workflows and challenges, particularly around EDI, and committed to building a solution tailored to their needs, while also helping the team gain a deeper understanding of what was driving performance across the business.
That willingness to take on complex problems (and deliver) made the decision clear.
Most companies add complexity as they grow. Schulz chose to do the opposite.
With Rygen’s X1 Integration Platform, Schulz transformed how it understands and manages its operations. By automating EDI and reporting workflows, the team gained real-time visibility into lane performance, pricing trends, and operational variability. Automation wasn’t the outcome; it was the mechanism that unlocked visibility and better decision-making.
What once took 45 seconds per load was reduced to a near-instant process. More importantly, that automation created a consistent, reliable data foundation, making it possible to see what was actually happening across the business.
But the impact went beyond EDI. Rygen enabled Schulz to gain:
Importantly, these solutions were designed to run in the background.
“I don’t even log into the system. It just works. It gives us the value without taking our time”
— Joe Schulz, Owner, Schulz Logistics
From the beginning, the implementation process reflected Rygen’s consultative approach.
Schulz worked directly with dedicated experts who not only understood the technology but also had deep knowledge of brokerage operations and McLeod systems. This combination proved critical.
Instead of navigating multiple contacts or support layers, Schulz had consistent, hands-on collaboration with a team that understood both the technical and operational context.
“They can take something complex and explain it in a way that actually makes sense. It felt like we were building solutions together, not just buying software.”
— Joe Schulz, Owner, Schulz Logistics
The most immediate and measurable impact came from EDI automation: 30-40 hours per week saved
This alone significantly reduced operational strain and freed up the team to focus on higher-value activities.
But the deeper impact came from improved visibility and decision-making. That visibility didn’t just inform the team, it changed how they operated, enabling faster, more confident decisions across pricing, lane management, and customer strategy.
With automated reporting and analytics, Schulz gained:
Improved cost control driven by clearer visibility into when and where margins were at risk. In a highly volatile transportation market, this ability to act on real-time insight, not just access it, became a clear competitive advantage.
While many companies focus heavily on KPIs, Schulz takes a different view.
“The biggest value isn’t just the time savings—it’s the knowledge. We can make better decisions because we actually understand what’s happening at a granular level.”
— Joe Schulz, Owner, Schulz Logistics
In an industry where rates can fluctuate dramatically and market conditions change rapidly, that understanding is critical, even if it’s difficult to quantify.
With Rygen, Schulz builds solutions together instead of buying software.
Today, Schulz Logistics has automated its most time-consuming workflows and has no immediate need to add more tools. Instead, the focus is on continuing to leverage Rygen’s platform to maintain efficiency and support future growth.
As the company scales toward its next phase, the work with Rygen remains a key part of itsoperational strategy.
Schulz set out to build a brokerage that prioritizes fairness, simplicity, and long-term relationships. With Rygen, they found a partner that shares those values and delivers the technology to support them.
By eliminating low-value work and unlocking meaningful insights, Schulz has positioned itself to scale efficiently while staying true to its core philosophy.
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