Standard Trucking enters automotive logistics with Ukrainian emergency logistics expertise

Standard Trucking was established in 2013 by CEO and founder Mykola (Nick) Pysklyvets. Born and raised in Ukraine, Pysklyvets established himself as an owner operator based in Michigan and took his company from one dispatcher and two drivers with less than $1m in revenue, to a $20m turnover firm with a fleet of 100 trucks and 120 trailers, and more than 100 employees in 2024. Now, he wants to break into the automotive logistics sector, and has invested time and money into expanding his company’s fleet, skills, warehousing and even a proprietary tracking software to prepare for Standard Trucking’s future OEM and tier supplier clients.

“We’re entering a new industry, but we’re not new,” Pysklyvets says. “We have the resources in place already. I want the automotive OEMs and tier suppliers to see the logo of Standard Trucking and know that we are your in-house single source solution for trucking.”

Investing in automotive logistics facilities

Standard Trucking has been preparing for its future clients in the automotive sector by upping its warehouse space, something desperately needed in North America, and in Detroit in particular.

Standard Trucking completely renovated a 3,100 sq.m (35,000 sq.ft) dilapidated building in Detroit into a state-of-the-art warehousing and corporate facility, featuring cross-docking with 18 dock doors, secured parking, a mechanical shop and drivers’ lounge and amenities. The surrounding land spanning 60,700 sq.m also has the capacity for additional warehousing.

Aside from the proximity to OEMs and tier suppliers in Detroit, the location of the warehouse is a tactical move into the automotive industry, Pysklyvets says. “It would be easy for anyone to drop their loads here as the Canadian border is less than 20 miles away from us,” he says. “We have dedicated dispatchers, account managers, warehouse personnel, mechanics and an IT team all in-house here. This is a state-of-the-art facility, and we’re also able to ramp up and get more trucks and drivers to meet our clients’ needs.”

The company currently serves 48 states in the US and Canada, with warehouse facilities across Michigan and California, and Pysklyvets has his sights set on further locations in North America including Texas, New Jersey, Philadelphia and even Mexico.

Emergency logistics experience at the highest level

When Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Pysklyvets and the Standard Trucking team sprang into action and used their logistics expertise to help provide aid to Pysklyvets’ home country.

“In three weeks, I built a whole logistics supply chain from our facility in Detroit all the way to arriving in Ukraine,” he says.

Volunteers packed and sent 28 fully loaded containers with humanitarian and medical supplies, from Standard Trucking’s Detroit warehouse to Poland, then to Ukraine, where they were unloaded by ground support in the West of the country, organised by Pysklyvets, and sent straight to the most needed areas in small cargo vans weekly. As the war progresses on, the Standard Trucking Team is continuing their work.

“Last week we shipped two cargo loads of medical supplies,” he says. “If I can do that, without the regular communication usually afforded in logistics, I can do whatever an automotive client needs. I can take those same skills and leadership and apply it to the automotive industry.”

He adds: “It was never a case of, ‘we can’t do this’, we just figured out how to do it and put the right people in the right positions with good management.”

While the task may have seemed daunting, for Pysklyvets it was more than a decade’s worth of first-hand, insider experience kicking into gear. He now wants to apply this experience to the North American automotive supply chain. “I started as a truck driver in 2009, I’ve gone through it myself in the 700,000 plus miles I drove,” he says. “I don’t need to open Google maps to check how many miles it is from Detroit to Dallas, Texas. I know every fuelling station, I know every road, every state. And I make sure my people know that as well.”

Investing in freight and load tracking technology

Of course, to be successful in an industry as competitive as automotive logistics, there needs to be investment in digital tools and tracking software to ensure on time, speedy deliveries. But problems can arise when the different software used by companies within the supply chain are not compatible.

To combat this, Standard Trucking decided to take matters into its own hands and develop an integrated, interoperable digital tool. Pysklyvets says the in-house IT team has invested years into the proprietary software, which is now coming into the testing stage of development. The software integrates with any technology the freight company’s clients may be using, allowing the key stakeholders involved to track where their shipment is 24/7.

“The tracking systems we have already in the industry are concentrated on the truck and trailer, but what I wanted to do was track the client’s load and nothing else. We’re not worried about the truck and other information the client doesn’t need. We are just concentrated on the whereabouts of the load and its ETA,” he says.

He says this makes the delivery more efficient and increases visibility for OEMs and tier suppliers. “We supply step-by-step information in real-time about where the load is and its accurate estimated delivery time,” he says. “And if there are any issues with the delivery, the driver notes it, and it automatically notifies the stakeholders waiting on it.” 

He adds: “It gives our customers real-time visibility 24/7 with no need to call anyone, and it’s in a user-friendly format too. The goal is to allow the stakeholders to be more proactive in the decisions they’re making, instead of trying to be reactive.”

Protecting the clients’ brand while driving down cost

Reliability, trust and an endless relationship are the three key pillars of Standard Trucking, and the company plans to continue to uphold these principles in the automotive supply chain.

“Our main priority is to let our clients focus on their core business and let us concentrate on their shipping,” Pysklyvets says. “We want to help build and protect their brand while we build ours. At the same time, we’re continually improving our processes and procedures to lower cost, so we can pass on that lower cost to our customers.”