Wichita shipping company specializes in unique or difficult items

In Barry Smith’s business, the price of an item doesn’t always match its value to a client.

Take an isolated ethanol plant that needs a relatively inexpensive part to resume operating.

“When the plant shuts down and they need a part, they could be losing $20,000 to $30,000 an hour,” Smith said. “It’s not what the part costs.”

Smith owns Airgroup Express, which specializes in unique or difficult shipments, often of a time-critical nature.

Smith has worked in the field since his student days at Wichita State University, starting his own company in 2002.

In 2007, it became an independently owned office of Seattle-based Airgroup, one of about 80 worldwide. Smith said the arrangement allows him to take advantage of corporate deals negotiated with airlines and other shippers, plus Airgroup’s technology platform, billing services and international reputation.

“That saves me two or three people here doing nothing but accountables and receivables,” he said.

Airgroup Express employs seven people locally.

Smith said ethanol plants are one important niche his business serves, thanks to a local manufacturer of parts for those facilities. But he said Airgroup works for “a pretty wide assortment of clients.”

“We tend to specialize in things with pretty unique requirements,” Smith said.

“Sometimes it’s a small box, like you’d get on your front porch from Amazon. Other times it’s an auger 14 feet by 4 feet by 4 feet.”

Some deliveries are relatively simple, requiring Airgoup only to book space on an airline and a driver on the other end to pick up the part. Other items, too large to fly on commercial airlines, may have to be driven the whole way. Or an item may be needed so quickly that a plane has to be chartered.

Still other shipments may require multiple means of transport – say, a truck to Kansas City, a train or plane to one of the coasts and a ship from there to a foreign country.

“We’re kind of like the quarterback – we get a lot of different scenarios. What’s the best play to call?” Smith said. “Oftentimes, we give customers two different options.”

Airgroup Wichita has shipped to more than 100 countries, Smith said, adding that international business became a priority four years ago. Growth in that area is one reason Smith moved his business from Valley Center to the CorTen building in downtown Wichita a year ago.

Interestingly, the goal is not always to get a shipment to its destination as fast as possible. With trade shows held at large convention centers, for instance, deliveries may have to be made within a “very tight window” due to the number of participants.

In that case, Smith said, “Early is just as bad as late.”

And some clients need a quick price quote for a shipment that will take place months in the future, so that they can figure their total price to a customer.

“If I can quote them fast, that makes their life easier,” Smith said.

Not surprisingly in a business with so many moving parts – literally – problems crop up.

“We’ve had a couple of really interesting shipments to Brazil that were really challenging,” Smith said, mentioning the country’s regulations and the fact that the equipment was being delivered to the swampy Amazon River area.

A worker slowdown in West Coast ports was another “very challenging time in our business.”

Trucks bearing deliveries break down once or twice a year, and recently a shipment from Los Angles got bumped off two airplane flights, meaning it didn’t reach Dallas until 10 p.m. That would normally be too late for it to be unloaded and driven to Wichita by 7 the next morning, as the client required. Smith said he and his employees spent “multiple hours” on the telephone with contacts in Dallas, finally getting the extra unloading time that was needed.

That’s what makes his work interesting, Smith said.

“It’s a fun business,” he said. “It’s got to be.

“I’ve been doing it a long time, and I still love coming to work every day. Every day is different.”

This story was originally published December 28, 2016 at 2:11 PM with the headline "Wichita shipping company specializes in unique or difficult items."