Ryan Laurent, who is based near Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.A, is regional vice president-sales for Lineage Logistics, the world’s largest provider of temperature-controlled logistics solutions. He was also a graduate of the 2018 National Fisheries Institute’s Future Leaders class.
SeafoodSource: What does your job at Lineage Logistics entail?
Laurent: Every day is different, but that’s what makes it awesome. The customer experience is everything. Our goal is to be the best in the eyes of our customer, our customer’s customer, as well as our employees and vendors. In my role today, I support the local sales leaders in our Southeast region, helping to keep our facilities running at optimal occupancy with a focus on operational execution and providing high levels of service to the customer. Lineage is a customer-driven organization; we want to help our customers develop solutions that are safe, cost-effective, and efficient. It is our job as sales people to make sure the customer’s needs are taken care of and get it done no matter what the ask is.
SeafoodSource: Where does the seafood industry fit in?
Laurent: With the growth of population and consumption, much of the seafood consumed globally was at one point frozen. Lineage is the largest temperature-controlled warehousing company in the world with over 215 sites globally, 1.4 billion cubic feet and 4.3 million pallet positions of storage space. At any given time, our facilities will have more than 1.5 billion pounds of seafood in storage.
SeafoodSource: Ensuring the safety and traceability of the supply chain is one of the major focuses among seafood suppliers: How are you helping them accomplish this?
Laurent: Lineage takes extraordinary measures to maintain the integrity and ensure the safety and traceability of our customers’ products. Facilities across the Lineage network have earned a wide range of top-tier food safety certifications, including SQF, SAI Global, and BRC accreditations. Additionally, our Hazard Analysis of Critical Control Point (HACCP) systems are more restrictive for seafood than other proteins when it comes to temperature management and upper control limits (UCLs) for both chilled and frozen seafood. With regard to traceability, our internal systems are designed to receive, store, and ship seafood products without loss of visibility so we can track the product through its entire cycle. We also communicate this information with our customers so that they are aware where their products are in our system and facilities at any time.
SeafoodSource: As an NFI Future Leader, what where some of the key learnings you took away from that experience? How are you applying them to your current job?
Laurent: Being a part of the NFI Future Leaders class of 2018 was an incredible experience. As a warehousing guy, I think I benefited the most from the program and the relationships I developed with seafood industry leaders. Anyone who goes through the program knows you spend a lot of time with unique personalities from all walks of life. To me, that was the best part. Because of my peers, I am no doubt more knowledgeable and credible when talking to customers because of all the industry experts I was able to interact with. I also can speak from an educated perspective to customers about the industry’s government agencies and regulation, aquaculture, seafood sustainability, and how the supply chain effects seafood consumption.
SeafoodSource: What fun or interesting facts did you learn about the seafood industry from spending time with your NFI classmates?
Laurent: For me, our trip to New Brunswick, Canada was the best and most educational. Cooke Aquaculture and East Coast Seafood hosted us with information sessions, facility tours, cooking demonstrations, and discussion surrounding the state of the seafood industry. We learned about the life-cycle of a salmon and the unbelievable process of open-water aquaculture. We also spent time walking through a lobster processing plant where they would size, grade, and ship lobster all over the world. The week was capped off going through Dr. Bob’s Lobster Academy class, covering the anatomy of a lobster. Did you know, about one out of every two million lobsters caught are blue?
SeafoodSource: When you aren't working, what will we find you doing?
Laurent: Having a great time, no matter what I am doing. Eating, drinking, traveling, golfing, supporting Michigan State athletics and most importantly spending time with my bride-to-be Christy and our dog Molly.
Photo provided by Ryan Laurent
