From Here to There: Logistics Series Interview with Noah Munoz Part I

“Down to the pen you write with, the mug you drink out of, the shoes you wear, you tend to forget where it originates from or where it was shipped off to, just to get into your hands…that’s logistics.” –Noah M. Munoz

How many things that we buy are actually produced locally? Most likely not much, but that’s the beautiful thing about trade, we can specialize in industries, and essentially share our talent and products with the world, and vice versa. Take your morning cup of coffee, the mug is probably from China, the coffee from South America, sugar from Thailand, creamer, if you take it, hopefully from the continental U.S.  Your morning cup of coffee was probably made with 75% of the world’s products…the only way it gets from where it was actually produced into your hands is through logistics.

With increasing globalization, we get products from far off places, brought to us magically by transport logistics companies and their semi trucks that we rush to get past while a freight train passes below. Utilizing all modes of transport from air, to railroads, to trucks, and ocean freights, goods are literally moving in all directions, all around us everyday. Transportation logistics companies handle the nitty gritty of  product transport. You may have started a small business, and larger commercialized carriers like FedEx and UPS took care of you…ah the good old days. But now you’re growing, and that’s great, right? But now you have “outgrown” these companies and have to deal with government regulations and agencies, bureaucracies, and the loveable red tape. These newly emerging companies are the first to get fined because they have been spoiled with FedEx’s simplified practices.

Noah Munoz, West Coast International Operations Manager, of Platinum Cargo Logistics was gracious enough to speak with me about some recent developments of the transportation logistics industry, including the FDA’s Food and Safety Modernization Act and Customs Border Protections ISF, or 10+2. Noah hails from the Empire State (of Mind), New York, graduating from NYU with a degree in international business. He began his career in the automotive sector at Ford Motors Company, working closely with the design center contracting suppliers of car parts to create prototypes shown in car shows. While working for Ford Motors, he became International Imports and Export Compliance Manager in 2007. When he moved to California, he became more involved in logistics, overseeing ocean and air divisions and managing industry compliance, as an International Operations Manager, before obtaining his current position at Platinum Cargo Logistics.

Platinum Cargo Logistics, was founded out of the desire to do thing differently and better with customized service solutions: “Intelligent Solutions, Powerful Results.”  Dedicated to “Efficiency, Knowledge, and Solutions [… ] with Every Shipment,” Munoz joined Platinum as the West Coast International Operations Manager.  In this position, Munoz supports Platinum’s West Coast offices dispersed along the coast  (San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Seattle) and the office in Denver.