Aug. 28-- Not all that long ago, Larry Walsh was a warrant officer running a warehouse on Fort Bragg.
Today, he is chairman and CEO of what Inc. magazine has identified as the 10th fastest-growing logistics business in the country.

If you have any doubt what can happen when a business hooks the right military contracts, consider how Walsh's venture, The Logistics Co., grew from $13.2 million in revenue in 2004 to $69.9 million in 2007, according to Inc.

Walsh co-founded The Logistics Co. -- TLC for short -- in Fayetteville in 1996. It provides logistics services to the Department of Defense, other government agencies and private industries.
Last week, Walsh learned where that 429 percent revenue growth landed his company on Inc.'s annual list of fast growers.

"I just looked at the Web site and couldn't believe it," he said.
Although Inc. provides specific rankings based on the type of business a company does, it also ranks 5,000 companies by comparing revenue growth regardless of the fields in which the companies operate.
By that measure, TLC did not make the magazine's shorter, most famous list -- the Inc. 500. But it came close at No. 832.

Only five Fayetteville companies have made the Inc. 500 over the past 26 years. And the revenues for those five companies during the times they made the list weren't anywhere near what TLC is taking in now.
Walsh said his company is on target to pass the $100 million revenue mark by this time next year.
"This is a home-grown company that has done very well and has done it very quietly," said Scott Dorney, executive director of the North Carolina Military Business Center, an organization that spurs defense-related business in the state.

Dorney said TLC has wisely focused on building the right team -- something he said is essential not only to winning contracts but especially to sustaining them.
"And they're aggressive in pursuing opportunities -- not just any opportunity that comes along but opportunities within the core function of that business," Dorney said. "They're very selective and very aggressive at the same time."

Over the past 18 months, TLC has grown from about 200 employees to about 875, Walsh said. About 208 of those employees work in Cumberland County: about 58 of them in a Ramsey Street headquarters north of Methodist University and another 150 or so on Fort Bragg.

Others work in locations such as Fort Dix, N.J.; Fort Knox, Ky.; and Kuwait.

Walsh said perhaps the simplest way to explain TLC's business is to liken it to Manpower or an employment agency. TLC makes sure its people are trained to handle specific projects and contracts out those people to do the jobs.

TLC jobs pay from about $12 per hour to an annual salary of $160,000, Walsh said.

Job openings listed on TLC's Web site include a contracts manager; a structured query language developer to work in TLC's headquarters; and technical instructors/course developers to work on Fort Bragg.

TLC also has recently listed openings for a functional analyst/instructor in Temple, Texas; motor vehicle mechanics at Fort Knox; a project manager who would deal with ammunition at Fort Hood, Texas; and a material coordinator to provide "pre-mobilization guidance" to units scheduled to mobilize through Fort Dix.
In one job note, TLC is looking specifically for retired (or soon-to-be-retired) garrison or deputy garrison commanders, who are the top administrative positions at military installations.

Trained work force
The types of experience sought by TLC points to the broad spectrum of training that the local economy can tap into, according to Doug Peters, president of the Fayetteville-Cumberland County Chamber of Commerce.

	Employees :: Copyright © 2008. The Logistics Company.