Logistics company org chart example
A regional carrier with its own warehouse, drawn the way the work actually flows: dispatch runs the day, supervisors run the people, and safety reports around operations rather than through it.
How a logistics company is usually structured
Operations is the company. Under the operations director sit the two halves of the business — transport and the warehouse — and customer service, which in logistics belongs with operations because every call is about a shipment. Finance, HR and safety report to the president instead, and for safety that placement is deliberate.
Transport has an unusual shape: dispatch directs the drivers' day but doesn't manage them. Drivers report to a driver supervisor for pay, performance and hours; they take their instructions from whoever is on the dispatch desk. That is a dotted line from dispatch to the driver supervisor, and pretending it's a solid one is the most common mistake on a transport chart. Owner-operators — contractors with their own truck — sit in the same pool and are drawn as contractors.
The warehouse is organized by shift and flow: inbound and outbound supervisors, each with a crew of associates and forklift operators stacked beneath. Fleet maintenance reports to the transport manager, because the trucks belong to transport, though in bigger carriers it becomes its own department.
Typical titles by level
The vocabulary these charts use, from the top down. Titles vary by country and by company; the levels don't.
| Level | Titles you'll see |
|---|---|
| Leadership | President or General Manager; Operations Director; at larger carriers a Director of Transport and a Director of Warehousing |
| Managers | Transport Manager, Warehouse or DC Manager, Fleet Manager, Safety & Compliance Manager, Customer Service Manager, Finance & Admin Manager |
| Supervisors | Dispatch Supervisor, Driver Supervisor, Shift Supervisor (Inbound, Outbound, Nights), Yard Supervisor, Lead Driver |
| Front line | Dispatcher, Route Driver, Linehaul Driver, Owner-Operator, Forklift Operator, Warehouse Associate, Picker/Packer, Fleet Mechanic, Inventory Controller, Customer Service Rep, Billing Clerk, Driver Recruiter |
Where these charts go wrong
Charts here go wrong when they are drawn by depot or shift, so the fleet mechanic who serves all three appears three times; when contractors are left off because 'they're not staff', which hides a third of the fleet; and when dispatch is drawn as the drivers' manager, which is how a dispatcher ends up handling a grievance at 2 a.m.
Questions people ask
- Do drivers report to dispatch?
- Day to day, yes; on the org chart, no. Dispatch assigns the work, but hiring, training, pay and discipline belong to a driver supervisor or transport manager. Draw drivers under their supervisor, and a dotted line from dispatch to show who directs them.
- How do I show owner-operators and contract drivers?
- Put them in the driver pool with their employment type set to contractor; they draw with the same card and a different marking. Leaving them off understates the fleet, which is exactly what a customer or an insurer will ask about.
- How many drivers per dispatcher?
- Fifteen to twenty-five trucks per dispatcher is typical for regional and local work; long-haul planning can stretch further because the plan changes less often. Supervisors of drivers commonly have 20 to 30 direct reports, which is why the driver rows are stacked.
- Where does the warehouse sit if it's a 3PL?
- Under operations, beside transport, exactly as here — but a 3PL usually adds an account or client-services layer, one manager per major customer, and often draws the warehouse by customer rather than by shift. If you run both, chart the shift structure and put client managers in customer service.
Other industries
- ManufacturingTwo shifts, and quality kept out of production's line.
- ConstructionOffice and field, meeting on every project.
- Software startupSquads under a CTO; product managers on a dotted line.
- NonprofitThe board on top, programs beside the money.
- Medical practiceA clinical line and a business line, crossing at nursing.
- SchoolDepartments led by teachers who also manage.
- HotelSix divisions around one general manager.
- Marketing agencyDisciplines own people; pods own the work.
- Security & facilities servicesSites stacked under supervisors; a 24-hour control room.
- Sales teamRegions for closers, a team for openers, RevOps beside them.
- Accounting firmA partner pyramid, three service lines.
- Law firmPractice groups, and the business side that runs the firm.
- ChurchA board that governs, a pastor who leads, ministries below.
- RestaurantFront of house and back of house, meeting at the pass.
- IT departmentRun, build and secure, under one director.
- HR departmentPartners, specialists and operations: the three legs.
- Local governmentElected above appointed, and two officers who answer to the council.
- Utility companyField crews, a 24-hour control center, and a regulator in the room.
- BankThree lines of defense, drawn as lines.
- Staffing agencySales desks, recruiting desks, and a back office that pays two thousand people.
- HospitalTwo hierarchies that meet at the bedside.
- Retail chainHead office, the field, and a store drawn once.
- Small businessOne owner, two managers, and the jobs the owner still does.
- Finance departmentAccounting closes the books; FP&A says what they mean.
- Marketing departmentDemand, product, brand, and the operations under all three.
- Customer service departmentTeams on the floor; quality, training and scheduling beside them.
- Engineering departmentProduct teams under a VP of engineering; platform, data and security under the CTO.
- Operations departmentSupply chain, fulfillment and the functions that keep both honest.
- Product departmentProduct, design, research and the operations that measure them.
- Consulting firmThree practices, one firm behind them, and no engagement on the chart.
- Real estate brokerageAgents who are not employees, on the chart anyway.
- Insurance agencySales on one side, service on the other, and the lines where they meet.
- Dental practiceA clinical line the law draws, and a business line the office manager runs.
- UniversityAn academic line and an administrative line, and governance kept off the chart.
- E-commerce companyThe site is the store, the warehouse is a contractor, and the lines between them are drawn.
- Veterinary clinicThe doctors own the medicine, the manager owns the day, and the technicians answer to both.
- Auto dealershipThe front end sells the cars; the back end pays the bills; the chart shows where they meet.
- School districtSchools on one line, the money on another, and a board that governs from a second chart.
- Police departmentPatrol takes the calls, investigations takes the cases, and professional standards answers to the chief alone.
- Nursing homeThe administrator holds the license, the director of nursing holds the building, and the survey reads both lines.
- Property management companyThe owners and the boards are clients, the site staff are employees, and the chart is where the two facts meet.
Or start from a structure — functional, divisional, matrix or flat — or from your own spreadsheet. The guides cover a reorg, a merger, an assistant's chart and a consultant's deliverable.
Make it yours
Download the spreadsheet, replace the names, import it — the chart redraws itself. Or start empty and drag people until it's true. Building is free at any size.