Western Express will now operate as one company and under one name following its acquisition of Smithway Motor Express in October 2007.


"We've been going through the transition from two companies to one strong company very smoothly," said Matt Neal, Western Express director of recruiting. "It's a good feeling having us all under the same name, operating as one team. We're looking forward to the future."

Western Express was founded in 1991 by Wayne and Donna Wise in Nashville, Tenn. Wayne now serves as chairman, president and CEO of Western. After the consolidation, Western Express now has 1,600 tractors in dry van operations and 1,400 flatbed tractors.

"Adding SMX's operations to our existing business has been very profitable and productive for the company," Wayne said. "The combination of the two companies places us in the top 15 truckload carriers measured by revenue, creating more opportunity for our combined customer, employee, and driver bases."

According to Neal, the merger has eliminated redundancies, improved efficiencies by following best practices, and controlled costs by taking advantage of a common computer platform.