The Bekins Co.’s HomeDirectUSA tackles just-in-time delivery to homes.

For the past 113 years, The Bekins Co. has adapted to technological revolutions, starting with the switch from horses to the internal combustion engine.

Ownership, too, has changed over the years, most recently almost three years ago when GeoLogistics Corp. sold the company to the Bekins agent network under a structure that gives every shareholder agency equal voting rights. In part because of that buyout, the Midwest chapter of the Turnaround Management Association selected Bekins as its Turnaround Company of the Year in 2002.

Today, the Hillside, Ill.-based Bekins operates specialized divisions that move household goods, provide trade show services and handle logistics for high-value computer, telecommunications and office imaging equipment. One of Bekins’ more recent initiatives is HomeDirectUSA.

In the late 1990s, the growth of Internet-based retailers created a demand for distribution of goods from manufacturers and warehouses directly to businesses and consumers. Small parcel carriers UPS and FedEx quickly gained the bulk of this market for small packages, but the freight demand also included large consumables and durables.

Bekins saw an opportunity in the business-to-consumer (B2C) market for products such as appliances, furniture and other larger goods. So in 1999, it established the HomeDirectUSA brand to provide logistics and fulfillment for Internet-based and “brick-and-mortar” retailers that offer direct-to-home delivery. Today, HomeDirectUSA is growing at about 30 percent a year with current revenues of more than $100 million, says Randy Valentino, vice president and chief technology officer of Bekins.

But for Bekins and other companies that serve the B2C transportation market, the final stage of transportation – known as last-mile delivery – has always been a major challenge.