YRC, a subsidiary of YRC Worldwide Inc., announced that it has received the National LTL Carrier of the Year Award from A.O. Smith Water Products Company, a leading manufacturer and marketer of residential and commercial water heaters and boilers headquartered in Ashland City, Tenn. A.O. Smith presented YRC with this honor at the company's Carrier Conference in Franklin, Tenn. on September 21, 2011.

The award recognizes a retail solution YRC developed and implemented for American Water Heaters, a division of A.O. Smith, earlier this year. It necessitated that YRC coordinate the release of more than 1,600 display cases from a production house in Elgin, Ill., to stores throughout the country, including sites in Alaska and Hawaii. Although the shipments required special equipment for safe moving, American had specific deadlines to meet and wanted success guaranteed regardless of the job's complexity or how many changes occurred throughout the production and shipping process.

YRC orchestrated a custom solution that included state-of-the-art tracking and deck bars for shipment safety, customized pricing and the company's Guaranteed Standard service ' a proprietary, simplified pricing package that ensures shipments will arrive on time and meet required delivery schedules. The program exceeded American's expectations.

We are honored to receive this recognition and are very proud of the work and level of service the team provided to our customer,' said John Amerman, Senior Customer Solution Coordinator who managed this retail project for YRC. 'Our success can be attributed to thorough retail expertise and dedication to a superior customer experience.'