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Qued Partners with Hoekstra Transportation to Bring AI-Powered Smart Appointments to a Family-Built Midwest Food and Beverage Fleet

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The 35-year-old, 100% asset-based regional carrier automated its portal and email scheduling with Qued — including a custom workflow built from scratch for a major food manufacturer — and its senior CSR is finally getting off work on time

BROADLANDS, Va., Aug. 6, 2026 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ — Qued, a leader in developing sophisticated, automated appointment scheduling solutions for supply chain and logistics companies, today announced a strategic partnership with Hoekstra Transportation, a 100 percent asset-based regional truckload carrier based in St. Anne, Illinois. Hoekstra deployed Qued’s Smart Appointments platform earlier this year to automate portal- and email-based appointment scheduling across a short-haul network built on velocity: 75 trucks, an average length of haul of about 175 miles, multiple turns per truck per day — and roughly 75 to 80 percent of loads requiring a confirmed appointment.

“It’s done. It’s working perfectly,” reports Shawndra Arvin, Hoekstra’s Senior Customer Service Representative.

Hoekstra’s story starts in a potato field. The family farmed and hauled its own produce on its own trucks before Steve Hoekstra bought a small paper-hauling business and built the trucking operation that has now run for 35 years. Today, about 90 percent of Hoekstra’s business is food and beverage — packaging, finished product, and shuttle moves between plants and distribution centers for some of the biggest names in the category — all of it moved directly for customers, with no brokered freight.

That heritage shapes how Hoekstra buys technology: deliberately. “We’re pretty selective about what we get distracted by,” says Steve Hoekstra, President of Hoekstra Transportation. The company chose Qued on trust — a longstanding relationship with a Qued team member from her years at McLeod Software — and didn’t evaluate anyone else. The bet paid off quickly. Onboarding was, in the team’s words, seamless: “All we had to do was send them our information. They took it and they ran with it.” When one major food manufacturer’s scheduling requirements proved too unique for any template, Qued built the workflow from scratch — and it now runs across inbound, outbound, and shuttle moves.

“It’s done. It’s working perfectly,” reports Shawndra Arvin, Hoekstra’s Senior Customer Service Representative.

For a lean operation, the impact goes beyond speed. The email flood that once dominated the appointments desk is gone, and when Shawndra is out, her backup can finally keep pace — the automation holds the line.

Qued’s platform uses machine learning to find the best appointment slots in real time based on ETAs, facility capacity, historical performance, and the specific requirements of each location. It connects directly to the transportation management system a carrier already runs, and it works on every channel a facility can require: web portals, email, and AI-powered voice calls.

“Hoekstra runs one of the leanest, fastest-turning regional operations in the Midwest, and they buy technology the right way — deliberately, on trust and proof,” said Tom Curee, President of Qued. “When their account needed a scheduling workflow that didn’t exist, we built it from scratch. That’s the standard, whether you run 75 trucks or 7,500.”

“They’re not selling you just what they have — whatever the format, whatever the process needs to be, they’re going to work with that,” said Steve Hoekstra, President of Hoekstra Transportation. “We’re a small guy in their mix, but they treated us like any of their biggest customers. They tackled it, and I thought that was great.”

“I use Qued daily. Honestly, it’s a couple of clicks and everything is just done,” said Shawndra Arvin, Senior Customer Service Representative at Hoekstra Transportation. “It’s given me back my time to focus on customers and build the relationships we need to succeed in this industry, instead of just sending emails. I’m even starting to get off work on time. I’m wholeheartedly behind Qued.”

Hoekstra joins a growing roster of asset-based carriers running on Qued, from family fleets to some of the largest carriers in North America.

About Qued:

Qued is a cloud-based, AI-powered smart workflow automation platform transforming load appointment scheduling for brokers, 3PLs, and carriers. By automating the scheduling process, Qued eliminates manual work, simplifies multi-stop load appointments, and ensures seamless coordination across the supply chain, improving both operational efficiency and customer satisfaction. For more information, visit www.qued.com or contact us at contact.us@qued.com.

About Hoekstra Transportation:

Hoekstra Transportation is a 100 percent asset-based regional truckload carrier headquartered in St. Anne, Illinois, about an hour south of Chicago. Family-built and rooted in a potato-farming heritage, Hoekstra has served the Midwest for 35 years, operating roughly 75 trucks in dry van service within a 500-mile radius of the Chicago metro area, with a focus on food and beverage freight moved directly for its customers. For more information, visit www.hoekstratrans.com.

Media Contact

Adam Robinson, The Robinson Agency, 1 2148720780, adam@the-robinson-agency.com, The Robinson Agency

View original content:https://www.prweb.com/releases/qued-partners-with-hoekstra-transportation-to-bring-ai-powered-smart-appointments-to-a-family-built-midwest-food-and-beverage-fleet-302844647.html

SOURCE Qued

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Cosign Launches in San Jose as Silicon Valley Rental Competition Hits a Decade High

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The Platform Offers a Cosigner Alternative Amid Tightening Vacancy

SAN JOSE, Calif., Aug. 7, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Cosign, a cosigner and third-party lease guarantor platform designed to expand renter access while protecting property owners, has launched in San Jose, the heart of Silicon Valley, where rental competition has reached levels not seen in more than a decade.

According to CoStar data, average rent in San Jose is up roughly 7% in the last year, meaning income requirements are rising far faster than most renters’ paychecks. Average asking rent currently sits around $3,432 a month, behind only New York and San Francisco. Renters with steady income and years of local employment, teachers, service workers and contractors among them, are getting stuck at the apartment approval stage simply because they don’t have a cosigner to fall back on. The issue isn’t a lack of qualified renters. It’s approval standards that require applicants to clear roughly a $124,000 annual income threshold or provide a cosigner.

At Vasona Management, that squeeze has become a daily leasing challenge. Management adopted Cosign as a cosigner alternative to solve exactly that problem. As a San Jose apartment guarantor, Cosign steps in when renters fall just short of standard qualification criteria and have no cosigner to rely on, allowing Vasona’s properties to approve more residents, reduce vacancy rate and maintain financial protections.

“At Vasona Management, providing a seamless leasing experience while maintaining strong qualification standards is a top priority,” said Samantha Woehl, director of training and management at Vasona Management. “Cosign, as a third-party guarantor, has given us greater flexibility when working with applicants who fall just short of our traditional screening criteria and don’t have a cosigner. It allows us to confidently approve more qualified residents while keeping the leasing process efficient for both our team and our communities.”

Founded by real estate owners and operators, Cosign’s dynamic risk model evaluates payment behavior and recency rather than relying on a credit score alone, an approach that gives the San Jose MSA’s non-tech workforce, the people who keep the region running but don’t carry tech salaries, a real path to apartment approval.

“This market shows what happens when a decade of undersupply finally catches up with a market,” said Zach Schofel, co-founder and CEO of Cosign. “Cosign works with thousands of units in the MSA and over 30,000 units across the state, and we’re excited to expand our presence in the area. Reception from local managers and residents has been amazing. The renters getting left behind aren’t the ones who can’t afford it. They’re the ones without a backup plan on paper. Cosign gives owners in Silicon Valley a way to say yes to them anyway.”

For more information, visit www.rentwithcosign.com and follow on social media @rentwithcosign.

About Cosign
Cosign is a real estate technology company and lease guarantor service that bridges the gap between qualified renters and landlords. Founded by real estate professionals, Cosign’s mission is to expand housing access through data-driven underwriting that considers payment behavior, not just credit scores. Active in more than 500,000 units across 3,000+ communities nationwide, Cosign is helping modern operators approve more qualified renters in both tight and oversupplied markets. For more information, visit www.rentwithcosign.com

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/cosign-launches-in-san-jose-as-silicon-valley-rental-competition-hits-a-decade-high-302846247.html

SOURCE Cosign

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bioMérieux Highlights Positive Impacts of Rapid, Accurate Diagnostics for Patients and Accepts Industry Awards at ADLM 2026

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SALT LAKE CITY, Aug. 7, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — bioMérieux, a world leader in the field of in vitro diagnostics, leveraged this year’s 2026 Association for Diagnostics & Laboratory Medicine (ADLM) Annual Conference & Clinical Lab Expo for an important conversation about the impact of access to diagnostics while also accepting multiple IMV ServiceTrak™ awards.

PRESS CONFERENCE
The company hosted a press panel, The Power of Diagnostics: How Delays Impact Patients and Providers, to discuss the real-world impacts of delayed or inaccurate diagnostic answers for patients, providers, communities, and the healthcare system. Dr. Charles K. Cooper, Executive Vice President and Chief Medical Officer at bioMérieux, moderated the panel with:

Dr. Omai Garner, Clinical Professor and Director of Clinical Microbiology, UCLA;Dr. Michael Astion, PhD, Medical Director, Regional Laboratories and Point of Care, Medical Director, Reference Laboratories and PLUGS (Patient-Centered Laboratory Utilization Guidance Services), Department of Laboratories, Seattle Children’s Hospital, Professor of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, University of Washington;Helaine Bader, MPH Vice President of Education, HealthyWomen; andDr. John Hurst, Senior Director, Field Medical Affairs at bioMérieux.

Dr. Cooper noted that the panel discussed the “tremendous amount of pressure health care systems face and how access to rapid diagnostics at the point of care often alleviates some of this stress by getting health care clinicians and their patients answers while they wait.”

“Delay in getting a diagnosis may result in patients not receiving treatment at all because they may not come back for follow-up,” said Ms. Bader. “Faster time to diagnosis during a single visit not only provides the patient with immediate answers but also builds trust between the patient and provider and reduces patient frustration, potential complications from the infection and the need for repeat visits.”

INDUSTRY RECOGNITION
During the show, bioMérieux also accepted seven 2026 IMV ServiceTrak™ Clinical Laboratory Awards. These awards highlight bioMérieux’s continued commitment to delivering industry-leading diagnostic solutions and exceptional customer support to clinical laboratories.

2026 ServiceTrak Awards: ID/AST Systems

Best Customer SatisfactionBest System PerformanceBest Service

2026 ServiceTrak Awards: Blood Culture Systems

Best Customer SatisfactionBest System PerformanceBest Service

2026 Best System Performance

Immunoassay Analyzers

“We are thrilled that IMV and the Science and Medicine Group has recognized bioMérieux for the ninth consecutive year for the continued dedication and excellence of our product management, operations, and customer support teams,” said Randy Pritchard, General Manager and Sr. Vice President of Clinical Operations, bioMérieux. “This recognition, across our immunoassay, ID/AST Systems, and Blood Culture Systems offerings, highlights our commitment to pioneering diagnostics in the fight against sepsis and antimicrobial resistance.”

ABOUT BIOMÉRIEUX
Pioneering Diagnostics

A world leader in the field of in vitro diagnostics since 1963, bioMérieux is present in 46 countries and serves more than 160 countries with the support of a large network of distributors. In 2025, revenues reached €4.1 billion, with over 94% of sales outside of France.

bioMérieux provides diagnostic solutions (systems, reagents, software and services) which determine the source of disease and contamination to improve patient health and ensure consumer safety. Its products are mainly used for diagnosing infectious diseases. They are also used for detecting microorganisms in agri-food, pharmaceutical and cosmetic products.
www.biomerieux.com.

bioMérieux is listed on the Euronext Paris stock market.
Symbol: BIM – ISIN Code: FR0013280286
Reuters: BIOX.PA/Bloomberg: BIM.FP

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/biomerieux-highlights-positive-impacts-of-rapid-accurate-diagnostics-for-patients-and-accepts-industry-awards-at-adlm-2026-302846267.html

SOURCE bioMérieux

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CNO Financial Group to Host Virtual Investor Briefing on Tuesday, September 1, 2026

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CARMEL, Ind., Aug. 7, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — CNO Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE: CNO) today announced it will host a virtual investor briefing focused on its Worksite Division and Medicare business on Tuesday, September 1, 2026, from 10:00 a.m. to approximately 11:15 a.m. Eastern Time.

The briefing will feature presentations on market opportunities, growth strategies and business fundamentals, along with interactive Q&A sessions with Worksite Division President Karen DeToro, Consumer Division President Scott Goldberg, Chief Actuary Jeremy Williams and other members of senior management.

CNO is committed to engaging with investors and other stakeholders to deepen their understanding of our business, strategy and long-term opportunities. This briefing represents the third installment in our investor briefing series, with prior sessions covering the Consumer Division and Investments function, which are available here.

Participate by Webcast
To participate, please register here. The event will also be accessible through the Investors section of our website at ir.CNOinc.com. Participants should register on the website at least 15 minutes before the event begins.

Participate by Replay
A replay of the webcast will be available on the Investors section of our website at ir.CNOinc.com.

About CNO Financial Group
CNO Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE: CNO) secures the future of middle-income America. CNO provides life and health insurance, annuities and financial services through our family of brands, including Bankers Life, Colonial Penn, Optavise and Washington National. Our customers work hard to save for the future, and we help protect their health, income and retirement needs with 3.3 million policies and $39.9 billion in total assets. Our 3,200 associates, 5,100 exclusive agents and more than 6,500 independent partner agents guide individuals, families and businesses through a lifetime of financial decisions. For more information, visit CNOinc.com.

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/cno-financial-group-to-host-virtual-investor-briefing-on-tuesday-september-1-2026-302846212.html

SOURCE CNO Financial Group

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