Speaker 1: This is America's truck In Network with Kevin Gordon.
Speaker 2: This is america struck In Network seven hundred at WLW.
Speaker 2: I'm Kevin Gordon. I'm joined by Connie Dempsey, Senior Continuous
Speaker 2: Improvement Manager, and Deborah Smith, she is the director of
Speaker 2: Operations Continuous Improvement. But their involvement in Rush Enterprise's twentieth
Speaker 2: anniversary Tech Tech Skills Rodeo. They are part of the
Speaker 2: competition committee that actually puts this whole thing together. And
Speaker 2: what Jody had talked about the other day was that,
Speaker 2: you know, in addition to the full time job and
Speaker 2: all the responsibilities, you've got this part time, full time
Speaker 2: job that you guys do throughout to hear and so explain,
Speaker 2: first of all, how long.
Speaker 3: How many times have you, Connie have you done? Have
Speaker 3: you done this rodeo?
Speaker 1: This is my fourth year being on the committee.
Speaker 3: Yes, okay, And you've been with Rush Truck Centers for.
Speaker 4: I've been with Rush Truck Centers or RUSSI Enterprises for
Speaker 4: twenty three years, okay. And yeah, just got involved a
Speaker 4: few years ago doing scheduling and things like that for
Speaker 4: the classes. And that's my main responsibility here.
Speaker 2: At Deborah, you have a Deborah or Debbie Deborah Deborah. Okay, yeah,
Speaker 2: so so I don't want to get the names right,
Speaker 2: so I don't assault anybody, makes sense.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 5: So I have been on the Rodeo committee for about
Speaker 5: five years, did support before that, and then I've been
Speaker 5: with Russian Enterprises for actually almost twenty one years.
Speaker 3: Wow, coming up so amazing.
Speaker 2: I am blown away by the number of people I
Speaker 2: talked to from russ Enterprises that have been there for fifteen, twenty,
Speaker 2: twenty three, thirty.
Speaker 3: It's incredible.
Speaker 2: That speaks a lot about well the individuals, but also
Speaker 2: Rush Enterprises themselves.
Speaker 3: They must be doing something right.
Speaker 1: To Yeah, definitely.
Speaker 5: I think there's a lot of opportunity for just being
Speaker 5: able to find your thing at Rush. You know, if
Speaker 5: you're a truck sales parts service, there's just really so
Speaker 5: many different opportunities for sure.
Speaker 1: And it's a great company.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: And so the planning of this, let's go to the
Speaker 2: Connie here and so this is not something that's just
Speaker 2: wing together. This is all those a full time, full time,
Speaker 2: part time job.
Speaker 4: Yes, yeah, we start we start planning again in January.
Speaker 4: We'll meet as a committee and talk about the past year,
Speaker 4: what went well, what we could approve on and things
Speaker 4: like that, and then we start planning for the next one.
Speaker 1: So it's a year round.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and now this year was a lot different than
Speaker 2: the years past because it's been well, the first one
Speaker 2: twenty years ago was in Nashville, that has been in
Speaker 2: San Antonio since.
Speaker 3: Yes, I don't know who calling the frame.
Speaker 2: I think it was one of your people at breakfast.
Speaker 2: Rachel had mentioned that this and I guess it's a
Speaker 2: term you guys used. Yeah, but when it's in San
Speaker 2: Antonio it's.
Speaker 1: Rinse and repeat. Yeah.
Speaker 5: Yes, we work with a lot of the same locations,
Speaker 5: our contacts that those locations are the same, so they're
Speaker 5: really used to what we do.
Speaker 1: Coming here. Of course it's a new venue.
Speaker 5: It's all new venues, including our night events, and so
Speaker 5: it was definitely.
Speaker 1: It's definitely a new experience.
Speaker 2: Oh great, Now, and of course, you guys show a
Speaker 2: wrinkle or the whole thing got thrown a wrinkle when four,
Speaker 2: I guess four years ago it was decided that we
Speaker 2: do that they do the twentieth anniversary back in Nashville. Yes,
Speaker 2: so in addition to year of the four year cycle,
Speaker 2: year one year, two, year, three, you guys are working
Speaker 2: on this show in addition to the San Antonio Show
Speaker 2: and that little thing called your normal job.
Speaker 1: Right, Yeah, we don't know. We don't think about that
Speaker 1: in November and December.
Speaker 2: Okay, but that threw a wrinkle into it too. And
Speaker 2: I keep mentioning, I know I've mentioned this several times,
Speaker 2: but it absolutely blows me away, the logistics of getting
Speaker 2: everybody here, all the equipment, and then the vendors themselves.
Speaker 2: As has been pointed out, it bears repeating that it
Speaker 2: is the show itself. Three million dollars to put this
Speaker 2: on is sponsored by all the vendors and sponsors, So
Speaker 2: not only do they step up to the plate there,
Speaker 2: but then they bring all their equipment and the trucks and.
Speaker 3: The stuff to this location.
Speaker 2: So that is a huge expense, and that speaks to
Speaker 2: again Rush Enterprises, the value that they put on, the
Speaker 2: value that these companies see working with Rush, but then
Speaker 2: also getting the exposure to the individual technician.
Speaker 3: So I just find that absolutely amazing.
Speaker 1: Yea, our sponsors are phenomenal.
Speaker 5: I mean, we definitely couldn't do this without them, and
Speaker 5: they do such a great job with communicating to us
Speaker 5: so that we know what they need, And yeah.
Speaker 1: It's just it's great to have them all here. We
Speaker 1: get to see a lot of them a year after year.
Speaker 5: But to throw this in and say, hey, guess what,
Speaker 5: we're not going to be in San Antonio where you're
Speaker 5: used to it.
Speaker 1: You know, they've all done a really great job.
Speaker 3: They have they have. Now what are these phone calls like?
Speaker 2: Because you said you can contact the suppliers and you
Speaker 2: can contact the people to be participating. Is that an
Speaker 2: easy call or is it more less something they're expecting
Speaker 2: and they're looking forward to jumping on board or does
Speaker 2: there need to be arm twisting? And Conte Connie just
Speaker 2: looked at me. I've got answering that question. Maybe maybe
Speaker 2: I'll push this off on Tabra.
Speaker 5: So now, yes, there was definitely a conversation. In addition
Speaker 5: to being the twentieth anniversary, and this is obviously a
Speaker 5: very special event for us. Nashville is, you know, considerably
Speaker 5: more expensive than San Antonio is, and we're in at
Speaker 5: the Gaylord, which is beautiful, and so we did have
Speaker 5: to have a conversation and say, you know, our costs
Speaker 5: will be higher, so our sponsorships, you know, are a
Speaker 5: little bit higher, And but I feel like everyone was.
Speaker 1: Yeah, they stepped up.
Speaker 5: They were all will to you know, push it a
Speaker 5: little bit more to be here and to support the
Speaker 5: technicians and the parts team that everyone who's competing.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I think at four hundred and forty different
Speaker 2: vendors here.
Speaker 1: That Yeah, it's amazing.
Speaker 2: The great job on your guys part for pulling this off.
Speaker 2: That is incredible. So if you are willing to answer
Speaker 2: any questions.
Speaker 1: Got any question you have.
Speaker 2: That one?
Speaker 1: Yeah, that was a tough one.
Speaker 3: Okay.
Speaker 2: So as as far as again putting it together, the
Speaker 2: meetings and the involvement, so percentage time wise, what is
Speaker 2: that or that's a good question.
Speaker 4: I think, you know, the first part of the year,
Speaker 4: it's you know, we meet I think once a month,
Speaker 4: we meet monthly just to kind of start planning things.
Speaker 4: And then once we hit about August is when things
Speaker 4: really kind of ramp up and we're working on schedules
Speaker 4: and the qualifiers and you know, registration, all of the
Speaker 4: you know, logistics.
Speaker 3: Of everything else thing has to be put together.
Speaker 4: Yeah, So then we start meeting you know, two or
Speaker 4: three times a month, and then I mean it just
Speaker 4: snowballs from there.
Speaker 2: Yeah, real quick and very you're and with anything else.
Speaker 2: I can imagine in August it seems like, oh, that's
Speaker 2: so far away, it seems like it, and then all
Speaker 2: of a sudden, boom, it's right around the corner. We're
Speaker 2: telling you with Deborah Smith is director of Operations a
Speaker 2: Continuous Improvement and Connie Dempsey Senior Continuous Improvement. So I
Speaker 2: want to kind of lay the groundwork for the next segment.
Speaker 2: One of the things we talked about is possibly, you
Speaker 2: know how you got involved with Rush Truck Centers, the
Speaker 2: career path to get here, and in terms of maybe
Speaker 2: encouraging other people as to how they might be able
Speaker 2: to maybe think in terms of this as a career,
Speaker 2: because as we talked before, it's one of those things
Speaker 2: where if you were to think about as a as
Speaker 2: a young person, what am I going to do when
Speaker 2: I grow up?
Speaker 3: This was probably not even on the radar screen.
Speaker 4: Well, I will say, twenty three years ago, I don't
Speaker 4: know that continuous improvement was really a thing.
Speaker 3: There you go, so we'll pick that up.
Speaker 2: I'm Kevin Gordon, America struck In Network seven hundred WLW.
Speaker 6: I need This is the briefing repord on America's Drugging Network.
Speaker 7: On seven hundred WLW.
Speaker 8: Team Penske will celebrate its sixtieth anniversary in twenty twenty
Speaker 8: six with a year long effort to tell its story
Speaker 8: through special events, liveries, and exhibits. Our sixtieth anniversary is
Speaker 8: a tremendous milestone for our organization, said Roger Penske in
Speaker 8: a statement. The twenty twenty six season will give us
Speaker 8: the opportunity to celebrate the people, partners, and fans who
Speaker 8: have helped shape Team Penske since nineteen sixty six. Major
Speaker 8: highlight of the celebration will be a dedicated sixtieth anniversary
Speaker 8: exhibit opening in late spring and the NASCAR Hall of
Speaker 8: Fame in Norm Carolina and Charlotte, North Carolina. Featuring historic cars,
Speaker 8: championship memorabilia, and rarely seen artifacts of the team's archives.
Speaker 8: The exhibit will showcase the pivotal events that have defined
Speaker 8: Team Penske six decades of competition. Fans will once again
Speaker 8: enjoy three days of on track action when the stars
Speaker 8: of the NASCAR Cup Series and the O'Reilly Auto Parts
Speaker 8: Series return to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the Brickyard
Speaker 8: Weekend on July twenty fourth through twenty six of twenty
Speaker 8: twenty six. The Brickyard Weekend racing lineup will include the
Speaker 8: O'Reilly Autoparts, Pennzoil two fifty on Saturday, July twenty fifth,
Speaker 8: NASCAR Cup Series Brickyard four hundred Sunday July twenty sixth.
Speaker 8: The full practice and qualifying schedule, including for Friday, July
Speaker 8: twenty fourth, will be shared at a later date. For
Speaker 8: ticket information for the Brickyard Weekend, visit IMS dot com.
Speaker 6: This is the racing report on America's Drugging Network on
Speaker 6: seven hundred WLW.
Speaker 8: Say Dennison for A.
Speaker 2: And I'm Kevin Gordon, America struck a Network, seven hundred WLW,
Speaker 2: continuing our conversation with Deborah Smith, director of Operations Continuous
Speaker 2: Improvement and Connie Dempsey, Senior Continuous Improvement Department. Okay, we
Speaker 2: talked before about how the career path was, How did
Speaker 2: you come into Rush Truck Centers.
Speaker 3: Who wants to take the microphone and start from there?
Speaker 1: I can go ahead and start.
Speaker 3: Okay, we'll start with Deborah.
Speaker 5: Okay, Yeah, So I started at Rush Enterprises twenty one
Speaker 5: years ago in our central purchasing department, so placing parts
Speaker 5: orders for all of our truck centers. From there, I
Speaker 5: really moved through Parts operations, did a little bit of everything.
Speaker 5: If you think about you know, we've got customer pricing,
Speaker 5: we have customer maintenance. All of our part numbers that
Speaker 5: we sell, those have to be set up and maintain.
Speaker 5: So handled all of that and operations. Let's see, I
Speaker 5: was an operations specialist, really supporting all of our parts departments.
Speaker 5: So any kind of question that the field has that
Speaker 5: they need to help from corporate, it's working through that.
Speaker 5: In twenty sixteen, we created our Business Process Management Team
Speaker 5: and I moved over there, so started doing process improvement
Speaker 5: for Parts operations, really starting to look at how do
Speaker 5: we standardize processes across the network and how do we
Speaker 5: make things, you know, look the same no matter which
Speaker 5: rush truck center you walk into.
Speaker 2: Okay, So in terms of as the title describes, Director Operations,
Speaker 2: continuous improvement, continuous improvement in terms of the organization itself
Speaker 2: and how these things all come together exactly because they
Speaker 2: just don't happen to fall into place. There requires a
Speaker 2: lot of planning with that, Oh.
Speaker 5: For sure, yes, I mean yeah, when you have over
Speaker 5: one hundred and sixty locations. It's really difficult for all
Speaker 5: of them to one know what the best practices are
Speaker 5: and know what the process is should be. And our
Speaker 5: team does a really great job of improving the processes
Speaker 5: and then making sure that everyone knows what they are.
Speaker 3: Donnie, how about you? How did you?
Speaker 1: Very similar to Debora?
Speaker 4: Actually, I started twenty three years ago as a temp
Speaker 4: doing purchasing and just.
Speaker 1: Worked my way through.
Speaker 4: I worked for Rick Touff Truck Carts as the business
Speaker 4: manager for about eight years, and then I did some buying.
Speaker 4: I was a buyer for a while and then went
Speaker 4: to go work for Deborah.
Speaker 2: And you know, but again in terms of coordination of things,
Speaker 2: I think one of the things that rush enterprises stress
Speaker 2: is the fact that Okay, somebody's out on the road. Yes,
Speaker 2: if their truck is down, they're not making any money,
Speaker 2: and so the key is to get them out back
Speaker 2: on the road as soon as possible. So that involves
Speaker 2: continuing improvement of making sure that the parts flow are done,
Speaker 2: even in some of these challenging times with certain suppliers
Speaker 2: and whatnot, making sure that the supply chain is all
Speaker 2: there and at the coordination with the individual locations. So
Speaker 2: again one hundred and over one hundred and sixty sixty locations.
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, yeah, And so that's a lot of what
Speaker 4: we do, you know, from warehouse management and making sure
Speaker 4: that you know, the parts are where they need to
Speaker 4: be and you know, salespeople can find them quickly and
Speaker 4: easily to actually delivering the parts.
Speaker 1: We kind of have a hand and on a lot of.
Speaker 4: That making sure those processes are efficient good.
Speaker 2: We're speaking with Deborah Smith, Director Operations Continuous Improvement and
Speaker 2: Connie Depsei, Senior Continuous Improvement Manager. One of the things
Speaker 2: that is, you know, interesting from the standpoint of this
Speaker 2: can continuous improvement and getting parts and everything located in
Speaker 2: the right spot is again the logistics end of it
Speaker 2: and making sure that they're all available there. But it's
Speaker 2: even more than that. From the standpoint of a career
Speaker 2: path or the job. I can imagine that you know
Speaker 2: a lot of people will say, you know, my job
Speaker 2: is boring that you know, doing the same thing over
Speaker 2: and over again. I'm guessing that there's probably not a
Speaker 2: some things are similar, but every day is different.
Speaker 5: It is, Yes, every day is different because I mean,
Speaker 5: whether you're looking at parts or service, there's so many
Speaker 5: there's just so many things we could fix, right, there
Speaker 5: are so many things we can improve, and so one
Speaker 5: day we might look at, you know, how are we
Speaker 5: going to improve our estimates for our customers? How do
Speaker 5: we start to break down where we're wasting time so
Speaker 5: we can get rid of that. And you know, with
Speaker 5: us being in operations, we're handling parts, service, our rush,
Speaker 5: care team, warranty. You know, we're really covering so many
Speaker 5: different areas that yeah, they're just two there. Every day
Speaker 5: is a little bit different because we're trying to find
Speaker 5: what is the thing that's going to make things easier
Speaker 5: for our customer and make the most impact for the
Speaker 5: entire organization.
Speaker 2: Now, in terms of that, is that so as you
Speaker 2: mentioned that is that you know, continuous improvement over this department,
Speaker 2: this department, this department and this department, or is it
Speaker 2: all one linear thing?
Speaker 5: So on our team, we have four continuous and six
Speaker 5: continuous improvement managers.
Speaker 1: I have three for parts and three for.
Speaker 5: Service, okay, and so in general they'll work on their
Speaker 5: own division. But we're a very closely knit team. So
Speaker 5: if something you can very rarely make a change in
Speaker 5: parts that doesn't affect service and vice versa. So there's
Speaker 5: a lot of alignment figuring out like Okay, if I
Speaker 5: go change something in parts, how's that going to affect
Speaker 5: my technician, how's it going to affect the service advisors,
Speaker 5: And just making sure that we keep in mind that
Speaker 5: those other impacts.
Speaker 2: And then the feedback from the individual locations and what
Speaker 2: they're experiencing kind of gives you an idea of well,
Speaker 2: how well are we doing?
Speaker 4: And absolutely yeah, yeah, I mean a big piece of
Speaker 4: that of what we do is you know, the change
Speaker 4: management piece and getting that information you know, to the
Speaker 4: field and explaining why we're doing what we're doing, and
Speaker 4: you know, help train them and make sure that they understand. Yeah.
Speaker 2: One of the things I'm picking up from Rush Enterprises
Speaker 2: is that not that it's we've been doing this for
Speaker 2: a long period of time and we're going to continue
Speaker 2: doing this. It's constantly evolving, absolutely and improving, I know,
Speaker 2: you know, going you know, having been an account and
Speaker 2: going to different well, when you go to different companies,
Speaker 2: one of the first things you try to do is
Speaker 2: make sure that you look at their flow of paperwork
Speaker 2: at the time or how things are moving, and so
Speaker 2: that things are in a convenient and well managed and
Speaker 2: streamlined situation. And when you start to make those changes,
Speaker 2: sometimes there's a little bit of resistance with that, and
Speaker 2: so sometimes Deborah has got this big grin on her face.
Speaker 2: So apparently this has happened a few times.
Speaker 5: I will say that as human beings, we are wired
Speaker 5: to resist change, and there are definitely people who are
Speaker 5: more wired to resist change. I always tell I mean,
Speaker 5: I tell everyone I am the I do not like change.
Speaker 5: I don't like change done to me, and so I
Speaker 5: will do change to everyone else all the time, but
Speaker 5: don't do it to me. I feel like it makes
Speaker 5: me a little bit more qualified to say, Okay, I
Speaker 5: do get where.
Speaker 1: You're coming from. I don't like change either.
Speaker 5: But we try our best to say this is why
Speaker 5: we're doing We're not doing it to make your life harder.
Speaker 5: We're trying to make your lives easier and make the
Speaker 5: lives of the customers easier.
Speaker 2: So a lot of times if it's improved on their end,
Speaker 2: then it's improved on the customer's end. Oh that cuts
Speaker 2: down on the complaints from the customers. It makes the
Speaker 2: customers happy exactly. Thanks, everybody happy all the way around.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I think the biggest thing is a lot of
Speaker 5: times our process changes and so involve new systems. New
Speaker 5: systems you have to learn, and so eventually we get
Speaker 5: to the point where you've learned the new system, you're
Speaker 5: comfortable with it, and everyone likes it better than the
Speaker 5: old system.
Speaker 1: You just have to get there.
Speaker 2: I will start with Connie's final thoughts in terms of
Speaker 2: any advice for people that are interested in getting into
Speaker 2: this end of the business, if it's something that they
Speaker 2: may not have heard about before, or I.
Speaker 4: Think my advice and I'm going to hope and hopefully
Speaker 4: this is okay, but kind of related to women is
Speaker 4: you know, I don't think that there isn't a place
Speaker 4: in this trucking industry for them. I mean, there are
Speaker 4: so many opportunities, especially with a company such as Rush.
Speaker 4: You know, it's it's once you get your foot in
Speaker 4: the door, there's just there's a lot of opportunity.
Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah, I mean I completely agree with Connie. My
Speaker 5: advice I think would be, you know, don't limit.
Speaker 1: Yourself, right, I was going to jump in there.
Speaker 5: I have no idea that continuous improvement was a thing,
Speaker 5: and now I wouldn't want to do anything else.
Speaker 3: That's fantastic.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Connie, it was really great talking to you. I
Speaker 2: certainly appreciate you stopping by. Devora Smith's Director Operations Continuous
Speaker 2: Improvement and Connie Dempsey, Senior Continuous Improvement Manager. Thank you
Speaker 2: both for stopping by the booths and talking with me
Speaker 2: this morning.
Speaker 3: I certainly appreciate it.
Speaker 1: Thank you for having us.
Speaker 3: All right, have a great day.
Speaker 2: I'm Kevin Gordon, America struck in Network seven hundred WLW.
Speaker 9: Here's your trucking forecast for the Try State and the
Speaker 9: rest of the country. In the Try State, overnight mostly
Speaker 9: Claudia and not as cold. The low down to thirty two,
Speaker 9: Mostly claudi early Wednesday, then gradually becoming sunny. A high
Speaker 9: of forty three. Afternoon. Rain expected Thursday. Highs in the
Speaker 9: mid fifties. Friday, slight chance of snow showers the first
Speaker 9: half of the day, otherwise partly sunny and colder, a
Speaker 9: high of thirty one. Nationally, the Pacific Northwest scene heavy rain,
Speaker 9: impossible flooding this week. The mountain west to the northern
Speaker 9: Plains seeing destructive winds and winter weather impacts. For the
Speaker 9: Ohio and Tennessee Valley, strong storms are possible Thursday.
Speaker 2: This is america'struck in Network seven hundred WLW. I'm joined
Speaker 2: by Michael Freese. He is the feature editor of features
Speaker 2: editor Transport Topics out of the Washington DC area. Also
Speaker 2: Leo Leo Barrows with truck Trucknews dot Com. He's the
Speaker 2: associate editor out of Toronto. So welcome to the program.
Speaker 2: Thank you both for joining me this morning.
Speaker 7: Thanks for having us, Kevin, thanks for having me.
Speaker 3: Yes, there may be a little delay there.
Speaker 2: We got one microphone that they're both sharing, and uh,
Speaker 2: but let's start with you, Michael with Transport Topics. I
Speaker 2: got to say, I go to your I told you
Speaker 2: last night that I go to your side a lot
Speaker 2: and I look at a lot of the articles. So
Speaker 2: what are your how many times have you been to
Speaker 2: the truck rodeo?
Speaker 7: This is my second year at the second year.
Speaker 2: And Leo, I'm a rookie here, me too, rookies here
Speaker 2: all right, and he's done, and Michael has done nothing
Speaker 2: to help us along to what to expect.
Speaker 3: So we've been just thrown into the water. All Thank you, Michael.
Speaker 7: It's well worth it, y.
Speaker 3: Lare it on your baptism by fire?
Speaker 2: So again, I well here second, I'm obviously last year
Speaker 2: was in San Antonio and then now this year the
Speaker 2: twentieth anniversary up here in Nashville, Tennessee, where they began
Speaker 2: twenty years ago. Difference between the two, well.
Speaker 10: You know, the you know, the first thing that that
Speaker 10: strikes me where the difference between Nashville and San Antonio
Speaker 10: is the.
Speaker 7: Lack of text mechs.
Speaker 10: So yeah, yeah, you have that, but it's really a
Speaker 10: you know, Nashville, you know, is a nice convention city.
Speaker 10: The you know, the difference you know, being that you know,
Speaker 10: this was where the the the Russian Skills radio originated,
Speaker 10: so it was very important for the for the.
Speaker 7: The company that had to have that, that have this here.
Speaker 10: You know, we're in San Antonio, which is the home
Speaker 10: base of Russian Destroyer, where you know, everything is a
Speaker 10: very much you know, home feeld type of convention. I mean,
Speaker 10: it's almost akin to a party exactly.
Speaker 2: I was talking to some of the people from Russia
Speaker 2: Enterprises yesterday and then again at breakfast this morning, and
Speaker 2: they were saying that one of us in San Antonio's
Speaker 2: kind of washed rents repeat because they're so used to
Speaker 2: doing it there. But this was a whole different thing
Speaker 2: took them actually started planning this four years ago, and
Speaker 2: then of course the logistics of getting everybody here and
Speaker 2: getting the travel arrangements and everything. So, h leo, what's
Speaker 2: your impressions being their first time, because I'm I'm absolutely
Speaker 2: blown away by all.
Speaker 7: That I am.
Speaker 11: It's really well organized, the people are really nice, and
Speaker 11: you get to see a lot of trucks, which is awesome.
Speaker 2: Do you guys go to the America Mid America Trucking
Speaker 2: Show or Mid America Truck Show down in Louisville.
Speaker 7: I have a demand, but I do show Super Riggs. Okay,
Speaker 7: so I love that show.
Speaker 11: But the good thing over here is what I'm seeing
Speaker 11: is I normally talk to drivers, fleet managers, fleet owners,
Speaker 11: not that many tech guys, right, and now I interviewed
Speaker 11: a lot of them here, and you see how their
Speaker 11: brains work. They look at the truck as a buzzle, right,
Speaker 11: and they don't. One guy said, I don't let the
Speaker 11: truck defeat me. You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 3: Yeah, they take it as a challenge.
Speaker 7: It's a challenge.
Speaker 11: And he said, if I can't die, if I can't
Speaker 11: fix the problem, I will go home unhappy. I'll think
Speaker 11: about it all night. I'll come back in the morning
Speaker 11: and I'll fix it.
Speaker 2: You know, that is somebody that is a true student
Speaker 2: of the game because they take their work home. You know,
Speaker 2: I don't know about you guys, but being on the air,
Speaker 2: I've always said that you're either on the air or
Speaker 2: you're doing show prep because you know, just meeting people
Speaker 2: that's a topic for a show or a topic for
Speaker 2: an article.
Speaker 7: But the same goes with us.
Speaker 11: Be right, but you're always thinking, what's the next story,
Speaker 11: what's the next angle?
Speaker 6: Will this help me? What should I be asking? So
Speaker 6: it's the same thing exactly. Again, we're talking with Michael Freese.
Speaker 6: He is the features editor of Transport Topics, Leo Barrow's
Speaker 6: truck dot Com Associate editor. So again, overall impressions, are
Speaker 6: you delo You had talked about seeing all the trucks
Speaker 6: and everything.
Speaker 11: The trucks, the skills that these guys have. Uh, these
Speaker 11: guys are so talented and a lot of them are
Speaker 11: experts in their field. Uh So they really dive down
Speaker 11: into the weeds and they know exactly what's happening with
Speaker 11: that truck or that engine.
Speaker 2: It's awesome to say they are the cream of the crop.
Speaker 2: They are and they've got that competitive edge, and it
Speaker 2: just proves again talking about how Rush enterprises and how
Speaker 2: well run that corporation is.
Speaker 3: It is.
Speaker 7: And one guy I spoke to, he said he was
Speaker 7: competing against.
Speaker 11: Last year's first and second place people and he was third.
Speaker 7: Uh huh, the same three guys are back here again.
Speaker 3: Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 7: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Now you mentioned about the trucks, and what blows me
Speaker 2: away too about all this is the fact that not
Speaker 2: only are the are the sponsors here four hundred and
Speaker 2: forty sponsors of this which they paid for the event
Speaker 2: three million dollars to put this on. And then as
Speaker 2: I'm thinking from a logistics standpoint, and as they're recovering accountant,
Speaker 2: I'm thinking in terms of the not only the investment
Speaker 2: of them paying the money. But then you've got Azuzu,
Speaker 2: you've got International trucks, You've got Peter Bilt, You've got
Speaker 2: Voweling that we can just see in the surrounding areas
Speaker 2: moving all these trucks. Of what International has two, it
Speaker 2: looks like Peter Built has three or four moving those
Speaker 2: vehicles here and moving all their people here, because each
Speaker 2: one of these booze has five, six seven people with them.
Speaker 3: That is a tremendous investment not only.
Speaker 2: For their people, but it speaks well of their relationship
Speaker 2: with RUSH truck centers.
Speaker 7: Yeah, Kevin.
Speaker 10: And one thing with that, the full sponsorship is truxtaposed
Speaker 10: with the soft freight market that we have, this economy
Speaker 10: that we have that in that environment you can have
Speaker 10: an event that's sponsored.
Speaker 7: You know, that's a testament to you know, the.
Speaker 10: Organization of Rush and the relationships with their with their
Speaker 10: vendors and and suppliers, and the willingness to be involved
Speaker 10: in the event to celebrate their technicians.
Speaker 7: You know.
Speaker 10: One I also cover the TMC super Tech Competition by
Speaker 10: Technology and Maintenance Council, you know, coverage of coverature that
Speaker 10: can be available at t T news dot com.
Speaker 7: Just to pluck that in the.
Speaker 3: Commercial.
Speaker 7: It's all good, We're all no, but you just now
Speaker 7: but yeah, yes.
Speaker 10: The the thing about it is that that the celebrations
Speaker 10: of the technician with the lead was referring to earlier,
Speaker 10: you know, it's it's it's really great to have that environment.
Speaker 10: And definitely when you can get the sponsors involved and
Speaker 10: get those suppliers, you get those those parts people that
Speaker 10: are all part of that technician network together in that
Speaker 10: celebration and in that competition too, just as a reporter
Speaker 10: you know who used to do metro reporting too for
Speaker 10: for newspapers and sports.
Speaker 3: Uh.
Speaker 10: You know, this is the closest thing to a sporting
Speaker 10: event that we have in our industry. You have the drivers,
Speaker 10: but you also have the text and and it's really
Speaker 10: this is really hard work, you know, physically and more mentally, right,
Speaker 10: So to be able to recognize that and celebrate that
Speaker 10: and recognize the best of the best, you know, that's
Speaker 10: one that's one great thing about this industry.
Speaker 7: I love to come.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and of course obviously you guys are gonna be
Speaker 2: in the print, gonna be uh talking about the individual
Speaker 2: people that want and and that sort of thing. So again, Leo,
Speaker 2: we're talking about the uh, the event itself, and any
Speaker 2: thoughts in terms of that is.
Speaker 7: Considerably a nice thought.
Speaker 11: That game, to my mind, is when you say my
Speaker 11: truck needs to be fixed, right, and you think you
Speaker 11: send it to a shop and it gets fixed, But
Speaker 11: there are suppliers, there are other people who are working
Speaker 11: behind the scenes. It's not just the tech who's fixing it, distributors, suppliers, warehousing,
Speaker 11: it's all these bots that come together and it. In
Speaker 11: the end, you have your truck fixed. You say, oh
Speaker 11: it takes two days. It just cost me two thousand dollars. Yes,
Speaker 11: but then you have all these little bots that are
Speaker 11: playing into this massive project that's taking place.
Speaker 2: But then also part of that is that, you know,
Speaker 2: it seems like everybody from the suppliers to rush enterprises
Speaker 2: themselves are geared towards this idea that hey, if the
Speaker 2: truck's off the road, they're not earning money, and so
Speaker 2: we need to streamline this so that we can get
Speaker 2: them in and out as soon as possible. And then
Speaker 2: the suppliers themselves being involved and making sure that that happens.
Speaker 2: And I think a lot of recognition needs to go
Speaker 2: because you know, this is not obviously, this broadcast is
Speaker 2: not going out to just rush truck enterprises and individuals,
Speaker 2: just going out to you know, the general public and
Speaker 2: whether or not they drive an eighteen wheeler or not.
Speaker 2: A lot of these suppliers, a lot of the companies
Speaker 2: are in the you know, the four wheeler and of it.
Speaker 2: So it's just the idea that knowing that they are
Speaker 2: supporting the trucking industry that basically supports everything that goes
Speaker 2: on as far as everything that is delivered by a truck.
Speaker 2: The fact that they support that, you should support them
Speaker 2: as the sponsors as well.
Speaker 11: I think it's you know, symbiotic when you think of
Speaker 11: your truck and you say, you know, the trucking is
Speaker 11: the backbone, yes, but then this is the backbone of
Speaker 11: the backbone.
Speaker 2: Exactly, exactly. We got to take a quick break. Can
Speaker 2: you guys hang around for another segment? That'd be fantastic
Speaker 2: speaking with Michael Freese. He is the features editor of
Speaker 2: Transport Topics.
Speaker 3: And out of the Washington, d C. Office.
Speaker 2: Leo Barrows trucknews dot Com Associate editor out of Toronto.
Speaker 2: I'm Kevin Gordon, America's truck in Network seven hundred WLW
Speaker 2: Transport Topics, Washington, DC office and Leo Barrows with trucknews
Speaker 2: dot Com Associated editor located out of Toronto. Now, this
Speaker 2: is going to be an interesting mix because I'm curious
Speaker 2: for both of you in terms of what you're seeing
Speaker 2: as far as the trucking industry. We've all talked about.
Speaker 2: We've all heard about the trucking recession which is now
Speaker 2: into the third year where the average is more like
Speaker 2: fourteen months, and are we seeing a light at the
Speaker 2: end of the tunnel, Do we see things breaking up?
Speaker 3: Do we see things moving ahead? So let's start with you, Michael.
Speaker 10: Well, you know, especially yeah, as you said, with the
Speaker 10: ongoing soft freight, I don't know if we'll actually I mean,
Speaker 10: I think we'll see a light at the end of
Speaker 10: the tunnel, but it's just the warning of that light
Speaker 10: being another train coming at you.
Speaker 2: Exactly how many have we had to tug or run
Speaker 2: away from over the last.
Speaker 10: Few years, right, you know, But you know, the industry
Speaker 10: so far in the two three years that we're in
Speaker 10: this condition, I mean, it's pretty resilient, you know there.
Speaker 10: I mean there's still trucks are still moving that the
Speaker 10: industry is slowly catching on to the environment that's in
Speaker 10: You know, you're you're comfortable in this situation until you aren't.
Speaker 10: And right now I think we have the realization that
Speaker 10: we're in a solid space.
Speaker 7: You know there.
Speaker 10: You know, maybe that first year, in that second year,
Speaker 10: there were you know, maybe we're gonna we're gonna turn
Speaker 10: this around next year. We're gonna turn this around next year.
Speaker 10: Now you know, we're saying this for the third time.
Speaker 10: But however, you know, we we know what we're getting into.
Speaker 10: So once the you know, the economic conditions that in
Speaker 10: some ways we can't control, get the better, you know,
Speaker 10: such as you know, interest rates, you know, such as
Speaker 10: you know just you know businesses, regulation, right, regulation, you
Speaker 10: know that that whole cloud. You know, that's a that's
Speaker 10: another interview session right there.
Speaker 7: Yeah, you know.
Speaker 10: So, I mean there's some challenges ahead, and with the
Speaker 10: fixing the problem, it's going to be a long that's
Speaker 10: going to be a long process in itself.
Speaker 7: The turnaround is not going to happen in the month.
Speaker 10: The turnaround might happen as long as we've been in
Speaker 10: this recession already. So there's a lot of things that
Speaker 10: has to be done on the you know, on on
Speaker 10: the federal level and state level, and also with each
Speaker 10: fleet company right now, you know, holding their head above water.
Speaker 10: So now you know, it's it's the point of just
Speaker 10: moving in this industry and finding out where those spots
Speaker 10: where it can thrive and finding those spots and really
Speaker 10: let in on trying to get this market up again.
Speaker 2: Well, you hit on a very important topic about the
Speaker 2: resilience of the industry itself and people being resilient, and
Speaker 2: it always strikes me amazing that you know, if you
Speaker 2: just got well, you can't got to have government, you
Speaker 2: got to have regulations to extend. But sometimes it's just
Speaker 2: like stay to hell away for a little while and
Speaker 2: let us the market will work itself out. So Leo,
Speaker 2: what are you seeing in terms of Canada? To mention
Speaker 2: that you said before, you said things are a lot
Speaker 2: different in Canada than maybe down here. It reminded me
Speaker 2: when I was talking that I live in northern Kentucky
Speaker 2: and Cincinnati is right across the river, and a lot
Speaker 2: of times people will say that bridge is a lot
Speaker 2: longer than it looks because the life on one side
Speaker 2: of the bridge is a lot different than life on
Speaker 2: the other side of the bridge. And we only have
Speaker 2: basically basically a boundary between Canada and the United States,
Speaker 2: but that boundary is a lot wider in certain instances
Speaker 2: than it looks.
Speaker 11: So in Canada we've been dealing with tariffs, the big
Speaker 11: key word, and the goal post keeps them changing. So
Speaker 11: it's harder for companies to plan when you don't have
Speaker 11: a fixed goal post in the right.
Speaker 7: That's one thing.
Speaker 11: The majority of our trucks comes south of the bottom,
Speaker 11: so they come to the US.
Speaker 7: That's how it has been all this time. Then you've got.
Speaker 11: Drivers who are being pulled over, right, A lot of
Speaker 11: drivers are now afraid to come south of the bottle.
Speaker 7: They don't want to come really.
Speaker 11: Yeah, So a large population of drivers are from other countries. Yeah,
Speaker 11: you know, they have settled in Canada, immigrated, so now
Speaker 11: some of them are not very good in English, so
Speaker 11: that breeds fear in their minds.
Speaker 7: They don't want to drive south. So what's happening is.
Speaker 11: All the lanes in Canada getting clogged with drivers who
Speaker 11: used to normally drive south of the bottom. That's one
Speaker 11: Freight rates are low as well, so that's another issue
Speaker 11: that we are dealing with. And now we are seeing
Speaker 11: some bankruptcies taking place, so the smaller boys can't play
Speaker 11: in this market, so there are bigger fleets that are
Speaker 11: kind of taking over.
Speaker 7: You've got also we deal with.
Speaker 11: Something called driver misclassification where drivers are part of a
Speaker 11: company but they work as independent contractors, but they are
Speaker 11: doing the job of a regular driver. So what's happening
Speaker 11: is that there's a tax issue there and that's a
Speaker 11: big part of the industry as well, and fleets that
Speaker 11: run that kind of business have a competitive advantage because
Speaker 11: they have savings from.
Speaker 2: Right they don't have them.
Speaker 11: That is used a lot to buy property to lower
Speaker 11: the rates, where other fleets that are playing by the books.
Speaker 7: Cannot play in the same field.
Speaker 2: So is there more of a push to eliminate or
Speaker 2: not have is reclassify them as employees as opposed to
Speaker 2: that pushes on That seems to be a little bit
Speaker 2: contrary to what we have in the United States, if
Speaker 2: I'm not mistaken, there seems to be a lot more
Speaker 2: independent truckers to prefer that as opposed to.
Speaker 10: In some ways, you know, I mean to to what
Speaker 10: Lee was saying. I mean, I don't want to go
Speaker 10: out on a limb, but I mean, but I wouldn't
Speaker 10: say half half. But you know, but I think there's
Speaker 10: there's a point that you're making, Kevin.
Speaker 7: You know, sort of like uh.
Speaker 10: In my former life, I used to cover the distribution
Speaker 10: right uh industry, and one of the things was just
Speaker 10: that association that you were just talking about, Leo. Just
Speaker 10: you walk into a federated store to buy something. You
Speaker 10: ask the owner, you know, is are are you a
Speaker 10: federated story? He'll say no, I'm I'm independent. But you
Speaker 10: know he's relying on Federated for all all those costs, you.
Speaker 7: Know, for for it time to be up in this window.
Speaker 7: So there's a little bit of pushing pushing pull off
Speaker 7: of that.
Speaker 11: You know.
Speaker 10: There there's some independent drivers who you know who who
Speaker 10: want that relationship right, while there are others as as
Speaker 10: Leo was just saying, you know, they're a part of
Speaker 10: a system, right, but the way that they proceed it's
Speaker 10: you know, they're they're independent, so you kind of you know,
Speaker 10: you can you can have that dynamic, right, I mean,
Speaker 10: I think it's kind of fifty.
Speaker 2: So at the time we have again speaking with Michael Freese,
Speaker 2: Transport Future Editor, Features Editor Transport Topics out of the
Speaker 2: Washington d C Office, and Leo Barrows truck news dot
Speaker 2: Com Associated editor, to mean to cut you off, Leo,
Speaker 2: but in terms of what you're seeing in terms of
Speaker 2: the economy and what's going on in Canada, you're saying,
Speaker 2: a light at the end of the tunnel.
Speaker 3: Do you think this is going to last a lot longer?
Speaker 7: You hopeful or were hopeful, will be always hopeful.
Speaker 11: What I have seen while speaking to fleets, some of
Speaker 11: them are now focusing on drivers retention, because when so
Speaker 11: now as you know that, fleets are holding on to
Speaker 11: trucks trailers for longer periods of time, But there will
Speaker 11: come a time when you need a new truck, but
Speaker 11: it takes a while to procure that truck, six months,
Speaker 11: eight months, You have to book them right now. What
Speaker 11: you can sort of control is drivers, your maintenance cad.
Speaker 11: So if you have the best drivers available when that
Speaker 11: light does come, you have the people ready to go.
Speaker 11: The trucks will come, you know, the trailers will come,
Speaker 11: but if you don't have the people when that opportunity comes,
Speaker 11: you're going to lose.
Speaker 2: That's kind of along lines what we're seeing as far
Speaker 2: as the economy in terms of the no higher, no
Speaker 2: fire situation kind of I guess lessons learned from the
Speaker 2: pandemic when businesses shut down and then trying to regear
Speaker 2: everything back up, trying to find qualified employees, suppliers, supply
Speaker 2: chain issues and that. So, Michael, what are your impressions
Speaker 2: in terms of where you're seeing the industry and turning around.
Speaker 10: And well, you know, just from the nuts and bolts
Speaker 10: that we were just talking about, it's kind of want
Speaker 10: to take a ten cos a few of things. One
Speaker 10: thing that we talk about in the office and a
Speaker 10: lot is artificial intelligence. But you know, I mean, that's
Speaker 10: such a buzzword, but I think we're getting into the
Speaker 10: stage right now where we're going to have to figure out,
Speaker 10: if we haven't already in some spaces where this can
Speaker 10: work effectively in the trucking industry. I mean, we're past
Speaker 10: the stage of you know, slicesed dices, right, you know,
Speaker 10: And I think you.
Speaker 2: Know, as you mentioned about artificial intelligence, possibly the rescheduling
Speaker 2: of things and the schedule and as far as the
Speaker 2: routes are concerned, so there's not as much debt heading,
Speaker 2: there's you know a little bit more coordination, a little
Speaker 2: bit more I guess coordination in terms of taking this
Speaker 2: route versus that route and that sort of thing.
Speaker 3: But there's other areas where AI just I mean.
Speaker 10: But yeah, it's also I mean, it's so much more
Speaker 10: than you know, a GPS.
Speaker 7: But it's also even when.
Speaker 10: You get down I mean, we're at a tech event,
Speaker 10: you know right now, you know, preventive maintenance strategies right,
Speaker 10: and schedules greatly impact you know, when you talk about
Speaker 10: artificial intelligence. That's that's one thing I mean, but even
Speaker 10: on that side when when it comes to PM, you
Speaker 10: know you have the innovation of the parts that you're
Speaker 10: working on now exactly.
Speaker 7: Yeah.
Speaker 10: So the limits of of you know, of an oil
Speaker 10: change just as simple as that. Exactly that have changed,
Speaker 10: have changed instead of the innovations outline of motor oil and.
Speaker 2: Gentlemen, I'd like to continue this on forever, but we're
Speaker 2: up against clock here and I hate to do this,
Speaker 2: but I would probably heavy back on the program having
Speaker 2: some time down the road throughout the year.
Speaker 7: Thanks.
Speaker 3: Talk about this again.
Speaker 2: My guests been Michael Freese, Features Editor, Transport Topics, Washington,
Speaker 2: the DC Office. Leio Barrows trucknews dot Com, Associate editor
Speaker 2: out of Toronto.
Speaker 3: Gentlemen, thank you so much for joining me. I certainly
Speaker 3: appreciate it.
Speaker 2: I'm Kevin Gordon, America's Trucking Network seven hundred WLW