December 17, 2025 • 42 mins
Kevin talks with Rush Enterprises employees Connie Dempsey, Senior Continuous Improvement and Deborah Smith, Director of Operations Continuous Improvement, who are part of the Tech Skills Rodeo Committee, they discuss the planning, logistics, lining up sponsors and Trade Show participants; they also discuss their positions with Rush Enterprises, how their career path lead them there and advice for people who might be considering a career in the trucking industry. Additionally, Michael Freeze, Features Editor, Transport Topics and Leo Baros Associate Editor, TruckNews.com join the show to talk about their Tech Skills Rodeo experience, as well as their opinions on the state of the Economies in the U.S. and Canada.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
This is America's truck In Network with Kevin Gordon.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
This is america struck In Network seven hundred at WLW.
I'm Kevin Gordon. I'm joined by Connie Dempsey, Senior Continuous
Improvement Manager, and Deborah Smith, she is the director of
Operations Continuous Improvement. But their involvement in Rush Enterprise's twentieth
anniversary Tech Tech Skills Rodeo. They are part of the
(00:33):
competition committee that actually puts this whole thing together. And
what Jody had talked about the other day was that,
you know, in addition to the full time job and
all the responsibilities, you've got this part time, full time
job that you guys do throughout to hear and so explain,
(00:54):
first of all, how long.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
How many times have you, Connie have you done? Have
you done this rodeo?
Speaker 1 (01:02):
This is my fourth year being on the committee.
Speaker 3 (01:05):
Yes, okay, And you've been with Rush Truck Centers for.
Speaker 4 (01:07):
I've been with Rush Truck Centers or RUSSI Enterprises for
twenty three years, okay. And yeah, just got involved a
few years ago doing scheduling and things like that for
the classes. And that's my main responsibility here.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
At Deborah, you have a Deborah or Debbie Deborah Deborah. Okay, yeah,
so so I don't want to get the names right,
so I don't assault anybody, makes sense.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (01:35):
So I have been on the Rodeo committee for about
five years, did support before that, and then I've been
with Russian Enterprises for actually almost twenty one years.
Speaker 3 (01:45):
Wow, coming up so amazing.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
I am blown away by the number of people I
talked to from russ Enterprises that have been there for fifteen, twenty,
twenty three, thirty.
Speaker 3 (01:59):
It's incredible.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
That speaks a lot about well the individuals, but also
Rush Enterprises themselves.
Speaker 3 (02:06):
They must be doing something right.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
To Yeah, definitely.
Speaker 5 (02:09):
I think there's a lot of opportunity for just being
able to find your thing at Rush. You know, if
you're a truck sales parts service, there's just really so
many different opportunities for sure.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
And it's a great company.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
And so the planning of this, let's go to the
Connie here and so this is not something that's just
wing together. This is all those a full time, full time,
part time job.
Speaker 4 (02:39):
Yes, yeah, we start we start planning again in January.
We'll meet as a committee and talk about the past year,
what went well, what we could approve on and things
like that, and then we start planning for the next one.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
So it's a year round.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
Yeah, and now this year was a lot different than
the years past because it's been well, the first one
twenty years ago was in Nashville, that has been in
San Antonio since.
Speaker 3 (03:11):
Yes, I don't know who calling the frame.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
I think it was one of your people at breakfast.
Rachel had mentioned that this and I guess it's a
term you guys used. Yeah, but when it's in San
Antonio it's.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
Rinse and repeat. Yeah.
Speaker 5 (03:24):
Yes, we work with a lot of the same locations,
our contacts that those locations are the same, so they're
really used to what we do.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
Coming here. Of course it's a new venue.
Speaker 5 (03:36):
It's all new venues, including our night events, and so
it was definitely.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
It's definitely a new experience.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
Oh great, Now, and of course, you guys show a
wrinkle or the whole thing got thrown a wrinkle when four,
I guess four years ago it was decided that we
do that they do the twentieth anniversary back in Nashville. Yes,
so in addition to year of the four year cycle,
year one year, two, year, three, you guys are working
(04:07):
on this show in addition to the San Antonio Show
and that little thing called your normal job.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
Right, Yeah, we don't know. We don't think about that
in November and December.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
Okay, but that threw a wrinkle into it too. And
I keep mentioning, I know I've mentioned this several times,
but it absolutely blows me away, the logistics of getting
everybody here, all the equipment, and then the vendors themselves.
(04:39):
As has been pointed out, it bears repeating that it
is the show itself. Three million dollars to put this
on is sponsored by all the vendors and sponsors, So
not only do they step up to the plate there,
but then they bring all their equipment and the trucks and.
Speaker 3 (05:00):
The stuff to this location.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
So that is a huge expense, and that speaks to
again Rush Enterprises, the value that they put on, the
value that these companies see working with Rush, but then
also getting the exposure to the individual technician.
Speaker 3 (05:18):
So I just find that absolutely amazing.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
Yea, our sponsors are phenomenal.
Speaker 5 (05:24):
I mean, we definitely couldn't do this without them, and
they do such a great job with communicating to us
so that we know what they need, And yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
It's just it's great to have them all here. We
get to see a lot of them a year after year.
Speaker 5 (05:39):
But to throw this in and say, hey, guess what,
we're not going to be in San Antonio where you're
used to it.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
You know, they've all done a really great job.
Speaker 3 (05:47):
They have they have. Now what are these phone calls like?
Speaker 2 (05:51):
Because you said you can contact the suppliers and you
can contact the people to be participating. Is that an
easy call or is it more less something they're expecting
and they're looking forward to jumping on board or does
there need to be arm twisting? And Conte Connie just
(06:14):
looked at me. I've got answering that question. Maybe maybe
I'll push this off on Tabra.
Speaker 5 (06:24):
So now, yes, there was definitely a conversation. In addition
to being the twentieth anniversary, and this is obviously a
very special event for us. Nashville is, you know, considerably
more expensive than San Antonio is, and we're in at
(06:45):
the Gaylord, which is beautiful, and so we did have
to have a conversation and say, you know, our costs
will be higher, so our sponsorships, you know, are a
little bit higher, And but I feel like everyone was.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
Yeah, they stepped up.
Speaker 5 (06:59):
They were all will to you know, push it a
little bit more to be here and to support the
technicians and the parts team that everyone who's competing.
Speaker 2 (07:08):
Yeah, and I think at four hundred and forty different
vendors here.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
That Yeah, it's amazing.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
The great job on your guys part for pulling this off.
That is incredible. So if you are willing to answer
any questions.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
Got any question you have.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
That one?
Speaker 1 (07:28):
Yeah, that was a tough one.
Speaker 3 (07:30):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
So as as far as again putting it together, the
meetings and the involvement, so percentage time wise, what is
that or that's a good question.
Speaker 4 (07:43):
I think, you know, the first part of the year,
it's you know, we meet I think once a month,
we meet monthly just to kind of start planning things.
And then once we hit about August is when things
really kind of ramp up and we're working on schedules
and the qualifiers and you know, registration, all of the
(08:04):
you know, logistics.
Speaker 3 (08:06):
Of everything else thing has to be put together.
Speaker 4 (08:08):
Yeah, So then we start meeting you know, two or
three times a month, and then I mean it just
snowballs from there.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
Yeah, real quick and very you're and with anything else.
I can imagine in August it seems like, oh, that's
so far away, it seems like it, and then all
of a sudden, boom, it's right around the corner. We're
telling you with Deborah Smith is director of Operations a
Continuous Improvement and Connie Dempsey Senior Continuous Improvement. So I
(08:36):
want to kind of lay the groundwork for the next segment.
One of the things we talked about is possibly, you
know how you got involved with Rush Truck Centers, the
career path to get here, and in terms of maybe
encouraging other people as to how they might be able
to maybe think in terms of this as a career,
because as we talked before, it's one of those things
(08:58):
where if you were to think about as a as
a young person, what am I going to do when
I grow up?
Speaker 3 (09:05):
This was probably not even on the radar screen.
Speaker 4 (09:08):
Well, I will say, twenty three years ago, I don't
know that continuous improvement was really a thing.
Speaker 3 (09:15):
There you go, so we'll pick that up.
Speaker 2 (09:17):
I'm Kevin Gordon, America struck In Network seven hundred WLW.
Speaker 6 (09:22):
I need This is the briefing repord on America's Drugging Network.
Speaker 7 (09:26):
On seven hundred WLW.
Speaker 8 (09:29):
Team Penske will celebrate its sixtieth anniversary in twenty twenty
six with a year long effort to tell its story
through special events, liveries, and exhibits. Our sixtieth anniversary is
a tremendous milestone for our organization, said Roger Penske in
a statement. The twenty twenty six season will give us
the opportunity to celebrate the people, partners, and fans who
have helped shape Team Penske since nineteen sixty six. Major
(09:53):
highlight of the celebration will be a dedicated sixtieth anniversary
exhibit opening in late spring and the NASCAR Hall of
Fame in Norm Carolina and Charlotte, North Carolina. Featuring historic cars,
championship memorabilia, and rarely seen artifacts of the team's archives.
The exhibit will showcase the pivotal events that have defined
Team Penske six decades of competition. Fans will once again
(10:15):
enjoy three days of on track action when the stars
of the NASCAR Cup Series and the O'Reilly Auto Parts
Series return to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the Brickyard
Weekend on July twenty fourth through twenty six of twenty
twenty six. The Brickyard Weekend racing lineup will include the
O'Reilly Autoparts, Pennzoil two fifty on Saturday, July twenty fifth,
NASCAR Cup Series Brickyard four hundred Sunday July twenty sixth.
(10:39):
The full practice and qualifying schedule, including for Friday, July
twenty fourth, will be shared at a later date. For
ticket information for the Brickyard Weekend, visit IMS dot com.
Speaker 6 (10:52):
This is the racing report on America's Drugging Network on
seven hundred WLW.
Speaker 8 (10:57):
Say Dennison for A.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
And I'm Kevin Gordon, America struck a Network, seven hundred WLW,
continuing our conversation with Deborah Smith, director of Operations Continuous
Improvement and Connie Dempsey, Senior Continuous Improvement Department. Okay, we
talked before about how the career path was, How did
(11:21):
you come into Rush Truck Centers.
Speaker 3 (11:24):
Who wants to take the microphone and start from there?
Speaker 1 (11:26):
I can go ahead and start.
Speaker 3 (11:27):
Okay, we'll start with Deborah.
Speaker 5 (11:28):
Okay, Yeah, So I started at Rush Enterprises twenty one
years ago in our central purchasing department, so placing parts
orders for all of our truck centers. From there, I
really moved through Parts operations, did a little bit of everything.
If you think about you know, we've got customer pricing,
(11:48):
we have customer maintenance. All of our part numbers that
we sell, those have to be set up and maintain.
So handled all of that and operations. Let's see, I
was an operations specialist, really supporting all of our parts departments.
So any kind of question that the field has that
they need to help from corporate, it's working through that.
(12:10):
In twenty sixteen, we created our Business Process Management Team
and I moved over there, so started doing process improvement
for Parts operations, really starting to look at how do
we standardize processes across the network and how do we
make things, you know, look the same no matter which
rush truck center you walk into.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
Okay, So in terms of as the title describes, Director Operations,
continuous improvement, continuous improvement in terms of the organization itself
and how these things all come together exactly because they
just don't happen to fall into place. There requires a
lot of planning with that, Oh.
Speaker 5 (12:48):
For sure, yes, I mean yeah, when you have over
one hundred and sixty locations. It's really difficult for all
of them to one know what the best practices are
and know what the process is should be. And our
team does a really great job of improving the processes
and then making sure that everyone knows what they are.
Speaker 3 (13:07):
Donnie, how about you? How did you?
Speaker 1 (13:10):
Very similar to Debora?
Speaker 4 (13:11):
Actually, I started twenty three years ago as a temp
doing purchasing and just.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
Worked my way through.
Speaker 4 (13:20):
I worked for Rick Touff Truck Carts as the business
manager for about eight years, and then I did some buying.
I was a buyer for a while and then went
to go work for Deborah.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
And you know, but again in terms of coordination of things,
I think one of the things that rush enterprises stress
is the fact that Okay, somebody's out on the road. Yes,
if their truck is down, they're not making any money,
and so the key is to get them out back
on the road as soon as possible. So that involves
(13:59):
continuing improvement of making sure that the parts flow are done,
even in some of these challenging times with certain suppliers
and whatnot, making sure that the supply chain is all
there and at the coordination with the individual locations. So
again one hundred and over one hundred and sixty sixty locations.
Speaker 4 (14:20):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, And so that's a lot of what
we do, you know, from warehouse management and making sure
that you know, the parts are where they need to
be and you know, salespeople can find them quickly and
easily to actually delivering the parts.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
We kind of have a hand and on a lot of.
Speaker 4 (14:40):
That making sure those processes are efficient good.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
We're speaking with Deborah Smith, Director Operations Continuous Improvement and
Connie Depsei, Senior Continuous Improvement Manager. One of the things
that is, you know, interesting from the standpoint of this
can continuous improvement and getting parts and everything located in
the right spot is again the logistics end of it
(15:08):
and making sure that they're all available there. But it's
even more than that. From the standpoint of a career
path or the job. I can imagine that you know
a lot of people will say, you know, my job
is boring that you know, doing the same thing over
and over again. I'm guessing that there's probably not a
(15:30):
some things are similar, but every day is different.
Speaker 5 (15:34):
It is, Yes, every day is different because I mean,
whether you're looking at parts or service, there's so many
there's just so many things we could fix, right, there
are so many things we can improve, and so one
day we might look at, you know, how are we
going to improve our estimates for our customers? How do
we start to break down where we're wasting time so
(15:56):
we can get rid of that. And you know, with
us being in operations, we're handling parts, service, our rush,
care team, warranty. You know, we're really covering so many
different areas that yeah, they're just two there. Every day
is a little bit different because we're trying to find
what is the thing that's going to make things easier
(16:19):
for our customer and make the most impact for the
entire organization.
Speaker 2 (16:24):
Now, in terms of that, is that so as you
mentioned that is that you know, continuous improvement over this department,
this department, this department and this department, or is it
all one linear thing?
Speaker 5 (16:37):
So on our team, we have four continuous and six
continuous improvement managers.
Speaker 1 (16:42):
I have three for parts and three for.
Speaker 5 (16:44):
Service, okay, and so in general they'll work on their
own division. But we're a very closely knit team. So
if something you can very rarely make a change in
parts that doesn't affect service and vice versa. So there's
a lot of alignment figuring out like Okay, if I
go change something in parts, how's that going to affect
my technician, how's it going to affect the service advisors,
(17:08):
And just making sure that we keep in mind that
those other impacts.
Speaker 2 (17:13):
And then the feedback from the individual locations and what
they're experiencing kind of gives you an idea of well,
how well are we doing?
Speaker 4 (17:22):
And absolutely yeah, yeah, I mean a big piece of
that of what we do is you know, the change
management piece and getting that information you know, to the
field and explaining why we're doing what we're doing, and
you know, help train them and make sure that they understand. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
One of the things I'm picking up from Rush Enterprises
is that not that it's we've been doing this for
a long period of time and we're going to continue
doing this. It's constantly evolving, absolutely and improving, I know,
you know, going you know, having been an account and
going to different well, when you go to different companies,
one of the first things you try to do is
(18:01):
make sure that you look at their flow of paperwork
at the time or how things are moving, and so
that things are in a convenient and well managed and
streamlined situation. And when you start to make those changes,
sometimes there's a little bit of resistance with that, and
so sometimes Deborah has got this big grin on her face.
(18:27):
So apparently this has happened a few times.
Speaker 5 (18:31):
I will say that as human beings, we are wired
to resist change, and there are definitely people who are
more wired to resist change. I always tell I mean,
I tell everyone I am the I do not like change.
I don't like change done to me, and so I
will do change to everyone else all the time, but
(18:53):
don't do it to me. I feel like it makes
me a little bit more qualified to say, Okay, I
do get where.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
You're coming from. I don't like change either.
Speaker 5 (19:03):
But we try our best to say this is why
we're doing We're not doing it to make your life harder.
We're trying to make your lives easier and make the
lives of the customers easier.
Speaker 2 (19:14):
So a lot of times if it's improved on their end,
then it's improved on the customer's end. Oh that cuts
down on the complaints from the customers. It makes the
customers happy exactly. Thanks, everybody happy all the way around.
Speaker 5 (19:28):
Yeah, I think the biggest thing is a lot of
times our process changes and so involve new systems. New
systems you have to learn, and so eventually we get
to the point where you've learned the new system, you're
comfortable with it, and everyone likes it better than the
old system.
Speaker 1 (19:44):
You just have to get there.
Speaker 2 (19:45):
I will start with Connie's final thoughts in terms of
any advice for people that are interested in getting into
this end of the business, if it's something that they
may not have heard about before, or I.
Speaker 4 (19:57):
Think my advice and I'm going to hope and hopefully
this is okay, but kind of related to women is
you know, I don't think that there isn't a place
in this trucking industry for them. I mean, there are
so many opportunities, especially with a company such as Rush.
You know, it's it's once you get your foot in
(20:19):
the door, there's just there's a lot of opportunity.
Speaker 5 (20:22):
Yeah, yeah, I mean I completely agree with Connie. My
advice I think would be, you know, don't limit.
Speaker 1 (20:30):
Yourself, right, I was going to jump in there.
Speaker 5 (20:33):
I have no idea that continuous improvement was a thing,
and now I wouldn't want to do anything else.
Speaker 3 (20:40):
That's fantastic.
Speaker 2 (20:41):
Yeah, Connie, it was really great talking to you. I
certainly appreciate you stopping by. Devora Smith's Director Operations Continuous
Improvement and Connie Dempsey, Senior Continuous Improvement Manager. Thank you
both for stopping by the booths and talking with me
this morning.
Speaker 3 (20:56):
I certainly appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (20:57):
Thank you for having us.
Speaker 3 (20:58):
All right, have a great day.
Speaker 2 (21:00):
I'm Kevin Gordon, America struck in Network seven hundred WLW.
Speaker 9 (21:13):
Here's your trucking forecast for the Try State and the
rest of the country. In the Try State, overnight mostly
Claudia and not as cold. The low down to thirty two,
Mostly claudi early Wednesday, then gradually becoming sunny. A high
of forty three. Afternoon. Rain expected Thursday. Highs in the
mid fifties. Friday, slight chance of snow showers the first
half of the day, otherwise partly sunny and colder, a
high of thirty one. Nationally, the Pacific Northwest scene heavy rain,
(21:36):
impossible flooding this week. The mountain west to the northern
Plains seeing destructive winds and winter weather impacts. For the
Ohio and Tennessee Valley, strong storms are possible Thursday.
Speaker 2 (21:48):
This is america'struck in Network seven hundred WLW. I'm joined
by Michael Freese. He is the feature editor of features
editor Transport Topics out of the Washington DC area. Also
Leo Leo Barrows with truck Trucknews dot Com. He's the
associate editor out of Toronto. So welcome to the program.
(22:09):
Thank you both for joining me this morning.
Speaker 7 (22:11):
Thanks for having us, Kevin, thanks for having me.
Speaker 3 (22:14):
Yes, there may be a little delay there.
Speaker 2 (22:15):
We got one microphone that they're both sharing, and uh,
but let's start with you, Michael with Transport Topics. I
got to say, I go to your I told you
last night that I go to your side a lot
and I look at a lot of the articles. So
what are your how many times have you been to
the truck rodeo?
Speaker 7 (22:34):
This is my second year at the second year.
Speaker 2 (22:36):
And Leo, I'm a rookie here, me too, rookies here
all right, and he's done, and Michael has done nothing
to help us along to what to expect.
Speaker 3 (22:48):
So we've been just thrown into the water. All Thank you, Michael.
Speaker 7 (22:51):
It's well worth it, y.
Speaker 3 (22:54):
Lare it on your baptism by fire?
Speaker 2 (22:57):
So again, I well here second, I'm obviously last year
was in San Antonio and then now this year the
twentieth anniversary up here in Nashville, Tennessee, where they began
twenty years ago. Difference between the two, well.
Speaker 10 (23:13):
You know, the you know, the first thing that that
strikes me where the difference between Nashville and San Antonio
is the.
Speaker 7 (23:20):
Lack of text mechs.
Speaker 10 (23:21):
So yeah, yeah, you have that, but it's really a
you know, Nashville, you know, is a nice convention city.
The you know, the difference you know, being that you know,
this was where the the the Russian Skills radio originated,
so it was very important for the for the.
Speaker 7 (23:39):
The company that had to have that, that have this here.
Speaker 10 (23:41):
You know, we're in San Antonio, which is the home
base of Russian Destroyer, where you know, everything is a
very much you know, home feeld type of convention. I mean,
it's almost akin to a party exactly.
Speaker 2 (23:54):
I was talking to some of the people from Russia
Enterprises yesterday and then again at breakfast this morning, and
they were saying that one of us in San Antonio's
kind of washed rents repeat because they're so used to
doing it there. But this was a whole different thing
took them actually started planning this four years ago, and
then of course the logistics of getting everybody here and
(24:15):
getting the travel arrangements and everything. So, h leo, what's
your impressions being their first time, because I'm I'm absolutely
blown away by all.
Speaker 7 (24:22):
That I am.
Speaker 11 (24:23):
It's really well organized, the people are really nice, and
you get to see a lot of trucks, which is awesome.
Speaker 2 (24:31):
Do you guys go to the America Mid America Trucking
Show or Mid America Truck Show down in Louisville.
Speaker 7 (24:37):
I have a demand, but I do show Super Riggs. Okay,
so I love that show.
Speaker 11 (24:43):
But the good thing over here is what I'm seeing
is I normally talk to drivers, fleet managers, fleet owners,
not that many tech guys, right, and now I interviewed
a lot of them here, and you see how their
brains work. They look at the truck as a buzzle, right,
and they don't. One guy said, I don't let the
(25:04):
truck defeat me. You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 3 (25:08):
Yeah, they take it as a challenge.
Speaker 7 (25:09):
It's a challenge.
Speaker 11 (25:10):
And he said, if I can't die, if I can't
fix the problem, I will go home unhappy. I'll think
about it all night. I'll come back in the morning
and I'll fix it.
Speaker 2 (25:21):
You know, that is somebody that is a true student
of the game because they take their work home. You know,
I don't know about you guys, but being on the air,
I've always said that you're either on the air or
you're doing show prep because you know, just meeting people
that's a topic for a show or a topic for
an article.
Speaker 7 (25:41):
But the same goes with us.
Speaker 11 (25:42):
Be right, but you're always thinking, what's the next story,
what's the next angle?
Speaker 6 (25:47):
Will this help me? What should I be asking? So
it's the same thing exactly. Again, we're talking with Michael Freese.
He is the features editor of Transport Topics, Leo Barrow's
truck dot Com Associate editor. So again, overall impressions, are
you delo You had talked about seeing all the trucks
(26:08):
and everything.
Speaker 11 (26:08):
The trucks, the skills that these guys have. Uh, these
guys are so talented and a lot of them are
experts in their field. Uh So they really dive down
into the weeds and they know exactly what's happening with
that truck or that engine.
Speaker 2 (26:24):
It's awesome to say they are the cream of the crop.
They are and they've got that competitive edge, and it
just proves again talking about how Rush enterprises and how
well run that corporation is.
Speaker 3 (26:36):
It is.
Speaker 7 (26:36):
And one guy I spoke to, he said he was
competing against.
Speaker 11 (26:40):
Last year's first and second place people and he was third.
Speaker 7 (26:44):
Uh huh, the same three guys are back here again.
Speaker 3 (26:47):
Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 7 (26:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (26:48):
Now you mentioned about the trucks, and what blows me
away too about all this is the fact that not
only are the are the sponsors here four hundred and
forty sponsors of this which they paid for the event
three million dollars to put this on. And then as
I'm thinking from a logistics standpoint, and as they're recovering accountant,
(27:12):
I'm thinking in terms of the not only the investment
of them paying the money. But then you've got Azuzu,
you've got International trucks, You've got Peter Bilt, You've got
Voweling that we can just see in the surrounding areas
moving all these trucks. Of what International has two, it
looks like Peter Built has three or four moving those
(27:33):
vehicles here and moving all their people here, because each
one of these booze has five, six seven people with them.
Speaker 3 (27:40):
That is a tremendous investment not only.
Speaker 2 (27:43):
For their people, but it speaks well of their relationship
with RUSH truck centers.
Speaker 7 (27:49):
Yeah, Kevin.
Speaker 10 (27:50):
And one thing with that, the full sponsorship is truxtaposed
with the soft freight market that we have, this economy
that we have that in that environment you can have
an event that's sponsored.
Speaker 7 (28:03):
You know, that's a testament to you know, the.
Speaker 10 (28:05):
Organization of Rush and the relationships with their with their
vendors and and suppliers, and the willingness to be involved
in the event to celebrate their technicians.
Speaker 7 (28:15):
You know.
Speaker 10 (28:15):
One I also cover the TMC super Tech Competition by
Technology and Maintenance Council, you know, coverage of coverature that
can be available at t T news dot com.
Speaker 7 (28:25):
Just to pluck that in the.
Speaker 3 (28:28):
Commercial.
Speaker 7 (28:31):
It's all good, We're all no, but you just now
but yeah, yes.
Speaker 10 (28:40):
The the thing about it is that that the celebrations
of the technician with the lead was referring to earlier,
you know, it's it's it's really great to have that environment.
And definitely when you can get the sponsors involved and
get those suppliers, you get those those parts people that
are all part of that technician network together in that
celebration and in that competition too, just as a reporter
(29:01):
you know who used to do metro reporting too for
for newspapers and sports.
Speaker 3 (29:06):
Uh.
Speaker 10 (29:06):
You know, this is the closest thing to a sporting
event that we have in our industry. You have the drivers,
but you also have the text and and it's really
this is really hard work, you know, physically and more mentally, right,
So to be able to recognize that and celebrate that
and recognize the best of the best, you know, that's
one that's one great thing about this industry.
Speaker 7 (29:25):
I love to come.
Speaker 2 (29:26):
Yeah, and of course obviously you guys are gonna be
in the print, gonna be uh talking about the individual
people that want and and that sort of thing. So again, Leo,
we're talking about the uh, the event itself, and any
thoughts in terms of that is.
Speaker 7 (29:40):
Considerably a nice thought.
Speaker 11 (29:42):
That game, to my mind, is when you say my
truck needs to be fixed, right, and you think you
send it to a shop and it gets fixed, But
there are suppliers, there are other people who are working
behind the scenes. It's not just the tech who's fixing it, distributors, suppliers, warehousing,
(30:03):
it's all these bots that come together and it. In
the end, you have your truck fixed. You say, oh
it takes two days. It just cost me two thousand dollars. Yes,
but then you have all these little bots that are
playing into this massive project that's taking place.
Speaker 2 (30:17):
But then also part of that is that, you know,
it seems like everybody from the suppliers to rush enterprises
themselves are geared towards this idea that hey, if the
truck's off the road, they're not earning money, and so
we need to streamline this so that we can get
them in and out as soon as possible. And then
the suppliers themselves being involved and making sure that that happens.
(30:40):
And I think a lot of recognition needs to go
because you know, this is not obviously, this broadcast is
not going out to just rush truck enterprises and individuals,
just going out to you know, the general public and
whether or not they drive an eighteen wheeler or not.
A lot of these suppliers, a lot of the companies
are in the you know, the four wheeler and of it.
So it's just the idea that knowing that they are
(31:03):
supporting the trucking industry that basically supports everything that goes
on as far as everything that is delivered by a truck.
The fact that they support that, you should support them
as the sponsors as well.
Speaker 11 (31:15):
I think it's you know, symbiotic when you think of
your truck and you say, you know, the trucking is
the backbone, yes, but then this is the backbone of
the backbone.
Speaker 2 (31:25):
Exactly, exactly. We got to take a quick break. Can
you guys hang around for another segment? That'd be fantastic
speaking with Michael Freese. He is the features editor of
Transport Topics.
Speaker 3 (31:34):
And out of the Washington, d C. Office.
Speaker 2 (31:37):
Leo Barrows trucknews dot Com Associate editor out of Toronto.
I'm Kevin Gordon, America's truck in Network seven hundred WLW
Transport Topics, Washington, DC office and Leo Barrows with trucknews
dot Com Associated editor located out of Toronto. Now, this
is going to be an interesting mix because I'm curious
(31:58):
for both of you in terms of what you're seeing
as far as the trucking industry. We've all talked about.
We've all heard about the trucking recession which is now
into the third year where the average is more like
fourteen months, and are we seeing a light at the
end of the tunnel, Do we see things breaking up?
Speaker 3 (32:14):
Do we see things moving ahead? So let's start with you, Michael.
Speaker 10 (32:19):
Well, you know, especially yeah, as you said, with the
ongoing soft freight, I don't know if we'll actually I mean,
I think we'll see a light at the end of
the tunnel, but it's just the warning of that light
being another train coming at you.
Speaker 2 (32:32):
Exactly how many have we had to tug or run
away from over the last.
Speaker 10 (32:38):
Few years, right, you know, But you know, the industry
so far in the two three years that we're in
this condition, I mean, it's pretty resilient, you know there.
I mean there's still trucks are still moving that the
industry is slowly catching on to the environment that's in
You know, you're you're comfortable in this situation until you aren't.
(32:59):
And right now I think we have the realization that
we're in a solid space.
Speaker 7 (33:04):
You know there.
Speaker 10 (33:05):
You know, maybe that first year, in that second year,
there were you know, maybe we're gonna we're gonna turn
this around next year. We're gonna turn this around next year.
Now you know, we're saying this for the third time.
But however, you know, we we know what we're getting into.
So once the you know, the economic conditions that in
some ways we can't control, get the better, you know,
such as you know, interest rates, you know, such as
(33:27):
you know just you know businesses, regulation, right, regulation, you
know that that whole cloud. You know, that's a that's
another interview session right there.
Speaker 7 (33:34):
Yeah, you know.
Speaker 10 (33:35):
So, I mean there's some challenges ahead, and with the
fixing the problem, it's going to be a long that's
going to be a long process in itself.
Speaker 7 (33:43):
The turnaround is not going to happen in the month.
Speaker 10 (33:45):
The turnaround might happen as long as we've been in
this recession already. So there's a lot of things that
has to be done on the you know, on on
the federal level and state level, and also with each
fleet company right now, you know, holding their head above water.
So now you know, it's it's the point of just
moving in this industry and finding out where those spots
(34:06):
where it can thrive and finding those spots and really
let in on trying to get this market up again.
Speaker 2 (34:14):
Well, you hit on a very important topic about the
resilience of the industry itself and people being resilient, and
it always strikes me amazing that you know, if you
just got well, you can't got to have government, you
got to have regulations to extend. But sometimes it's just
like stay to hell away for a little while and
(34:37):
let us the market will work itself out. So Leo,
what are you seeing in terms of Canada? To mention
that you said before, you said things are a lot
different in Canada than maybe down here. It reminded me
when I was talking that I live in northern Kentucky
and Cincinnati is right across the river, and a lot
(34:57):
of times people will say that bridge is a lot
longer than it looks because the life on one side
of the bridge is a lot different than life on
the other side of the bridge. And we only have
basically basically a boundary between Canada and the United States,
but that boundary is a lot wider in certain instances
than it looks.
Speaker 11 (35:18):
So in Canada we've been dealing with tariffs, the big
key word, and the goal post keeps them changing. So
it's harder for companies to plan when you don't have
a fixed goal post in the right.
Speaker 7 (35:32):
That's one thing.
Speaker 11 (35:34):
The majority of our trucks comes south of the bottom,
so they come to the US.
Speaker 7 (35:38):
That's how it has been all this time. Then you've got.
Speaker 11 (35:44):
Drivers who are being pulled over, right, A lot of
drivers are now afraid to come south of the bottle.
Speaker 7 (35:50):
They don't want to come really.
Speaker 11 (35:51):
Yeah, So a large population of drivers are from other countries. Yeah,
you know, they have settled in Canada, immigrated, so now
some of them are not very good in English, so
that breeds fear in their minds.
Speaker 7 (36:07):
They don't want to drive south. So what's happening is.
Speaker 11 (36:10):
All the lanes in Canada getting clogged with drivers who
used to normally drive south of the bottom. That's one
Freight rates are low as well, so that's another issue
that we are dealing with. And now we are seeing
some bankruptcies taking place, so the smaller boys can't play
(36:31):
in this market, so there are bigger fleets that are
kind of taking over.
Speaker 7 (36:37):
You've got also we deal with.
Speaker 11 (36:40):
Something called driver misclassification where drivers are part of a
company but they work as independent contractors, but they are
doing the job of a regular driver. So what's happening
is that there's a tax issue there and that's a
big part of the industry as well, and fleets that
(37:01):
run that kind of business have a competitive advantage because
they have savings from.
Speaker 2 (37:10):
Right they don't have them.
Speaker 11 (37:14):
That is used a lot to buy property to lower
the rates, where other fleets that are playing by the books.
Speaker 7 (37:21):
Cannot play in the same field.
Speaker 2 (37:23):
So is there more of a push to eliminate or
not have is reclassify them as employees as opposed to
that pushes on That seems to be a little bit
contrary to what we have in the United States, if
I'm not mistaken, there seems to be a lot more
independent truckers to prefer that as opposed to.
Speaker 10 (37:44):
In some ways, you know, I mean to to what
Lee was saying. I mean, I don't want to go
out on a limb, but I mean, but I wouldn't
say half half. But you know, but I think there's
there's a point that you're making, Kevin.
Speaker 7 (37:54):
You know, sort of like uh.
Speaker 10 (37:56):
In my former life, I used to cover the distribution
right uh industry, and one of the things was just
that association that you were just talking about, Leo. Just
you walk into a federated store to buy something. You
ask the owner, you know, is are are you a
federated story? He'll say no, I'm I'm independent. But you
know he's relying on Federated for all all those costs, you.
Speaker 7 (38:18):
Know, for for it time to be up in this window.
So there's a little bit of pushing pushing pull off
of that.
Speaker 11 (38:25):
You know.
Speaker 10 (38:25):
There there's some independent drivers who you know who who
want that relationship right, while there are others as as
Leo was just saying, you know, they're a part of
a system, right, but the way that they proceed it's
you know, they're they're independent, so you kind of you know,
you can you can have that dynamic, right, I mean,
I think it's kind of fifty.
Speaker 2 (38:44):
So at the time we have again speaking with Michael Freese,
Transport Future Editor, Features Editor Transport Topics out of the
Washington d C Office, and Leo Barrows truck news dot
Com Associated editor, to mean to cut you off, Leo,
but in terms of what you're seeing in terms of
the economy and what's going on in Canada, you're saying,
a light at the end of the tunnel.
Speaker 3 (39:03):
Do you think this is going to last a lot longer?
Speaker 7 (39:06):
You hopeful or were hopeful, will be always hopeful.
Speaker 11 (39:09):
What I have seen while speaking to fleets, some of
them are now focusing on drivers retention, because when so
now as you know that, fleets are holding on to
trucks trailers for longer periods of time, But there will
come a time when you need a new truck, but
(39:30):
it takes a while to procure that truck, six months,
eight months, You have to book them right now. What
you can sort of control is drivers, your maintenance cad.
So if you have the best drivers available when that
light does come, you have the people ready to go.
(39:50):
The trucks will come, you know, the trailers will come,
but if you don't have the people when that opportunity comes,
you're going to lose.
Speaker 2 (40:00):
That's kind of along lines what we're seeing as far
as the economy in terms of the no higher, no
fire situation kind of I guess lessons learned from the
pandemic when businesses shut down and then trying to regear
everything back up, trying to find qualified employees, suppliers, supply
chain issues and that. So, Michael, what are your impressions
in terms of where you're seeing the industry and turning around.
Speaker 10 (40:22):
And well, you know, just from the nuts and bolts
that we were just talking about, it's kind of want
to take a ten cos a few of things. One
thing that we talk about in the office and a
lot is artificial intelligence. But you know, I mean, that's
such a buzzword, but I think we're getting into the
stage right now where we're going to have to figure out,
if we haven't already in some spaces where this can
(40:45):
work effectively in the trucking industry. I mean, we're past
the stage of you know, slicesed dices, right, you know,
And I think you.
Speaker 2 (40:54):
Know, as you mentioned about artificial intelligence, possibly the rescheduling
of things and the schedule and as far as the
routes are concerned, so there's not as much debt heading,
there's you know a little bit more coordination, a little
bit more I guess coordination in terms of taking this
route versus that route and that sort of thing.
Speaker 3 (41:15):
But there's other areas where AI just I mean.
Speaker 10 (41:17):
But yeah, it's also I mean, it's so much more
than you know, a GPS.
Speaker 7 (41:22):
But it's also even when.
Speaker 10 (41:23):
You get down I mean, we're at a tech event,
you know right now, you know, preventive maintenance strategies right,
and schedules greatly impact you know, when you talk about
artificial intelligence. That's that's one thing I mean, but even
on that side when when it comes to PM, you
know you have the innovation of the parts that you're
working on now exactly.
Speaker 7 (41:41):
Yeah.
Speaker 10 (41:41):
So the limits of of you know, of an oil
change just as simple as that. Exactly that have changed,
have changed instead of the innovations outline of motor oil and.
Speaker 2 (41:52):
Gentlemen, I'd like to continue this on forever, but we're
up against clock here and I hate to do this,
but I would probably heavy back on the program having
some time down the road throughout the year.
Speaker 7 (42:02):
Thanks.
Speaker 3 (42:02):
Talk about this again.
Speaker 2 (42:03):
My guests been Michael Freese, Features Editor, Transport Topics, Washington,
the DC Office. Leio Barrows trucknews dot Com, Associate editor
out of Toronto.
Speaker 3 (42:12):
Gentlemen, thank you so much for joining me. I certainly
appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (42:15):
I'm Kevin Gordon, America's Trucking Network seven hundred WLW
This is America's truck In Network with Kevin Gordon.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
This is america struck In Network seven hundred at WLW.
I'm Kevin Gordon. I'm joined by Connie Dempsey, Senior Continuous
Improvement Manager, and Deborah Smith, she is the director of
Operations Continuous Improvement. But their involvement in Rush Enterprise's twentieth
anniversary Tech Tech Skills Rodeo. They are part of the
(00:33):
competition committee that actually puts this whole thing together. And
what Jody had talked about the other day was that,
you know, in addition to the full time job and
all the responsibilities, you've got this part time, full time
job that you guys do throughout to hear and so explain,
(00:54):
first of all, how long.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
How many times have you, Connie have you done? Have
you done this rodeo?
Speaker 1 (01:02):
This is my fourth year being on the committee.
Speaker 3 (01:05):
Yes, okay, And you've been with Rush Truck Centers for.
Speaker 4 (01:07):
I've been with Rush Truck Centers or RUSSI Enterprises for
twenty three years, okay. And yeah, just got involved a
few years ago doing scheduling and things like that for
the classes. And that's my main responsibility here.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
At Deborah, you have a Deborah or Debbie Deborah Deborah. Okay, yeah,
so so I don't want to get the names right,
so I don't assault anybody, makes sense.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (01:35):
So I have been on the Rodeo committee for about
five years, did support before that, and then I've been
with Russian Enterprises for actually almost twenty one years.
Speaker 3 (01:45):
Wow, coming up so amazing.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
I am blown away by the number of people I
talked to from russ Enterprises that have been there for fifteen, twenty,
twenty three, thirty.
Speaker 3 (01:59):
It's incredible.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
That speaks a lot about well the individuals, but also
Rush Enterprises themselves.
Speaker 3 (02:06):
They must be doing something right.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
To Yeah, definitely.
Speaker 5 (02:09):
I think there's a lot of opportunity for just being
able to find your thing at Rush. You know, if
you're a truck sales parts service, there's just really so
many different opportunities for sure.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
And it's a great company.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
And so the planning of this, let's go to the
Connie here and so this is not something that's just
wing together. This is all those a full time, full time,
part time job.
Speaker 4 (02:39):
Yes, yeah, we start we start planning again in January.
We'll meet as a committee and talk about the past year,
what went well, what we could approve on and things
like that, and then we start planning for the next one.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
So it's a year round.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
Yeah, and now this year was a lot different than
the years past because it's been well, the first one
twenty years ago was in Nashville, that has been in
San Antonio since.
Speaker 3 (03:11):
Yes, I don't know who calling the frame.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
I think it was one of your people at breakfast.
Rachel had mentioned that this and I guess it's a
term you guys used. Yeah, but when it's in San
Antonio it's.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
Rinse and repeat. Yeah.
Speaker 5 (03:24):
Yes, we work with a lot of the same locations,
our contacts that those locations are the same, so they're
really used to what we do.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
Coming here. Of course it's a new venue.
Speaker 5 (03:36):
It's all new venues, including our night events, and so
it was definitely.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
It's definitely a new experience.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
Oh great, Now, and of course, you guys show a
wrinkle or the whole thing got thrown a wrinkle when four,
I guess four years ago it was decided that we
do that they do the twentieth anniversary back in Nashville. Yes,
so in addition to year of the four year cycle,
year one year, two, year, three, you guys are working
(04:07):
on this show in addition to the San Antonio Show
and that little thing called your normal job.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
Right, Yeah, we don't know. We don't think about that
in November and December.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
Okay, but that threw a wrinkle into it too. And
I keep mentioning, I know I've mentioned this several times,
but it absolutely blows me away, the logistics of getting
everybody here, all the equipment, and then the vendors themselves.
(04:39):
As has been pointed out, it bears repeating that it
is the show itself. Three million dollars to put this
on is sponsored by all the vendors and sponsors, So
not only do they step up to the plate there,
but then they bring all their equipment and the trucks and.
Speaker 3 (05:00):
The stuff to this location.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
So that is a huge expense, and that speaks to
again Rush Enterprises, the value that they put on, the
value that these companies see working with Rush, but then
also getting the exposure to the individual technician.
Speaker 3 (05:18):
So I just find that absolutely amazing.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
Yea, our sponsors are phenomenal.
Speaker 5 (05:24):
I mean, we definitely couldn't do this without them, and
they do such a great job with communicating to us
so that we know what they need, And yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
It's just it's great to have them all here. We
get to see a lot of them a year after year.
Speaker 5 (05:39):
But to throw this in and say, hey, guess what,
we're not going to be in San Antonio where you're
used to it.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
You know, they've all done a really great job.
Speaker 3 (05:47):
They have they have. Now what are these phone calls like?
Speaker 2 (05:51):
Because you said you can contact the suppliers and you
can contact the people to be participating. Is that an
easy call or is it more less something they're expecting
and they're looking forward to jumping on board or does
there need to be arm twisting? And Conte Connie just
(06:14):
looked at me. I've got answering that question. Maybe maybe
I'll push this off on Tabra.
Speaker 5 (06:24):
So now, yes, there was definitely a conversation. In addition
to being the twentieth anniversary, and this is obviously a
very special event for us. Nashville is, you know, considerably
more expensive than San Antonio is, and we're in at
(06:45):
the Gaylord, which is beautiful, and so we did have
to have a conversation and say, you know, our costs
will be higher, so our sponsorships, you know, are a
little bit higher, And but I feel like everyone was.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
Yeah, they stepped up.
Speaker 5 (06:59):
They were all will to you know, push it a
little bit more to be here and to support the
technicians and the parts team that everyone who's competing.
Speaker 2 (07:08):
Yeah, and I think at four hundred and forty different
vendors here.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
That Yeah, it's amazing.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
The great job on your guys part for pulling this off.
That is incredible. So if you are willing to answer
any questions.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
Got any question you have.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
That one?
Speaker 1 (07:28):
Yeah, that was a tough one.
Speaker 3 (07:30):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
So as as far as again putting it together, the
meetings and the involvement, so percentage time wise, what is
that or that's a good question.
Speaker 4 (07:43):
I think, you know, the first part of the year,
it's you know, we meet I think once a month,
we meet monthly just to kind of start planning things.
And then once we hit about August is when things
really kind of ramp up and we're working on schedules
and the qualifiers and you know, registration, all of the
(08:04):
you know, logistics.
Speaker 3 (08:06):
Of everything else thing has to be put together.
Speaker 4 (08:08):
Yeah, So then we start meeting you know, two or
three times a month, and then I mean it just
snowballs from there.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
Yeah, real quick and very you're and with anything else.
I can imagine in August it seems like, oh, that's
so far away, it seems like it, and then all
of a sudden, boom, it's right around the corner. We're
telling you with Deborah Smith is director of Operations a
Continuous Improvement and Connie Dempsey Senior Continuous Improvement. So I
(08:36):
want to kind of lay the groundwork for the next segment.
One of the things we talked about is possibly, you
know how you got involved with Rush Truck Centers, the
career path to get here, and in terms of maybe
encouraging other people as to how they might be able
to maybe think in terms of this as a career,
because as we talked before, it's one of those things
(08:58):
where if you were to think about as a as
a young person, what am I going to do when
I grow up?
Speaker 3 (09:05):
This was probably not even on the radar screen.
Speaker 4 (09:08):
Well, I will say, twenty three years ago, I don't
know that continuous improvement was really a thing.
Speaker 3 (09:15):
There you go, so we'll pick that up.
Speaker 2 (09:17):
I'm Kevin Gordon, America struck In Network seven hundred WLW.
Speaker 6 (09:22):
I need This is the briefing repord on America's Drugging Network.
Speaker 7 (09:26):
On seven hundred WLW.
Speaker 8 (09:29):
Team Penske will celebrate its sixtieth anniversary in twenty twenty
six with a year long effort to tell its story
through special events, liveries, and exhibits. Our sixtieth anniversary is
a tremendous milestone for our organization, said Roger Penske in
a statement. The twenty twenty six season will give us
the opportunity to celebrate the people, partners, and fans who
have helped shape Team Penske since nineteen sixty six. Major
(09:53):
highlight of the celebration will be a dedicated sixtieth anniversary
exhibit opening in late spring and the NASCAR Hall of
Fame in Norm Carolina and Charlotte, North Carolina. Featuring historic cars,
championship memorabilia, and rarely seen artifacts of the team's archives.
The exhibit will showcase the pivotal events that have defined
Team Penske six decades of competition. Fans will once again
(10:15):
enjoy three days of on track action when the stars
of the NASCAR Cup Series and the O'Reilly Auto Parts
Series return to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the Brickyard
Weekend on July twenty fourth through twenty six of twenty
twenty six. The Brickyard Weekend racing lineup will include the
O'Reilly Autoparts, Pennzoil two fifty on Saturday, July twenty fifth,
NASCAR Cup Series Brickyard four hundred Sunday July twenty sixth.
(10:39):
The full practice and qualifying schedule, including for Friday, July
twenty fourth, will be shared at a later date. For
ticket information for the Brickyard Weekend, visit IMS dot com.
Speaker 6 (10:52):
This is the racing report on America's Drugging Network on
seven hundred WLW.
Speaker 8 (10:57):
Say Dennison for A.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
And I'm Kevin Gordon, America struck a Network, seven hundred WLW,
continuing our conversation with Deborah Smith, director of Operations Continuous
Improvement and Connie Dempsey, Senior Continuous Improvement Department. Okay, we
talked before about how the career path was, How did
(11:21):
you come into Rush Truck Centers.
Speaker 3 (11:24):
Who wants to take the microphone and start from there?
Speaker 1 (11:26):
I can go ahead and start.
Speaker 3 (11:27):
Okay, we'll start with Deborah.
Speaker 5 (11:28):
Okay, Yeah, So I started at Rush Enterprises twenty one
years ago in our central purchasing department, so placing parts
orders for all of our truck centers. From there, I
really moved through Parts operations, did a little bit of everything.
If you think about you know, we've got customer pricing,
(11:48):
we have customer maintenance. All of our part numbers that
we sell, those have to be set up and maintain.
So handled all of that and operations. Let's see, I
was an operations specialist, really supporting all of our parts departments.
So any kind of question that the field has that
they need to help from corporate, it's working through that.
(12:10):
In twenty sixteen, we created our Business Process Management Team
and I moved over there, so started doing process improvement
for Parts operations, really starting to look at how do
we standardize processes across the network and how do we
make things, you know, look the same no matter which
rush truck center you walk into.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
Okay, So in terms of as the title describes, Director Operations,
continuous improvement, continuous improvement in terms of the organization itself
and how these things all come together exactly because they
just don't happen to fall into place. There requires a
lot of planning with that, Oh.
Speaker 5 (12:48):
For sure, yes, I mean yeah, when you have over
one hundred and sixty locations. It's really difficult for all
of them to one know what the best practices are
and know what the process is should be. And our
team does a really great job of improving the processes
and then making sure that everyone knows what they are.
Speaker 3 (13:07):
Donnie, how about you? How did you?
Speaker 1 (13:10):
Very similar to Debora?
Speaker 4 (13:11):
Actually, I started twenty three years ago as a temp
doing purchasing and just.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
Worked my way through.
Speaker 4 (13:20):
I worked for Rick Touff Truck Carts as the business
manager for about eight years, and then I did some buying.
I was a buyer for a while and then went
to go work for Deborah.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
And you know, but again in terms of coordination of things,
I think one of the things that rush enterprises stress
is the fact that Okay, somebody's out on the road. Yes,
if their truck is down, they're not making any money,
and so the key is to get them out back
on the road as soon as possible. So that involves
(13:59):
continuing improvement of making sure that the parts flow are done,
even in some of these challenging times with certain suppliers
and whatnot, making sure that the supply chain is all
there and at the coordination with the individual locations. So
again one hundred and over one hundred and sixty sixty locations.
Speaker 4 (14:20):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, And so that's a lot of what
we do, you know, from warehouse management and making sure
that you know, the parts are where they need to
be and you know, salespeople can find them quickly and
easily to actually delivering the parts.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
We kind of have a hand and on a lot of.
Speaker 4 (14:40):
That making sure those processes are efficient good.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
We're speaking with Deborah Smith, Director Operations Continuous Improvement and
Connie Depsei, Senior Continuous Improvement Manager. One of the things
that is, you know, interesting from the standpoint of this
can continuous improvement and getting parts and everything located in
the right spot is again the logistics end of it
(15:08):
and making sure that they're all available there. But it's
even more than that. From the standpoint of a career
path or the job. I can imagine that you know
a lot of people will say, you know, my job
is boring that you know, doing the same thing over
and over again. I'm guessing that there's probably not a
(15:30):
some things are similar, but every day is different.
Speaker 5 (15:34):
It is, Yes, every day is different because I mean,
whether you're looking at parts or service, there's so many
there's just so many things we could fix, right, there
are so many things we can improve, and so one
day we might look at, you know, how are we
going to improve our estimates for our customers? How do
we start to break down where we're wasting time so
(15:56):
we can get rid of that. And you know, with
us being in operations, we're handling parts, service, our rush,
care team, warranty. You know, we're really covering so many
different areas that yeah, they're just two there. Every day
is a little bit different because we're trying to find
what is the thing that's going to make things easier
(16:19):
for our customer and make the most impact for the
entire organization.
Speaker 2 (16:24):
Now, in terms of that, is that so as you
mentioned that is that you know, continuous improvement over this department,
this department, this department and this department, or is it
all one linear thing?
Speaker 5 (16:37):
So on our team, we have four continuous and six
continuous improvement managers.
Speaker 1 (16:42):
I have three for parts and three for.
Speaker 5 (16:44):
Service, okay, and so in general they'll work on their
own division. But we're a very closely knit team. So
if something you can very rarely make a change in
parts that doesn't affect service and vice versa. So there's
a lot of alignment figuring out like Okay, if I
go change something in parts, how's that going to affect
my technician, how's it going to affect the service advisors,
(17:08):
And just making sure that we keep in mind that
those other impacts.
Speaker 2 (17:13):
And then the feedback from the individual locations and what
they're experiencing kind of gives you an idea of well,
how well are we doing?
Speaker 4 (17:22):
And absolutely yeah, yeah, I mean a big piece of
that of what we do is you know, the change
management piece and getting that information you know, to the
field and explaining why we're doing what we're doing, and
you know, help train them and make sure that they understand. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
One of the things I'm picking up from Rush Enterprises
is that not that it's we've been doing this for
a long period of time and we're going to continue
doing this. It's constantly evolving, absolutely and improving, I know,
you know, going you know, having been an account and
going to different well, when you go to different companies,
one of the first things you try to do is
(18:01):
make sure that you look at their flow of paperwork
at the time or how things are moving, and so
that things are in a convenient and well managed and
streamlined situation. And when you start to make those changes,
sometimes there's a little bit of resistance with that, and
so sometimes Deborah has got this big grin on her face.
(18:27):
So apparently this has happened a few times.
Speaker 5 (18:31):
I will say that as human beings, we are wired
to resist change, and there are definitely people who are
more wired to resist change. I always tell I mean,
I tell everyone I am the I do not like change.
I don't like change done to me, and so I
will do change to everyone else all the time, but
(18:53):
don't do it to me. I feel like it makes
me a little bit more qualified to say, Okay, I
do get where.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
You're coming from. I don't like change either.
Speaker 5 (19:03):
But we try our best to say this is why
we're doing We're not doing it to make your life harder.
We're trying to make your lives easier and make the
lives of the customers easier.
Speaker 2 (19:14):
So a lot of times if it's improved on their end,
then it's improved on the customer's end. Oh that cuts
down on the complaints from the customers. It makes the
customers happy exactly. Thanks, everybody happy all the way around.
Speaker 5 (19:28):
Yeah, I think the biggest thing is a lot of
times our process changes and so involve new systems. New
systems you have to learn, and so eventually we get
to the point where you've learned the new system, you're
comfortable with it, and everyone likes it better than the
old system.
Speaker 1 (19:44):
You just have to get there.
Speaker 2 (19:45):
I will start with Connie's final thoughts in terms of
any advice for people that are interested in getting into
this end of the business, if it's something that they
may not have heard about before, or I.
Speaker 4 (19:57):
Think my advice and I'm going to hope and hopefully
this is okay, but kind of related to women is
you know, I don't think that there isn't a place
in this trucking industry for them. I mean, there are
so many opportunities, especially with a company such as Rush.
You know, it's it's once you get your foot in
(20:19):
the door, there's just there's a lot of opportunity.
Speaker 5 (20:22):
Yeah, yeah, I mean I completely agree with Connie. My
advice I think would be, you know, don't limit.
Speaker 1 (20:30):
Yourself, right, I was going to jump in there.
Speaker 5 (20:33):
I have no idea that continuous improvement was a thing,
and now I wouldn't want to do anything else.
Speaker 3 (20:40):
That's fantastic.
Speaker 2 (20:41):
Yeah, Connie, it was really great talking to you. I
certainly appreciate you stopping by. Devora Smith's Director Operations Continuous
Improvement and Connie Dempsey, Senior Continuous Improvement Manager. Thank you
both for stopping by the booths and talking with me
this morning.
Speaker 3 (20:56):
I certainly appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (20:57):
Thank you for having us.
Speaker 3 (20:58):
All right, have a great day.
Speaker 2 (21:00):
I'm Kevin Gordon, America struck in Network seven hundred WLW.
Speaker 9 (21:13):
Here's your trucking forecast for the Try State and the
rest of the country. In the Try State, overnight mostly
Claudia and not as cold. The low down to thirty two,
Mostly claudi early Wednesday, then gradually becoming sunny. A high
of forty three. Afternoon. Rain expected Thursday. Highs in the
mid fifties. Friday, slight chance of snow showers the first
half of the day, otherwise partly sunny and colder, a
high of thirty one. Nationally, the Pacific Northwest scene heavy rain,
(21:36):
impossible flooding this week. The mountain west to the northern
Plains seeing destructive winds and winter weather impacts. For the
Ohio and Tennessee Valley, strong storms are possible Thursday.
Speaker 2 (21:48):
This is america'struck in Network seven hundred WLW. I'm joined
by Michael Freese. He is the feature editor of features
editor Transport Topics out of the Washington DC area. Also
Leo Leo Barrows with truck Trucknews dot Com. He's the
associate editor out of Toronto. So welcome to the program.
(22:09):
Thank you both for joining me this morning.
Speaker 7 (22:11):
Thanks for having us, Kevin, thanks for having me.
Speaker 3 (22:14):
Yes, there may be a little delay there.
Speaker 2 (22:15):
We got one microphone that they're both sharing, and uh,
but let's start with you, Michael with Transport Topics. I
got to say, I go to your I told you
last night that I go to your side a lot
and I look at a lot of the articles. So
what are your how many times have you been to
the truck rodeo?
Speaker 7 (22:34):
This is my second year at the second year.
Speaker 2 (22:36):
And Leo, I'm a rookie here, me too, rookies here
all right, and he's done, and Michael has done nothing
to help us along to what to expect.
Speaker 3 (22:48):
So we've been just thrown into the water. All Thank you, Michael.
Speaker 7 (22:51):
It's well worth it, y.
Speaker 3 (22:54):
Lare it on your baptism by fire?
Speaker 2 (22:57):
So again, I well here second, I'm obviously last year
was in San Antonio and then now this year the
twentieth anniversary up here in Nashville, Tennessee, where they began
twenty years ago. Difference between the two, well.
Speaker 10 (23:13):
You know, the you know, the first thing that that
strikes me where the difference between Nashville and San Antonio
is the.
Speaker 7 (23:20):
Lack of text mechs.
Speaker 10 (23:21):
So yeah, yeah, you have that, but it's really a
you know, Nashville, you know, is a nice convention city.
The you know, the difference you know, being that you know,
this was where the the the Russian Skills radio originated,
so it was very important for the for the.
Speaker 7 (23:39):
The company that had to have that, that have this here.
Speaker 10 (23:41):
You know, we're in San Antonio, which is the home
base of Russian Destroyer, where you know, everything is a
very much you know, home feeld type of convention. I mean,
it's almost akin to a party exactly.
Speaker 2 (23:54):
I was talking to some of the people from Russia
Enterprises yesterday and then again at breakfast this morning, and
they were saying that one of us in San Antonio's
kind of washed rents repeat because they're so used to
doing it there. But this was a whole different thing
took them actually started planning this four years ago, and
then of course the logistics of getting everybody here and
(24:15):
getting the travel arrangements and everything. So, h leo, what's
your impressions being their first time, because I'm I'm absolutely
blown away by all.
Speaker 7 (24:22):
That I am.
Speaker 11 (24:23):
It's really well organized, the people are really nice, and
you get to see a lot of trucks, which is awesome.
Speaker 2 (24:31):
Do you guys go to the America Mid America Trucking
Show or Mid America Truck Show down in Louisville.
Speaker 7 (24:37):
I have a demand, but I do show Super Riggs. Okay,
so I love that show.
Speaker 11 (24:43):
But the good thing over here is what I'm seeing
is I normally talk to drivers, fleet managers, fleet owners,
not that many tech guys, right, and now I interviewed
a lot of them here, and you see how their
brains work. They look at the truck as a buzzle, right,
and they don't. One guy said, I don't let the
(25:04):
truck defeat me. You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 3 (25:08):
Yeah, they take it as a challenge.
Speaker 7 (25:09):
It's a challenge.
Speaker 11 (25:10):
And he said, if I can't die, if I can't
fix the problem, I will go home unhappy. I'll think
about it all night. I'll come back in the morning
and I'll fix it.
Speaker 2 (25:21):
You know, that is somebody that is a true student
of the game because they take their work home. You know,
I don't know about you guys, but being on the air,
I've always said that you're either on the air or
you're doing show prep because you know, just meeting people
that's a topic for a show or a topic for
an article.
Speaker 7 (25:41):
But the same goes with us.
Speaker 11 (25:42):
Be right, but you're always thinking, what's the next story,
what's the next angle?
Speaker 6 (25:47):
Will this help me? What should I be asking? So
it's the same thing exactly. Again, we're talking with Michael Freese.
He is the features editor of Transport Topics, Leo Barrow's
truck dot Com Associate editor. So again, overall impressions, are
you delo You had talked about seeing all the trucks
(26:08):
and everything.
Speaker 11 (26:08):
The trucks, the skills that these guys have. Uh, these
guys are so talented and a lot of them are
experts in their field. Uh So they really dive down
into the weeds and they know exactly what's happening with
that truck or that engine.
Speaker 2 (26:24):
It's awesome to say they are the cream of the crop.
They are and they've got that competitive edge, and it
just proves again talking about how Rush enterprises and how
well run that corporation is.
Speaker 3 (26:36):
It is.
Speaker 7 (26:36):
And one guy I spoke to, he said he was
competing against.
Speaker 11 (26:40):
Last year's first and second place people and he was third.
Speaker 7 (26:44):
Uh huh, the same three guys are back here again.
Speaker 3 (26:47):
Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 7 (26:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (26:48):
Now you mentioned about the trucks, and what blows me
away too about all this is the fact that not
only are the are the sponsors here four hundred and
forty sponsors of this which they paid for the event
three million dollars to put this on. And then as
I'm thinking from a logistics standpoint, and as they're recovering accountant,
(27:12):
I'm thinking in terms of the not only the investment
of them paying the money. But then you've got Azuzu,
you've got International trucks, You've got Peter Bilt, You've got
Voweling that we can just see in the surrounding areas
moving all these trucks. Of what International has two, it
looks like Peter Built has three or four moving those
(27:33):
vehicles here and moving all their people here, because each
one of these booze has five, six seven people with them.
Speaker 3 (27:40):
That is a tremendous investment not only.
Speaker 2 (27:43):
For their people, but it speaks well of their relationship
with RUSH truck centers.
Speaker 7 (27:49):
Yeah, Kevin.
Speaker 10 (27:50):
And one thing with that, the full sponsorship is truxtaposed
with the soft freight market that we have, this economy
that we have that in that environment you can have
an event that's sponsored.
Speaker 7 (28:03):
You know, that's a testament to you know, the.
Speaker 10 (28:05):
Organization of Rush and the relationships with their with their
vendors and and suppliers, and the willingness to be involved
in the event to celebrate their technicians.
Speaker 7 (28:15):
You know.
Speaker 10 (28:15):
One I also cover the TMC super Tech Competition by
Technology and Maintenance Council, you know, coverage of coverature that
can be available at t T news dot com.
Speaker 7 (28:25):
Just to pluck that in the.
Speaker 3 (28:28):
Commercial.
Speaker 7 (28:31):
It's all good, We're all no, but you just now
but yeah, yes.
Speaker 10 (28:40):
The the thing about it is that that the celebrations
of the technician with the lead was referring to earlier,
you know, it's it's it's really great to have that environment.
And definitely when you can get the sponsors involved and
get those suppliers, you get those those parts people that
are all part of that technician network together in that
celebration and in that competition too, just as a reporter
(29:01):
you know who used to do metro reporting too for
for newspapers and sports.
Speaker 3 (29:06):
Uh.
Speaker 10 (29:06):
You know, this is the closest thing to a sporting
event that we have in our industry. You have the drivers,
but you also have the text and and it's really
this is really hard work, you know, physically and more mentally, right,
So to be able to recognize that and celebrate that
and recognize the best of the best, you know, that's
one that's one great thing about this industry.
Speaker 7 (29:25):
I love to come.
Speaker 2 (29:26):
Yeah, and of course obviously you guys are gonna be
in the print, gonna be uh talking about the individual
people that want and and that sort of thing. So again, Leo,
we're talking about the uh, the event itself, and any
thoughts in terms of that is.
Speaker 7 (29:40):
Considerably a nice thought.
Speaker 11 (29:42):
That game, to my mind, is when you say my
truck needs to be fixed, right, and you think you
send it to a shop and it gets fixed, But
there are suppliers, there are other people who are working
behind the scenes. It's not just the tech who's fixing it, distributors, suppliers, warehousing,
(30:03):
it's all these bots that come together and it. In
the end, you have your truck fixed. You say, oh
it takes two days. It just cost me two thousand dollars. Yes,
but then you have all these little bots that are
playing into this massive project that's taking place.
Speaker 2 (30:17):
But then also part of that is that, you know,
it seems like everybody from the suppliers to rush enterprises
themselves are geared towards this idea that hey, if the
truck's off the road, they're not earning money, and so
we need to streamline this so that we can get
them in and out as soon as possible. And then
the suppliers themselves being involved and making sure that that happens.
(30:40):
And I think a lot of recognition needs to go
because you know, this is not obviously, this broadcast is
not going out to just rush truck enterprises and individuals,
just going out to you know, the general public and
whether or not they drive an eighteen wheeler or not.
A lot of these suppliers, a lot of the companies
are in the you know, the four wheeler and of it.
So it's just the idea that knowing that they are
(31:03):
supporting the trucking industry that basically supports everything that goes
on as far as everything that is delivered by a truck.
The fact that they support that, you should support them
as the sponsors as well.
Speaker 11 (31:15):
I think it's you know, symbiotic when you think of
your truck and you say, you know, the trucking is
the backbone, yes, but then this is the backbone of
the backbone.
Speaker 2 (31:25):
Exactly, exactly. We got to take a quick break. Can
you guys hang around for another segment? That'd be fantastic
speaking with Michael Freese. He is the features editor of
Transport Topics.
Speaker 3 (31:34):
And out of the Washington, d C. Office.
Speaker 2 (31:37):
Leo Barrows trucknews dot Com Associate editor out of Toronto.
I'm Kevin Gordon, America's truck in Network seven hundred WLW
Transport Topics, Washington, DC office and Leo Barrows with trucknews
dot Com Associated editor located out of Toronto. Now, this
is going to be an interesting mix because I'm curious
(31:58):
for both of you in terms of what you're seeing
as far as the trucking industry. We've all talked about.
We've all heard about the trucking recession which is now
into the third year where the average is more like
fourteen months, and are we seeing a light at the
end of the tunnel, Do we see things breaking up?
Speaker 3 (32:14):
Do we see things moving ahead? So let's start with you, Michael.
Speaker 10 (32:19):
Well, you know, especially yeah, as you said, with the
ongoing soft freight, I don't know if we'll actually I mean,
I think we'll see a light at the end of
the tunnel, but it's just the warning of that light
being another train coming at you.
Speaker 2 (32:32):
Exactly how many have we had to tug or run
away from over the last.
Speaker 10 (32:38):
Few years, right, you know, But you know, the industry
so far in the two three years that we're in
this condition, I mean, it's pretty resilient, you know there.
I mean there's still trucks are still moving that the
industry is slowly catching on to the environment that's in
You know, you're you're comfortable in this situation until you aren't.
(32:59):
And right now I think we have the realization that
we're in a solid space.
Speaker 7 (33:04):
You know there.
Speaker 10 (33:05):
You know, maybe that first year, in that second year,
there were you know, maybe we're gonna we're gonna turn
this around next year. We're gonna turn this around next year.
Now you know, we're saying this for the third time.
But however, you know, we we know what we're getting into.
So once the you know, the economic conditions that in
some ways we can't control, get the better, you know,
such as you know, interest rates, you know, such as
(33:27):
you know just you know businesses, regulation, right, regulation, you
know that that whole cloud. You know, that's a that's
another interview session right there.
Speaker 7 (33:34):
Yeah, you know.
Speaker 10 (33:35):
So, I mean there's some challenges ahead, and with the
fixing the problem, it's going to be a long that's
going to be a long process in itself.
Speaker 7 (33:43):
The turnaround is not going to happen in the month.
Speaker 10 (33:45):
The turnaround might happen as long as we've been in
this recession already. So there's a lot of things that
has to be done on the you know, on on
the federal level and state level, and also with each
fleet company right now, you know, holding their head above water.
So now you know, it's it's the point of just
moving in this industry and finding out where those spots
(34:06):
where it can thrive and finding those spots and really
let in on trying to get this market up again.
Speaker 2 (34:14):
Well, you hit on a very important topic about the
resilience of the industry itself and people being resilient, and
it always strikes me amazing that you know, if you
just got well, you can't got to have government, you
got to have regulations to extend. But sometimes it's just
like stay to hell away for a little while and
(34:37):
let us the market will work itself out. So Leo,
what are you seeing in terms of Canada? To mention
that you said before, you said things are a lot
different in Canada than maybe down here. It reminded me
when I was talking that I live in northern Kentucky
and Cincinnati is right across the river, and a lot
(34:57):
of times people will say that bridge is a lot
longer than it looks because the life on one side
of the bridge is a lot different than life on
the other side of the bridge. And we only have
basically basically a boundary between Canada and the United States,
but that boundary is a lot wider in certain instances
than it looks.
Speaker 11 (35:18):
So in Canada we've been dealing with tariffs, the big
key word, and the goal post keeps them changing. So
it's harder for companies to plan when you don't have
a fixed goal post in the right.
Speaker 7 (35:32):
That's one thing.
Speaker 11 (35:34):
The majority of our trucks comes south of the bottom,
so they come to the US.
Speaker 7 (35:38):
That's how it has been all this time. Then you've got.
Speaker 11 (35:44):
Drivers who are being pulled over, right, A lot of
drivers are now afraid to come south of the bottle.
Speaker 7 (35:50):
They don't want to come really.
Speaker 11 (35:51):
Yeah, So a large population of drivers are from other countries. Yeah,
you know, they have settled in Canada, immigrated, so now
some of them are not very good in English, so
that breeds fear in their minds.
Speaker 7 (36:07):
They don't want to drive south. So what's happening is.
Speaker 11 (36:10):
All the lanes in Canada getting clogged with drivers who
used to normally drive south of the bottom. That's one
Freight rates are low as well, so that's another issue
that we are dealing with. And now we are seeing
some bankruptcies taking place, so the smaller boys can't play
(36:31):
in this market, so there are bigger fleets that are
kind of taking over.
Speaker 7 (36:37):
You've got also we deal with.
Speaker 11 (36:40):
Something called driver misclassification where drivers are part of a
company but they work as independent contractors, but they are
doing the job of a regular driver. So what's happening
is that there's a tax issue there and that's a
big part of the industry as well, and fleets that
(37:01):
run that kind of business have a competitive advantage because
they have savings from.
Speaker 2 (37:10):
Right they don't have them.
Speaker 11 (37:14):
That is used a lot to buy property to lower
the rates, where other fleets that are playing by the books.
Speaker 7 (37:21):
Cannot play in the same field.
Speaker 2 (37:23):
So is there more of a push to eliminate or
not have is reclassify them as employees as opposed to
that pushes on That seems to be a little bit
contrary to what we have in the United States, if
I'm not mistaken, there seems to be a lot more
independent truckers to prefer that as opposed to.
Speaker 10 (37:44):
In some ways, you know, I mean to to what
Lee was saying. I mean, I don't want to go
out on a limb, but I mean, but I wouldn't
say half half. But you know, but I think there's
there's a point that you're making, Kevin.
Speaker 7 (37:54):
You know, sort of like uh.
Speaker 10 (37:56):
In my former life, I used to cover the distribution
right uh industry, and one of the things was just
that association that you were just talking about, Leo. Just
you walk into a federated store to buy something. You
ask the owner, you know, is are are you a
federated story? He'll say no, I'm I'm independent. But you
know he's relying on Federated for all all those costs, you.
Speaker 7 (38:18):
Know, for for it time to be up in this window.
So there's a little bit of pushing pushing pull off
of that.
Speaker 11 (38:25):
You know.
Speaker 10 (38:25):
There there's some independent drivers who you know who who
want that relationship right, while there are others as as
Leo was just saying, you know, they're a part of
a system, right, but the way that they proceed it's
you know, they're they're independent, so you kind of you know,
you can you can have that dynamic, right, I mean,
I think it's kind of fifty.
Speaker 2 (38:44):
So at the time we have again speaking with Michael Freese,
Transport Future Editor, Features Editor Transport Topics out of the
Washington d C Office, and Leo Barrows truck news dot
Com Associated editor, to mean to cut you off, Leo,
but in terms of what you're seeing in terms of
the economy and what's going on in Canada, you're saying,
a light at the end of the tunnel.
Speaker 3 (39:03):
Do you think this is going to last a lot longer?
Speaker 7 (39:06):
You hopeful or were hopeful, will be always hopeful.
Speaker 11 (39:09):
What I have seen while speaking to fleets, some of
them are now focusing on drivers retention, because when so
now as you know that, fleets are holding on to
trucks trailers for longer periods of time, But there will
come a time when you need a new truck, but
(39:30):
it takes a while to procure that truck, six months,
eight months, You have to book them right now. What
you can sort of control is drivers, your maintenance cad.
So if you have the best drivers available when that
light does come, you have the people ready to go.
(39:50):
The trucks will come, you know, the trailers will come,
but if you don't have the people when that opportunity comes,
you're going to lose.
Speaker 2 (40:00):
That's kind of along lines what we're seeing as far
as the economy in terms of the no higher, no
fire situation kind of I guess lessons learned from the
pandemic when businesses shut down and then trying to regear
everything back up, trying to find qualified employees, suppliers, supply
chain issues and that. So, Michael, what are your impressions
in terms of where you're seeing the industry and turning around.
Speaker 10 (40:22):
And well, you know, just from the nuts and bolts
that we were just talking about, it's kind of want
to take a ten cos a few of things. One
thing that we talk about in the office and a
lot is artificial intelligence. But you know, I mean, that's
such a buzzword, but I think we're getting into the
stage right now where we're going to have to figure out,
if we haven't already in some spaces where this can
(40:45):
work effectively in the trucking industry. I mean, we're past
the stage of you know, slicesed dices, right, you know,
And I think you.
Speaker 2 (40:54):
Know, as you mentioned about artificial intelligence, possibly the rescheduling
of things and the schedule and as far as the
routes are concerned, so there's not as much debt heading,
there's you know a little bit more coordination, a little
bit more I guess coordination in terms of taking this
route versus that route and that sort of thing.
Speaker 3 (41:15):
But there's other areas where AI just I mean.
Speaker 10 (41:17):
But yeah, it's also I mean, it's so much more
than you know, a GPS.
Speaker 7 (41:22):
But it's also even when.
Speaker 10 (41:23):
You get down I mean, we're at a tech event,
you know right now, you know, preventive maintenance strategies right,
and schedules greatly impact you know, when you talk about
artificial intelligence. That's that's one thing I mean, but even
on that side when when it comes to PM, you
know you have the innovation of the parts that you're
working on now exactly.
Speaker 7 (41:41):
Yeah.
Speaker 10 (41:41):
So the limits of of you know, of an oil
change just as simple as that. Exactly that have changed,
have changed instead of the innovations outline of motor oil and.
Speaker 2 (41:52):
Gentlemen, I'd like to continue this on forever, but we're
up against clock here and I hate to do this,
but I would probably heavy back on the program having
some time down the road throughout the year.
Speaker 7 (42:02):
Thanks.
Speaker 3 (42:02):
Talk about this again.
Speaker 2 (42:03):
My guests been Michael Freese, Features Editor, Transport Topics, Washington,
the DC Office. Leio Barrows trucknews dot Com, Associate editor
out of Toronto.
Speaker 3 (42:12):
Gentlemen, thank you so much for joining me. I certainly
appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (42:15):
I'm Kevin Gordon, America's Trucking Network seven hundred WLW
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