Pratt 4 Million Mile Celebration!

 

After achieving 4,000,000 Safe Miles in June, the account held a lunch for Bob Pratt to celebrate his great accomplishment. A banner was placed in front of the Louisville Terminal to congratulate Bob as well. Members of the Louisville Safety Team, Intermodal, Louisville Shop, other company drivers, and the Toyota DCS drivers and managers were all there to help Bob celebrate the accomplishment!

 

Thank you Bob, and congratulations!

 

 

 

 

Happy Anniversary Tom Hattenbach!

Congratulations to Tom Hattenbach on his 1 year anniversary with J.B. Hunt.  Tom stepped right into the Account Manager role for Tyson in Robards, KY and made several improvements to the account’s operational and safety performance in his first year with us.  Thank you Tom for your hard work and dedication to our customer and drivers out in Robards, KY!

Lending a Helping Hand

 

Recently, Todd Mallett from the Home Depot MONOH team assisted Family Dollar MOHKY with some much-needed support. During this same time Essengo “E” Goz, from Team Toyota was helping provide management vacation coverage at Family Dollar MOHKY. As the week ended, another Friday needed to be covered. Todd stepped up to the plate and decided to run the route. E, noticed how Todd stepped and he decided that he would do that same. E was able to go out with Todd and lend him a helping hand on the route. The two delivered the Friday route with 4 stops safely and on-time!  

 

Todd and E stepped up and went above and beyond! Thank you Todd & E!

 

 

Congratulations Howard West!

Howard West has been driving at JB Hunt for 28 years. As of June 2017, he surpassed Two Million Safe Miles. Howard stated that he reached this milestone by, “understanding that patience is a virtue, there is no rush to get anywhere and sometimes it just takes a deep breath to realize who the bigger person is on the road”. He believes that being a good truck driver is about being healthy, having faith, and to keep work and home issues separate. He is proud member of Team Toyota, and the entire team is extremely proud of Howard for reaching this accomplishment. Howard is known throughout the region for supporting multiple accounts and he helps set the bar high on safety, positive attitude, professionalism, and character.

Thank you Howard, and congratulations on Two Million Safe Miles!

Remembering Those Who Keep Us Free

Justin Schloesser gets his care package

 

Within the Central Region, we currently have 3 managers who are deployed and actively serving our country.  We recently took some time to throw together a small token of our appreciation through a care package.  We are wishing the best to these three and looking forward to their return.  Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers!

 

• Justin Schloesser:  OS Limited Reynoldsburg, OH
• Brian Welsh:  Logistics Coordinator PPG Pittsburgh
• Joe Strater: OS Pet Supplies Plus Seymour, IN

Happy Anniversary Stephany Kaufman!

Happy 2 Year Anniversary to Stephany Kaufman!  Stephany originally joined the MasterBrand account in 2015 during its startup and was an instrumental part of its success. In her time with the account she has helped streamline office processes, supported the management & drivers, and built a world class reputation with MasterBrand Cabinets and its customers.

In 2017 Stephany started to pursue her Associates degree and we are excited to see what she will do!

Happy 2 Year Anniversary and thank you for everything you do!

Happy Anniversary Natalie Heeke!

 

Happy 1 Year Anniversary to Natalie Heeke!  Originally from Southern Indiana she is a proud graduate of the University of Indiana southeast campus. Hired as a DMIT she made the well-deserved leap into the Operations Supervisor role at the beginning of the year. In her time with the MasterBrand account she has created a proven track record for going the extra mile. She has won over some of the most difficult drivers and is held in the highest regard among the customer.

 

Thank you for all you do and Happy Anniversary, Natalie!

IM/DCS Integration Dinner

On Tuesday night the Toledo Intermodal ramp management team met with the management and planners from THD – Van Buren and Kohl’s.  The purpose of the dinner was to figure out ways to integrate more in an effort to increase capacity and revenue for all parties. We feel as if both sides found opportunity in each other to be able to help each other to provide capacity. The biggest win will be filling out some short DCS driver days with some short hauls back to the IM ramp. Also, we feel as if Kohl’s will be able to fill some current empty legs and increase revenue at the same time.

Pictured (L to R) – Al Verbish, Zach Evans, Scott Tully, Jason Butler, Keith Taylor, Jeff Sabol, Matt Burns, Luke George, Sam Djung, Zach Brewington, Jacqueline Buckles, and Zach Windau.

 

Driver Mentor Training and Roundtable at HD Monroe

On Tuesday, The Home Depot account in Monroe held a Driver Mentor continuing education meeting.  Here, 180 Day Experience Manager Anthony Hale and ARM Tracy Walker presented the material with the scope of the meeting to provide information on various safety and onboarding topics.  This is important since our Mentors spend the most time with our new hires to the account.  One of the topics included areas to focus on with the trainees as well as best practices on documentation on the Mentors paperwork.  Driver turnover was also highlighted as the account has seen positive trends in this area.  Other safety topics were an overview on Hours of Service exceptions; HAZMAT requirements with a focus on placarding; Detroit Assurance/Safety Direct technologies; and general watch outs while around the equipment.   We closed the session out with lunch and a  roundtable with GM Jeremy Stout,  AM Zac Oakes and VP Andrew DeBlock with valuable feedback provided by the group.



Central Region Driver of the Month for June - Basil Shaw

Please join me in congratulating Basil Shaw on being selected as Driver of the Month for June.  Basil currently serves on the Jamestown Container Account out of Rochester, NY.  Basil has been with JB Hunt for just over 10 years, serving a number of accounts within DCS.  Ultimately, it was Basil's hard work, dedication, and get it done attitude that put him over the top for the June DOM selection.  Great work Basil!

 

 

Below is the write-up on Basil:

 



Representing the Jamestown Container account for June, our Driver of the Month is Basil Shaw (SHAB24). Basil has been working with J.B Hunt since February 27th, 2007. Just this year while working with the Jamestown Container account since October 2015, Basil hit his 10-year anniversary.  We are thrilled to award him with this great accomplishment.

Basil is a very dependable driver and handles his job with a great deal of professionalism. He is very dedicated and reliable when it comes to any load, especially those with hard appointment times. Basil has no service failures, which include 2 of Jamestown’s most critical points of on time delivery and pickup. Jamestown Container employees along with the JBH management knows that if Basil is on a load, he does his absolute best to get his customers delivered on time and safely. 

Basil was also a part of our Family Dollar team in Rome NY, where he spent 8 years working for one of the toughest accounts in the region. Account Manager Ryan Amuso said, “Basil was one of pioneers here at the Family Dollar Account. He was very dedicated, trustworthy, and hard working. He delivered some of our most difficult stores on a weekly basis without issue.” 

Basil has also volunteered to become a dedicated driver for our Niagara Sheets account every Saturday, going above and beyond to help them delivery excessive freight.  Whether it’s Jamestown Container’s customers, Family Dollar or our Niagara Sheets account, Basil has developed a great rapport with the customers. After completing delivery at Grisamore Cider Works back in May this year, one of the customers sent a personal email to Jamestown Container Customer Service Rep. stating how much they appreciated Basil’s delivery. 

“Got the bottles. Your driver was wonderful. Perfect driving. Wish there were more drivers like that. We are going to start bottling this weekend. Thanks again for the help.”
-Jesse Ingall, Grisamore Cider Works Lead shipping/receiving

Basil has no HOS violations in the last 5 months and no CVE this year. We are extremely proud to have Basil on our team and so is Jamestown Container. Basil has worked very hard and safe to achieve this award of June Driver of the Month. Thank you, Basil!  

Lowell Account Manager Forum

Oliver Skelton, top row first position

 

This past week, AM Oliver Skelton attended the Account Manager Collaboratory Meeting in Lowell.  Here, select Account Manager's from across the country participated in an ideas sharing session.  Topics included everything driver retention to Elevation.  It was a fantastic experience for all that attended!