Drew Vincent visits Skyline Chili for the First Time

Earlier this week while traveling to learn about various accounts in Southwest Ohio ARM Drew Vincent got his first experience of Cincinnati chili. After a apprehensive first few minutes he finally submitted to my suggestion to try the 3-way (spaghetti, chili and cheese) as well as a Cheese Coney (hot dog, chili and cheese). Being that he was new to the experience we made sure he wore the bib to protect his clothes. This was a wise decision as it protected against the splatter of chili while he enjoyed this new found delicacy.

Bill Monroe Retirement

From left, Bill Monroe, Jonathan Brand, and RVP Jim Moore

 

Last night, Bill Monroe from Southern States and most recently Cargill retired after 30 plus years of service.  From Bowling Green KY, Bill has been a strong JB Hunt supporter over the years and was instrumental on taking a chance on us when we started the business.  The Southern States business began with 2 drivers in Winchester KY and grew to over 100 drivers before the Bulk Feed Division was sold to Cargill a few years back.  Thank you Bill for all that you have done for us and congratulations on your retirement!

Dave Jones, Jonathan Brand, and Logan Williams

Whatever It Takes - Rob Starkey

 

This past weekend, Northeast OH saw almost a foot of snow.  This made it very difficult to get all of our trucks dug out on Monday to make deliveries for our customers.  At one location, Soft-Lite Windows, there were issues with the snow plow company being able to keep up.  That is when Rob Starkey jumped into action.  Rob went to his house, picked up his own snow blower, and began assisting in getting our trucks out.  Rob was outside the majority of the day, doing whatever it took to assist in clearing the lot and assisting other drivers!  As always, great work Rob!!

Getting to Know - Travis Allen

This past week, Operation Supervisor Jay Pilot of Southern States in Cloverdale VA was able to spend some time out on the truck with Travis Allen.  Travis is a Regional Driver on the fleet and recently passed his 60 day anniversary with the company.  The main point of the Central Region RATLA Program is for our management team to get out on the truck and spend time with our drivers.  With Travis being a new employee, it was good for Jay to spend some quality time in the cab to reiterate policy and procedure.  This was time well spent as both got to learn a bit more about the other!  Great work by both Jay and Travis!

 

 

Below are some additional notes on Travis:

Travis is one of our newer hires for our Southern States account in Cloverdale, VA. Travis spent the day with Jay Pilot who is an OS at the account.

Jay writes, Travis recently celebrated his 60-day anniversary with us. He had worked for numerous transportation companies in the past six years before joining J.B. Hunt in November of 2018 and says that this is the best company/account he has ever been on. Travis is a man of few words; but is quick to tell you how much he enjoys the job. He rarely calls in with any issues and continues to get the job done as quickly and safely as possible. He just recently purchased a new Mustang that he is very proud of. The only time he is not lacking for words is when he is talking about his car. Travis hopes to stay with the company for a long time to come and is grateful that he was hired by J.B. Hunt for the Southern States Cloverdale account.



2019 DCS Central Region Kickoff

Thank you to all that came out for the 2019 DCS Central Region Kickoff!  Congratulations once again to 2018 Driver of the Year Tom Arthur as well as all of our other award winners!  Please be on the look out for a survey that will come out over the next week or so.  We value your input to see how we could improve on our kickoff and make next year even better!

 

Getting to Know - Greg Biddle

As part of our Central Region Quarterly RATLA Program, this past week Tom Hattenbach was able to get out and spend the day with Greg Biddle.  Tom is the Account Manager of our Tyson Account in Robards KY.  Greg Biddle is a newer local driver on the account, and was just recently hired in on December 27.  It was great to get out for the time and get to know Greg on a personal level.  Considering Greg is a newer employee, this was time well spent on giving him additional information on how to set himself up for success on the account!  

 

 

Below are some additional notes on Greg:

 

Greg lives in Madisonville, Ky with his wife and daughter.  Greg has been married to his wife for 23 years and has a teenage daughter.  Greg enjoys cookouts with his family and grilling on the grill.  Greg was driving for Apollo oil utilizing a straight truck and decided to get a Class “A” CDL to begin driving tractor trailers instead of straight trucks.  He has been driving tractor trailers for the past two years and has been to all but 5 of the United States.  Greg wanted to find a driving position that would allow him to be at home more often with his family and joined the JB Hunt team at the Tyson Robards account.



Firestone Youngwood PA

As we continue our partnership with Firestone Building Products, this week our team was in Youngwood PA.  Here the account went through Smith System and Flatbed Load Securement Training.

The team, led by Account Manager Grant Schoenfelder and Operations Supervisor Alex Karayianopoulos demonstrated their technique in strapping and securing.  The account will be running the first start of loads towards the end of this week and the team is prepared and welcoming a safety first attitude.

Great work team!

 

 

 

 

Getting to Know Daniel Atkins - Southern States Cloverdale

This past week, Operations Supervisor Taylor Showalter was able to catch a ride with Daniel Atkins.  Daniel is a Regional Driver, assigned to the Southern States Account in Cloverdale VA.  Daniel has been driving for 5 years and recently joined the account.  Prior to becoming a Professional Driver, Daniel wanted a career in law enforcement in his hometown of Coeburn, VA.  In his spare time, Daniel enjoys hunting and spending time with his 4 year old son Remington!  Both Taylor and Daniel had a great day!

 

Mauser NA Startup - Mason OH

This week kicked off our startup with new customer Bway/Mauser in Mason, OH.  Bway/Mauser Packaging Solutions is a global leader in solutions and services across the packaging lifecycle, providing large and small metal, plastic, fiber and hybrid packaging worldwide to companies in industries from food, beverage, personal care and pharmaceuticals to chemicals, petrochemicals, agrochemicals and paints.  Bway/Mauser’s local site in Mason services customers across the United States but our JB Hunt operation focuses on delivering to customers within a 250 radius of Mason, OH.

Account Manager Matt Morton is leading (6) local drivers at this site.  The site is already slated to grow to (10) drivers in the next 6 months! 

The week was a huge success boasting zero carrier related service failures and flawless execution by our driving and management teams.  Special thanks to all who have supported this startup!

 

Safety Streaks at Jamestown Container

 

Under the leadership of Account Manager – Michael Maier & Operations Supervisor – Gisella Franco, the Jamestown Container fleet in Rochester, NY has successfully achieved more than 100+ days injury and collision free!  The picture above is from their winter blitz campaign.  Keep it up!

Traci Kilger Going Away Party

Please join us in wishing Account Manager – Traci Kilger a proper farewell and thank you as she embarks on her next chapter in life! 

Traci and her family will be relocating to the Raleigh Durham area in North Carolina for her husband’s employment.  A lot of us have worked with Traci in some capacity over her 13 ½ years in the Central Region and understand what a valuable team member and resource she has been.  We are honestly both sad she’s leaving but also excited for what new adventures lie ahead.  Traci will remain employed with J.B. Hunt and will be transferring to Driver Personnel. 

Traci – Can’t wait until you start flooding our driver recruiting pipelines.  We wish you nothing but the best! 

Pictures below are from the Niagara Sheets goodbye party. 

 

Central Region Driver of the Month for Decembrer - Mike Dietl

Congratulations to Mike Dietl for being selected Driver of the Month for the Central Region for December!  Mike is a local driver who serves on the Niagara Sheets Account in North Tonawanda, NY and has been with the company for 6.5 years.  Niagara Sheets operates in one of the toughest environments in the region, delivering corrugated paper throughout Central and Western NY, as well as western PA, and Eastern OH.  Mike was selected out of 1330 drivers in the region.  Great job Mike!

 

 

Management Write Up:

 

Our Driver of the Month (or year!) for Niagara Sheets will be yard driver Michael Dietl.

I have never met a driver who is more dedicated, devoted, and willing to do whatever it takes for JB Hunt and the Niagara Sheets account.  Mike has been with JB Hunt/Niagara Sheets for 6.5 years. In his tenure with JB Hunt he has done it all. Day driver, night driver and now his current role as Day shift yard spotter and weekend delivery driver. He volunteers every weekend to take deliveries when he is not working the yard. He comes in early or stays late depending on if we need more yard coverage.

He is literally the backbone of the entire fleet. He has no critical event and no logging issues when he makes deliveries.  He truly is one of a kind and will do whatever it takes to help out. He has an excellent relationship with the account drivers and Niagara Sheets. We are lucky to have him as part of the fleet.