| DistTech: Identity Truth |
| Corporate Spotlight | |||
| Written by Eric Slack | |||
| Thursday, 01 May 2008 | |||
 Hugh O’Neill describes this contract and common carriage trucking firm’s efforts to shed light on its operations.
“We are not just a for-hire trucking company. We are a trucking and logistics company specializing in contract carriage in bulk,” said Hugh O’Neill, president. “We needed to change the name to go along with changes we already made in the makeup of the company and in the way we were doing business.” DistTech was previously known as the Manfredi Motor Transit Co. It started out in the 1930s hauling milk for farmers in Northeast Ohio to Cleveland dairies. Today it is one of the US leaders in contract and common carriage for bulk liquid cargo. The lion’s share of DistTech’s customers need transportation services for bulk liquid chemicals, but the company did expand into dry bulk and freight hauling to diversify its operations. The company changed its name four years ago to Distribution Technologies, Inc., subsequently shortening it to DistTech. The reason behind rebranding was to showcase the company’s ability to combine safe and efficient transportation services with its state-of-the-art information technology. This has helped DistTech improve its already strong position in what O’Neill said is a relatively small industry. Front-line service Although the company is headquartered in Newbury, Ohio, it has 35 operating locations around the country. Fifteen of those are stand-alone locations; the other 20 operate out of facilities run by its contract customers. But not all of DistTech’s customers are contract carriage customers. O’Neill said there is a lot of business for DistTech in common carriage. These are companies in need of trucking services that use more than one provider. The trick for DistTech is to take common carriage customers and turn them into dedicated carriage customers that use mainly DistTech services. From there, DistTech tries to create contract carriage partnerships where its customers use trucks and trailers specifically dedicated to them. “Nobody else in the business does this. By dedicating specific equipment to specific customers, our customers guaranteed service,” O’Neill said. “As long as their shipping business is good, our business will be good.” DistTech allows its individual locations a decent amount of daily operational autonomy for several reasons. First, most customer relations are handled at the terminal level, especially those customers who have DistTech equipment and personnel on site. For other dedicated and common carriage customers, area managers and sales people housed at DistTech stand-alone operations are in charge of servicing customer accounts. Another reason DistTech doesn’t need to micromanage from the home office is the IT initiatives it invested in over the years. All trucks are satellite tracked and can communicate a myriad of information directly back to the office location. This has helped speed up inventory tracking and billing, speeding up various processes for both DistTech and its customers. In fact, the company’s efforts to integrate technology into its processes are so advanced, its vice president of IT is on the board of the American Trucking Association’s IT division, further enhancing DistTech’s reputation in the industry. In good hands No trucking company, especially one that deals with hazardous materials, can get very far down the road without two important components: qualified drivers and a good safety record. Fortunately for DistTech, it has both, and both go hand in hand. DistTech regularly inspects and replaces its tractor-trailer equipment. Its trailers are all stainless steel and can last up to 20 years, but its 450 tractors are comparably fragile. It replaces tractors every six years on a rotating basis depending on mileage. It also puts drivers through a prolonged training process, which takes anywhere from two weeks to a month depending on a driver’s experience. They then ride along with a driver and instructor for one to three weeks. This is all after meeting the minimum age of 25 and passing a background check. DistTech prefers to hire people with previous experience, but because of heavy competition for drivers, it has increased the number of fresh recruits out of driving school. This makes retention especially important for DistTech, and the company has several advantages in keeping good drivers. First, contract carriage operations mean drivers will be in the same truck, run a familiar route, and get home on weekends and virtually every night. Drivers also get a cash bonus for referring new drivers to the company. DistTech also gives older drivers the opportunity for career advancement outside of the truck. Those who no longer want to drive or are unable to drive have the chance to earn their way into areas like terminal management or DistTech’s safety department. During the next few years, it is possible DistTech could open new offices for contract, dedicated, or common carriage purposes. O’Neill said it simply depends on how substantial the market is. If the company could end up running 10 to 12 trucks, it would consider opening a new office. Attracting new business is central to DistTech’s success strategy, but establishing those contract carriage relationships, which are central to the company’s growth, don’t just pop up overnight. Continuing investments in IT, safety initiatives, and driver retention are also key components of DistTech’s future. With its new identity now firmly established, DistTech can concentrate on growing its core contract business while improving internal processes, even in areas where it already demonstrated an ability to excel. After all, unlike Batman and Spiderman, these trucking superheroes have no problem letting everyone know exactly who they are and what they can do. |
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American Executive is a RedCoat Publishing publication.
American Executive is a RedCoat Publishing publication.
