Onsite at Final Mile Boston
Derek Roy, the new J.B. Hunt Experience Manager, brings us a unique perspective and voice from the field. Derek worked in operations at our field offices and served in the military for over nine years before joining the Experience team. As Craig Harper put it, “His enthusiasm and desire to take the J.B. Hunt Experience to the “next level” will help us in achieving our goal to become the envy of companies of all types and sizes.” Below is Derek’s observations from a trip to Boston. We hope you will find this article informational and insightful.
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I pulled my rental car out of the airport lot and plugged my cellphone into the car charger I brought. A bus cut me off as I struggled to merge onto the Whitestone. Bumper to bumper as always, I reached for my E-ZPass and slipped out of my traffic lane a bit. A cabbie slammed his horn and waved the middle finger as we approached the toll booth. “Good to be home.” I said to myself. To my right was a J.B. Hunt daycab and a 53 ft dry box. The driver was intensely looking ahead and checking his mirrors. Buckled in and focused I caught his eye and waved hello. He stared back at me as if to say, “Who the heck are you?” He had no idea my full time job is make his job better, much less that we worked for the same company. I watched in awe as our driver safely moved ahead through traffic.
I was in New York City and driving to Boston, Massachusetts. We had a guy up there, Nicholas, who had recently been honored with the “2014 Driver Dedicated Account of the Year.” Nicholas had been transferred into a challenging business location – Final Mile Boston. Tasked with delivering anything and everything in a straight truck all over New England, the account has been struggling to be profitable, safe and keep drivers employed.
Nicholas onboarded into his new role and immediately began to turn it around. Clearly the J.B. Hunt Experience was living in Boston and I was going to find out exactly who, what, why and how. I was hoping to find the secret – the magic trick.
I pulled into the driveway of the office complex a few hours later and immediately recognized the building. Nicholas was outside laughing with three of his drivers when I pulled in and parked. His booming voice and outgoing personality was contagious. “DEREK! Welcome to Boston! Find it okay?” I told him I had no problem finding it, “Nicholas, two years ago I interviewed at this same office for a Dedicated Manager in Training position!” I went on to explain my past 2 years…managing a large Dedicated account that delivered groceries 24/7 to Long Island, New York and Connecticut. Nicholas asked me, “How many drivers did you have?” I proudly stated, “Over a hundred! Couldn’t have done it without the awesome team of Operations Supervisors, Mario, Jason, Laurie, Shannon and Danny.”
He motioned for me to sit down once we got to his office and began telling me about his career with the company. A uniformed driver walked briskly by the door. “Hey, come meet Derek,” Nicholas shouted out. I stuck my hand out, “Nice to meet you sir.” “Don’t call me sir, I work for a living” the driver quipped back.
The office was clean. Drivers moved with a deliberate sense of urgency. Folks on conference calls, the smell of fresh hot coffee brewing in the lobby, the quiet chatter of the radio.
I started to take notes and photos. So many of the places I had been were struggling to retain their drivers – so many places seemed chaotic and noisy. This was a well-oiled machine.
Heriberto came into the office and introduced himself as Eddie. What’s that?” I said motioning to a large cell phone looking device in his hand. “This is our MCC. It has all the load information, customer addresses, services needing to be performed and ePOD.” Clearly we’ve made some large investments into state-of-the-art technology, especially the electronic proof of delivery.
“Wanna see how it works?” he asked me. Excitedly I said, “Heck yeah – let’s go.” We hopped in the company truck and drove to the construction site. Eddie previously worked for BrightSky, an agency that we contract with for delivery assistants. He did such a great job we made him an offer to work directly for Final Mile. What a great guy.
We had a few drivers inside doing punch work – a term Final Mile locations use to describe the installation process behind setting up a washing machine or a dish washer, for example.
The site was busy. Crews everywhere. Men standing on an I-beam 40 feet in the air with a saw – sparks flying everywhere. White hard hats in a huddle looking at construction plans rolled out on the hood of pickup truck. Four electricians smoking cigarettes on ladders were installing light fixtures in the parking garage. The noise of a truck backing up with yet another gentlemen waving the driver back. Beep-beep-beep. Needless to say it was exciting.
And there we were – our J.B. Hunt straight truck proudly in the middle of it all. Our drivers were unloading 300 pound refrigerators using the lift gate, strapping it carefully to a dolly and wheeling it up through the parking garage to the 5th floor. I asked Eddie, “How come they don’t just use the elevator?” With a grin on his face he replied, “Cause there isn’t one.” I was impressed. The construction site was a living breathing thing.
We made our way inside looking for our driver. I donned my hard hat and watched my step. People were everywhere.
We walked into one unit and Eddie double checked the work that had been done. He secured a hose, firmly grasped the door handle and open and closed the stove. “Looks good,” he said, and we walked to the next apartment unit under construction.
Hey!” shouted Eddie as we walked into one of the units. “Boss man, how are you?” Marvin happily replied. I introduced myself and was put to work immediately. Enamored, I watched another driver, Erik, lift a dryer and stack it on top of the washing machine in middle of the living room. In a patient and professional tone, Erik instructed me exactly how to attach the dryer vent and washer hoses. I’m a handy guy but imagining doing this every day seemed monotonous. “Ever get bored doing the same old day in and day out?” I asked. “Bored? In Final Mile? No way! We’re at a different job site all the time. Different customers, different products. I love my job.” Erik said.
A loud horn sounded from outside, and I went to the window to see what was happening. Droves of people were pouring out of the building. Guys sat down everywhere – on the tail gates of pickup trucks, at a picnic table, on a concrete beam. The line at the food truck grew. “You guys want anything?” I said, waving at the truck outside. “No thank you. The gut truck is bad news. I’m trying to watch my gorgeous figure.” he said laughing as he rubbed his stomach.
These drivers are incredibly talented and very passionate about their job. “Marvin, can you give me a quick hand with this please?” Erik went over to the kitchen and the two of them worked on the stove together. I asked them – “What do you like about J.B. Hunt? What can we do better?” They both grinned and shared an insightful list of items. I voraciously took notes so as not to forget one word.
Heading back to the office, I leaned out the window at the red light and snapped a picture of the building. Our customer, Whirlpool, hired us to install a full complement of appliances in over 300 apartment units at the new Hanover University Station. The job would normally take us 5 months to complete – in this case, we started in February and wouldn’t finish until September, due to a slower job site.
We stopped for a bite to eat and chatted about ways the managers here had built relationships with their employees. I asked Nicholas and Eddie, “What’s the secret here?” They looked at each other and Nicholas said, “Close the laptop. Take the time to ask about their day, wish em’ a happy birthday and get to know to them. It’s just basic people skills.”
Our food finally came out – we were right by Gillette Stadium, the home of the Patriots football team. I joined the Army in 2005, and a few years later I was honored to stand on that field and be part of the half-time show with a group of other soldiers. Between bites, I told Nicholas and Eddie how special we felt, a Patriots t-shirt, food, etc.
“How do you make your drivers feel special? Do you buy them a J.B. Hunt t-shirt?” I asked sipping my iced tea. Eddie said, “We have uniforms here for our drivers, but we fire up the grill regularly to treat everyone.” Nicholas chimed in, “Yeah, just don’t undercook the burgers!” He paused, “Derek, write this down too – don’t run out of food at the BBQ!”
Laughing, I added it to my notes. Nicholas went on, “You don’t always have to plan a cook out – I find that being the go-to for my team, solving problems and being reliable works too.”
What Nicholas and Eddie didn’t know was that their ideas: trusted advisor, close the laptop, cook outs and teaching managers how to problem solve would all find their home in the J.B. Hunt Experience.
Keep up the great work out there in Boston and don’t undercook those burgers!
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If you know of any great stories you’d like shared on the Experience blog, email the J.B. Hunt Experience Team at jbh_experience@jbhunt.com
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