“We have someone else align the suspensions of our trucks and trailers because we don’t have the equipment. All of our top repairs we have someone else do, but all our general maintenance is done here.”
Sharon Tucker, dispatcher
Jimmy Tucker Trucking, Broken Bow, Ark.
“We outsource some of our printing work. We have forms printed instead of using our copy machine. A print shop in town prints our manifests, worksheets, logbooks and other internal paperwork. We have six different forms. We also don’t have an auto body shop anymore. In fact, a lot of our shop work we don’t do ourselves anymore. We don’t overhaul or replace motors or do service runs anymore. We used to make them but now we have a network that we call when we have a break down. As far as truck-related outsourcing, that’s about it. We also outsource our cleaning service. We used to have a maid come in on the weekends, but now we use a cleaning service.”
Bill Hayden, president
M&M Cartage, Louisville, Ken.
“We outsource maintenance and tires. We don’t do any in house.”
Corky Schrenk, manager
Thomas & Sons, Coos Bay, Ore.
“As far as outsourcing, we do not have our own maintenance shop for any of our major repairs. We do not even do our own oil changes or any other maintenance. It really seems from our standpoint that it is more efficient that way. We have a shop that we deal with next to two of our facilities, one in Casper and one in Cheyenne. They are right next to where we park our trucks, wonderful service and reasonable prices. They take care of our equipment and eliminate the expenses of buying and losing tools, hiring mechanics and all other associated costs and headaches. We do our fuel taxes in house. We do have an IT person that we outsource – our computer guru. He builds our computers and is mostly a hardware person, but he does software as well.”
Terry Thomas, transportation manager
Quality Petroleum, Casper, Wy.
“We’re outsourcing our payroll to a service provider. The combined payroll expense is less through them than it would be on our own, mostly because of the workers’ comp rate.”
Darrell Wilson, president
Wil-Trans, Strafford, Mo.
“We send out transmissions and rear ends to be repaired, but we also do some major repairs ourselves. It just depends on how busy we are. Maintenance is the only thing we outsource on a limited basis. We don’t outsource our receivables or anything like that.”
Gene Jenkins, general manager
Terrain Tamers Chip Hauling, Dillard, Ore.
“We’re in a pretty rural area in Montana, so we outsource very little except for major repairs when they are not under warranty. We actually do all of our own payroll, general maintenance, dispatch and computer support. We outsource very little simply because we’re in such a rural area and would have to drive a considerable distance to get our maintenance done.”
Mike Molitor, vice president
M.S. Molitor Trucking Inc., Boulder, Mont.
“Heavy repairs only, i.e., engine and transmission overhauls, frame repair, cargo tank welding. All other aspects – accounting, other maintenance, tax reporting, IT support, etc. are done in house.”
Lawrence Waugh, terminal
and transportation manager
Berry-Hinckley Industries, Sparks, Nev.
“We do general maintenance, such as tires and brakes ourselves. Heavy repairs, such as engine overhauls, we outsource.”
Chuck Reich, owner
Protected Cargo Transport, Forest Hill, La.
“We outsource our maintenance. Because of our size, it is cheaper to do that than maintain a staff of mechanics. We only run about 40 trucks. We also outsource part of our freight because we run a brokerage. We also outsource our computer maintenance because it is cheaper than staffing. Both maintenance and our IT run very well. We’re happy with it.”
James Ingram, director of operations
Big T Transfer, New Albany, Ind.
“Some of our lanes are not profitable because of our backhauls, so we outsource them. As a carpet manufacturer, we also outsource certain testing and dying operations, but if you’re talking specifically of logistics, we have lanes where our customers are fewer and farther between and lanes that we do not have contracts for profitable backhauls. Our two largest reasons for outsourcing are customer density and unprofitable contracts.”
Jay Sterrett, operations leader
Dixie Group Logistics, Calhoun, Ga.
