It certainly does.
Their new competitive edge: "Communicate, communicate, communicate." Carco Carrier Corporation uses inter-company communications to tie all its divisions together - an interstate trucking company, dedicated fleets, truck rental and leasing, heavy and medium-duty truck dealership, diesel engine distribution, rental cars, and an agricultural equipment outlet.

Internal communication helped a management planning team reorganize every division under one company name - and introduce a totally new look and viewpoint,
"Teamwork in Progress."

The drivers' team joined in by suggesting a "new look" for Carco. Now, traditional white tractor/trailer units are being replaced with stunning metallic blue cabs - and trailers dominated by sapphire-blue and satin-aluminum striping.

Communications and teamwork are important parts of the new
"Team Carco" - communicating with drivers by satellite, and establishing working partnerships with customers to reach common goals. There's even a "team" approach to driver recruitment and retention.

Dale Seiter, Carco's vice president of maintenance, and Fletcher McQueen, maintenance director, "communicated" to us how "Teamwork in Progress" will carry the company far into the future.

New tires, too?

How else do you encourage drivers to conserve fuel?

McQueen: "Carco co-sponsors a driving class with a local college. We pay for tuition and books, then students work for us to get additional training.

"This class is a controlled environment, so we have more influence over what's taught. In addition to teaching the mechanics of driving, we put emphasis on fuel efficiency and reduced idling.

"We recruit drivers for the school, hire the trainers and work together on the curriculum. We also recruit experienced drivers all over the country."

Any new ideas in driver recruiting?

Seiter: "Instead of recruiters enlisting drivers, we have a management 'recruiting team' - from maintenance, operations, dedicated leasing and human resources.

We answer questions that recruiters sometimes cannot - about maintenance schedules and family insurance plans. It's working well, and brings many referrals."

What about driver retention?

Seiter: "We work as hard on retention as on recruiting. Our 'Welcome Aboard Program' orients new drivers to Carco. They receive a duffel bag containing a welcome letter from our president, and basic clothing and toiletry items to use while they're away from home.

A small touch that's very appreciated.

"When a driver's assigned his first truck, he's not sent to find his own rig. The service manager escorts him to his truck, reviews its features, checks for problems - if something is not satisfactory to the driver, we correct it.

"We explain how to adjust the idle for night, and how to override it to prevent automatic shut down. It's part of personalized service to our drivers. The one-to-one meeting works better than a large group presentation.

"We care for little things and big things care for themselves. Rather than use multiple regional dispatchers, one dispatcher serves a particular group of drivers. The drivers get used to the same person, while the dispatcher learns driver preferences. And, we get our over-the-road drivers home every two weeks.

"We also reward our 'Driver of the Month,' pay safety bonuses to accident-free drivers and hold barbecues - with prizes and giveaways."

How do you keep in contact with drivers?

McQueen: "With a wireless satellite. The message goes from the driver's keypad via satellite to San Diego - then directly to us by telephone line.

"In inclement weather, drivers never leave the truck to phone. They just type a message on the keypad and within seconds it's here.

"The driver sees complete dispatch reports and is in instant contact with our breakdown department. And Carco has a satellite image of any truck, pinpointed within 50 feet of its actual location."

Does that improve your Just-in-Time delivery?

McQueen: "Absolutely. When a driver has emergency downtime, the satellite locates other trucks to pick up his load and make delivery on time. And, we know where the truck is every minute. This ensures on-time delivery.

"Business has changed. With escalating real estate prices and reduced warehouse space, just-in-time delivery is a very large percentage of our work. That's our niche in over-the-road trucking: We're the carrier that's going to be there - on time."

Bobby Reynolds (left), assistant manager and manager Ed Hoffman in front of their Treadco outlet

Treadco retreads more than 2,600 Bridgestone tires annually to help satisfy Carco's requirements

One of the keys to servicing Carco is coverage.

And Treadco delivers it. There's a Treadco tire outlet and retreading facility near nine of eleven Carco terminal locations.

"We do a lot of work for Carco," said Bobby Reynolds, assistant manager for Treadco in Fort Smith, Arkansas, "and our multiple locations contribute to keeping their business. Hardly a day goes by that we don't do service work for Carco.

"Carco specs the steer tires, the R226, R227 and R250. We start with R194 on the trailers, then go to retreads, which we provide. We retread the M726 twice - once with a drive tread, later with trailer tread. Bridgestone tires retread much better than other tires, and that was a big reason why Carco made Bridgestone its tire choice," said Reynolds.

Carco had been using a competitor's tire until Bridgestone introduced the M726 drive tire. Then, tire comparison tests began.

"Usually in tests like that, Bridgestone speaks for itself," Reynolds said. "When you keep accurate mileage records against another tire, Bridgestone will win."

Other benefits besides mileage entered into the decision. Reynolds said, "We like to recommend Bridgestone because we're in the retreading business. We have some accounts where we retread Bridgestones 3, 4 and 5 times. They've been voted number one* by retreaders over the past 12 years. That means a lot to someone like Carco. They use a lot of tires."

Treadco manager Ed Hoffman summed it up, "Our goal is to save Carco money. We couldn't do it without Bridgestone."

*EDITOR'S NOTE: Bridgestone ranked #1 in retreadability surveys for 11 years. Then in 1997, Bridgestone was ranked #1 for casing durability.

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