Heavy Duty Trucking, December 2020
C M Y CM MY CY CMY K BUILDING A FOUNDATION FOR GROWTH DAVID RAGER CEO Store and Haul Inc Van Wert Ohio Ragers father started the company with his brothers a grain storage and hauling business that was an outgrowth of their farming operations Although Rager grew up around trucking he took a different path getting a degree in computer science a minor in math and an associates degree in business His career took him to software development for Navistar a defense contractor and a bank From those experiences he brought a great deal of process improvement and automation experience with him when he took over from his father as CEO in 2018 at only 36 years old Some of what hes led the bulk food hauling and storage company to accomplish in 2020 include updating and upgrading telematics including in cab cameras changing driver pay structure and revamping the recruiting department My dad and his brothers had been able to take the business pretty far but they were struggling a lot around how to grow more he said They very much viewed it like If we grow more then we have HDT Safety 2020 pdf 1 10 5 20 9 09 AM to work more and we dont want to work more with where were at So his goal he explained was to put in a foundation that would allow for growth telling his father youre sort of like a 5000 squarefoot home with a 1000 square foot foundation under it because you dont have a structure to support the size of business that you are Some of the keys to that foundation involved revamping the safety program and building a culture of safety shifting some people around and letting some people go modernizing accounting and reporting practices diversifying the customer base building out the IT infrastructure rebranding with a new website and changing driver pay from per load to a tiered mileage system that made pay more consistent It was all part of changing the company culture to one that is focusing on growth A lot of it was instilling a culture that were making changes Rager said and we want to make it a place thats exciting and fun His biggest challenge for 2021 is growth At the time of our interview in November the company had about 43 trucks and growing as fast as we can Now that hes built a foundation the biggest obstacle is the driver shortage DECEMBER 2020 HDT 37 WWW TRUCKINGINFO COM
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