do with farm machinery like backing up that correspond to backing up the truck,” he said. Despite originally being an owner-operator,
Kilthau owns all the equipment and hires all the drivers. He has tried owner-operators in the past, but they didn’t fit his business. Te company has already adopted electronic logging devices. (“We’re trying to be proactive instead of reactive,” he said.) Kilthau says the technology allows it to better manage its drivers, but it does leave less room for common
sense. For example, one of his drivers was forced to spend the night at a construction site because he didn’t have the hours left to drive 10 minutes to a truck stop where he could have had a shower and a meal. Kilthau said some of the company’s older drivers threatened to quit when the company began making the move to ELDs but now are the devices’ biggest advocates because of their ease of use. “Tere’s pros and cons,” he said. “Some of the guys like it. Some of them don’t. It’s just
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like everything. If you learn to work within the system, you can make it workable.” Maintenance is a priority of
Kilthau’s—especially keeping the trucks clean. “A lot of people say, ‘We know it’s a Kilthau
truck when it’s coming at us because it’s shiny. … I’ve always felt that if you look good, that it’s good for the company, it’s good for customers,” he said. “Tey’re like, ‘Wow, that’s a good- looking truck bringing my stuff. Tose people must care.’” Kilthau tries to stay active in the Nebraska
Trucking Association. He’s been a member of the board of directors for 20 years, and even though he doesn’t travel to meetings, he has worked with the NTA’s president, Larry Johnson. “I think it’s good,” he said. “If you have
members that work together, sometimes that’s what makes things happen, where if you’re just by yourself, you don’t have the input or wherewithal to make things happen.” Kilthau Transports is one of three entities
owned by Kilthau, the others being a Shell convenience store and a custom washout facilitiy for trucks and livestock trailers. All three are located in Gering. Te Shell station came first in 1997.
Kilthau already had a shop and corporate offices at a high-traffic location. His two older daughters, Kerry Lichty and Heidi, were working for him and telling him he should open a coffee chain there. Te company was hauling fuel and buying tires from Sapp Bros. Travel Centers when Jack Sapp, a nephew of the Sapp brothers, told him he ought to build a truck stop/convenience store there because there wasn’t one in town at the time so he built one. Kilthau transports the fuel to that stop and then fills up his own trucks there. Te addition of a second entity meant
the company needed a corporate umbrella. Kilthau’s daughters helped him name it Cyclone Enterprises “because usually everything was kind of in a whirlwind... you’re always trying to move forward so you are here and there and then you’re gone so there are tasks left behind which need picked up by your support team and followed through to completion,” he said. Te truck washout facility features two bays, one of which is used for washing trucks
16 NEBRASKA TRUCKER — ISSUE 3, 2016 —
www.nebtrucking.com
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