“THE FIELD ITSELF, ESPECIALLY TRUCKING, IS KIND OF LIKE AN OFFENSIVE LINEMAN IN FOOTBALL. I DON’T THINK ANYBODY THINKS
ABOUT IT UNTIL SOMETHING GOES WRONG, UNTIL THE SHIPMENT’S LATE, UNTIL THE TRUCK’S IN A WRECK, UNTIL YOU’RE CRUISING DOWN I-40 AND A TRUCK’S IN YOUR WAY, RIGHT?
drivers, that you’ll get a more moti- vated manager, someone who wants to be there, someone who’s happier in their job, and that should hope- fully filter down to the drivers as well.” Further, says Voss, as managers are more informed about the issues drivers face, managers should be better able to sympathize with and assist drivers on a daily basis. Roughly one out of every eleven
private sector jobs in Arkansas are in trucking. Consequently, it’s a great field to be in if you’re a student from Arkansas who wants to stay in Arkansas—but it’s also a highly employ- able field in many other parts of the nation. “The sky’s really the limit for what they can do. And frankly I think something that sets our program apart from others is our students.” The stu- dents UCA draws from tend to be first generation college students from the state of Arkansas. These students, says Voss, have no problem working hard. They’ve come to college to become employed, productive members of soci- ety. They respond well to encourage- ment to get internships early in their college careers, and “tend to be well- suited for the trucking industry.”
THE CHAIN GANG The next challenge is recruiting
students into the major and transi- tioning students from the emphasis area. Though students won’t be able to officially declare the major until fall of 2017, all courses except one are avail- able now, so students may begin taking the courses immediately. “That’s going really well. We just started a student club, as a matter of fact, called the Chain Gang. We’re going to have our first meeting in October.” At a recent
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College of Business Day on the Lawn, student organizations, the Chain Gang included, each had a tent. Many busi- ness students stopped by to see what kind of activities were available. “We had about 45 students sign up for the club. It probably helped that we said we’re giving away a free iPad at the first meeting.” Voss adds this last bit with a grin. If business students come to the first meeting, he’s sure they’ll be hooked. “I think that to start a pro- gram, especially, that it takes a lot of entrepreneurial spirit and you have to be visible and you have to be likable.” The majority of the students signed
up for the club are men, but there are a number of interested women as well. Transportation has historically been a very male-dominated field, but, particu- larly in the current labor climate, Voss is aware of the need for differing view- points. “You’re dealing with trucks and things that stereotypically appeal more to males. We’ve had a lot of success get- ting females engaged in the process, and they seem to like it just as much as the guys do. They’re much better managers, stereotypically. They seem to be more detail oriented than the guys are, and there’s just a lot of positive things about women that I think we need in the industry.” In fact, last summer, a female student placed in an internship in Ft. Worth with Lockheed Martin left with a full-time job offer after graduation. “I don’t think the vast majority of
parents when they send their kids to school say, ‘I think you ought to major in transportation and logistics,’” Voss points out with a wry tone. Part of the challenge is that this is a relatively new discipline—new enough that many parents, let alone students, are not even aware of it as a possibility. Voss,
a natural teacher, gives a brief history lesson. He says it was really in the 50s and 60s that marketers began to real- ize they couldn’t sell the products they were marketing unless they were on the shelves, reliably, every time a consumer went to make a purchase. Every time a new variation on a product is created, that’s an entirely new level of inventory required. Thus, it’s easy for supply chain management to get out of control. In the 1980s, it was Walmart and Toyota who really became famous for manag- ing this well, allowing them a competi- tive advantage. “But now it’s not really competitive advantage anymore, it’s something all firms have to be good at.” It’s at least partly for this reason
that there are more programs popping up all over the country. Colleges and universities are becoming sensitive to the need for instruction in this valuable field. And the more students are exposed to it, the more the rest of the population will be exposed. As these students gradu- ate and have children who attend col- lege, they’ll be more likely to encourage them to consider logistics. Voss would like to see transportation and logistics transition from a second choice career to a primary choice. “We’ll get more and more students as we have more and more programs. “The field itself, especially trucking,
is kind of like an offensive lineman in football. I don’t think anybody thinks about it until something goes wrong, until the shipment’s late, until the truck’s in a wreck, until you’re cruis- ing down I-40 and a truck’s in your way, right? There seems to be a negative perception of the industry, if there’s any perception at all. So I think part of
Issue 5 2016 | ARKANSAS TRUCKING REPORT
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