Didn’t really know it was work at that point.” As he grew older, he worked summers at GICC running a forklift, loading trailers, helping with maintenance, and mowing the yard, with the plan always being for him to come back to the company. Like Bob, he graduated from Peru State University, though he first attended the University of Nebraska at Omaha, playing defensive end at both schools. During summers, he worked at Distribution Inc. performing a variety of odd jobs. He earned his CDL and would do local deliveries. Michael took a leadership role in the
company at about the same time it lost its most important customer. In 2012, a single pharmaceutical company was responsible for 40-60 percent of the warehouse’s capacity, and then it lost its FDA rating. It was a challenge Distribution Inc. overcame by diversifying its client base. Michael says it was a good learning
experience watching the company succeed, struggle though a major challenge, and then succeed again. At the time, the company was mainly a warehouse with four or five local drivers. Losing that customer forced it to change gears and ultimately become more profitable. Now it has almost three times as many drivers and twice the fleet while its warehouse staff has been cut in half. “We’ve definitely almost done a full
transition of what we were then to what we are now, and it’s exciting to see how much we can keep growing the trucking operation not knowing how much potential is still out there. It definitely opened up the door for us to go and explore. We had the equipment to do more. We just didn’t have the need to go out and look for more for the operation that we had,” he said.
Bob is planning on sticking around as an
active member of the company for a couple more years. But he has other interests. He owns a house in Bella Vista, Arkansas, that he loves to visit. He has a black labrador retriever and enjoys hunting pheasants, and he and a brother-in-law fish for blue catfish
NEBRASKA TRUCKER — ISSUE 5, 2016 —
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in Beaver Lake in Arkansas. Michael and Bob’s daughter, Melissa, have given them three grandchildren ages 5, 3, and 1, and they enjoy spending time with them. He’s looking forward to passing the
company on to his son, knowing his son will have to make changes. “Transportation is still needed,
warehousing is still needed, but it’s a different animal right now,” he said. “It’s just like my son, I’m sure that down the road,
things will change again, and he’ll have to adapt, continue moving forward, but there will always be a need for transportation and logistics.” Michael will be ready. “It’s an always changing environment,” he
said. “Since I’ve been here, I’ve just learned that nothing lasts forever, so you’ve always got to go out and look for the next piece of the puzzle.”
HUB International Transportation Insurance Services, Inc.
Customized trucking insurance solutions, national coverage, local operations and dedicated people are what set HUB International apart.
Jeff Dillon, Senior Account Executive 888-365-0923
Jeff.Dillon@hubinternational.com www.hubinternational.com
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