LEADERSHIP
“Here’s what we’re going to do; I hope you like it.” I also like to walk the department and the break area to interact and talk to our drivers to learn what’s happening on the road. All of us at Dot Transportation have an open-door policy, and I try to be available to people no matter what job they do. That helps me understand what’s going on throughout the business and learn when there are developmental opportunities for leaders. It also gives me insight into what issues the business needs to work on. IL: What advice would you give to your 18-year-old self? Slow down. Start earlier in life to establish a routine for staying healthy physically, mentally, and nancially. IL: If you could have dinner with one person, alive today or from the past, who would that be? My paternal grandfather, Patrick Lynch. He knew how to do just about anything with his hands, which is not a talent of mine. By the time I was old enough to realize how de cient I was in that area, he was too old to help me learn to x a car or repair a roof. He is one of my heroes. IL: How do you like to spend your time outside of work? I play golf and hunt. My wife and I like to travel and try different kinds of food. We also have active kids: a trumpet player, Boy Scouts, and a soccer player. I like seeing what they do and remembering how much I enjoyed those activities. n How Goes the Flow? Every morning, Bryan Langston’s first business task is to scan his e-mails for emergency issues he needs to address right away. Then, as soon as he walks into his oce, he checks on what he calls the flow of his operation. “Based on my previous life in warehousing, combined with my current work in transportation, I have a well-rounded observation of how things are flowing: how well we’re moving loads, whether we’re running on time, what’s going on in the warehouse that will or won’t set DTI up for success,” Langston says. He also checks conditions on the road, including disruptive weather that might require the company to redeploy resources. “The beautiful thing about our network is that we can move drivers from one DC to another to lend support if we’re going to lose a couple of days of delivery, for example, because of a hurricane,” he says.
IL: To what do you attribute your success in those areas? The key to safety is attention to detail and having people do the right thing. It’s also a matter of training and focusing on where we have opportunities to improve. Our staf ng success comes thanks to a dedicated group that focuses on hiring and taking care of our existing drivers to reduce turnover. Also, in 2021 we started our own commercial driver’s license school. That has paid dividends from a staf ng standpoint and has also helped us attract a diverse pool of candidates. IL: How have pandemic-induced supply chain distortions affected your customers’ requirements, and what adjustments have you made at DTI to meet their needs? Just like consumers, the businesses we serve want to be able to buy what they want, when they want it. Although our suppliers sometimes struggle to produce at a high level, we have to minimize the effects of that challenge, so there’s no negative impact on our customers. One big thing we worked on in 2021, and improved in 2022, was on-time delivery. Limitations in the market sometimes keep us from shipping every single product in a customer’s order. But keeping our delivery appointments is a high priority. IL: What’s at the top of the agenda for DTI right now? We’re concentrating on retention and driver satisfaction. Some drivers want to be on the road for many days and accumulate lots of miles, while others want to get home every night. We want to make the right scheduling match for each driver. For example, we’re looking at how we can place additional terminals around the country, so we’ll have more runs that get drivers out and back home in a single trip. We also have a new distribution center coming on line next year south of Nashville, and we’re already hiring drivers for that market. We’re upgrading our drivers’ handhelds and in-cab units, and keeping an eye on the next generation of safety technology for our trucks. In addition, we’re working to upgrade the information technology platforms that we use to manage our business. IL: How would your team describe your leadership style? Most folks would say it’s collaborative and transparent. I ask what other people think we ought to do, rather than say,
January 2023 • Inbound Logistics 29
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