TMW

News
JULY 9, 2015

TMW NEWS, UPDATES AND INSIGHTS FOR NFI TRANSPORTATION FIELD OPERATIONS

Bread, Bagels, & Boboli Oh My: The

Bimbo Bakeries TMW implementation
by Joe Skormorucha

For Ops Support the first and second

quarter of 2015 began with a big push for a big
customer. The objective: convert 11 cost
centers spanning from Pittston, PA to Lubbock,
TX onto TMW in 3 months. The result: fresh
baked success. In less than a quarter, 11 cost
centers and domiciles in 6 different states had
converted from AS400 and SCMS to TMW in
less than 3 months.
The first round in February saw five
members of the team work across Texas,
converting BBU Lubbock, Rockwall, and San
Antonio. Despite a short lead time and some
nasty ice storms across the Lone Star State, all
members of the three cost centers and Ops
Support worked together to make the first
round of conversions smooth and effective.
The Midwest was the focus of March.
Ten members of the Ops Support team of
twelve spanned from Kansas City, MO to Cedar

Rapids, IA, to South Bend and Lebanon, IN to

Janesville, WI. Since many of these cost centers
work closely with each other, sharing drivers,
lanes, and freight, it was vital to ensure this
round of the transition was detail oriented and
well coordinate. With the help of the drivers
and managers at each cost center, the Midwest
brought home the bread completing their
conversion by the end of March.
The final round of implementation
baked up in April in the Commonwealth of
Pennsylvania at Sunbury, Carlisle, and Pittston.
This round saw six members of Ops Support
train and work with drivers and management
across the three facilities to wrap up the final
round of BBU implementations with
outstanding Live and Accurate scores. This
capped off the Keystone State sites as the
keystone in the BBU network implementation.
Crucial to the success of BBU was the
quick comprehension and great attitudes of the
management and drivers across the network.
The conversion of dispatching, tracking and
tracing, payroll, invoicing, and Qualcomm
(contd on next page)

communications software is a very labor

intensive and precision driven task. It requires a
lot of time to train and retain the material
learned. The ability to convert an entire
network in such a short amount of time is no
easy feat. As with all things BBU, the success of
the network relies heavily on symbiotic
relationships and teamwork amongst cost

The Rent A Center Start-Up

centers which translates into an integrated

network for a specialized customer who
appreciates the hard work NFI does.
Congratulations and thanks to everyone
involved in the conversion!

by Al Dyer

On October 23rd of last year NFI entered

into an agreement to provide Warehousing,
Transportation Management, and Dedicated
Fleet services to Plano, TX-based Rent A Center.
NFI would commit to opening five new
warehouse facilities to receive, store and ship
RAC product. Freight would be delivered via
Dedicated Fleet, LTL ad Parcel Shipping. The
new facilities would be located in Lancaster TX,
Columbus OH, Chino CA, Atlanta GA and
Pedricktown NJ. The entire Dedicated Fleet
consists of 43 drivers, 33 tractors, 6 straight
trucks, and 84 trailers spread across five
facilities.
After more than five months of prep,
set up, hiring, orientation, training, and
meetings by numerous NFI departments we
proudly began receiving RAC product into the
Lancaster, TX warehouse on April 27th. The
warehouse quickly filled with TVs, mattresses,
appliances and electronics.

(NFIs RAC warehouse in GA)

(Jorge Medina conducts lift gate training in TX)

(Preparing liftgates in Atlanta)

On Monday June 1st a ribbon cutting

ceremony was held at the TX warehouse with
brief speeches from Kevin Wicks (NFI Director
of Sales), Ike Brown (NFI President and Vice
Chairman, Johnathan Parks (RAC Vice President
of Logistics/Distribution) and Robert Davis (RAC
CEO). Afterwards, NFI began its first in-store
deliveries with a route driven by NFI employee
Steven Lewis and accompanied by RAC CEO
Robert Davis.
(contd on next page)

The start-up schedule for the four

remaining facilities is aggressive. NFI will have a
start-up event (including the commencement
of receiving, shipping, driver orientation, and
deliveries) every week from June 1st until July
27th. NFI and Rent A Center have had great
success with the first four start-ups and look
forward to the final start up going just as
smoothly.

(Lancaster ribbon cutting ceremony)

Thanks to everyone involved for their enthusiasm and hard work!

For a clip of the RAC NFI Grand Opening, following this link:
https://youtu.be/FNRJS_o_x10

Ops Support Update: Conversions and

Start-ups by Justin Davala
Ops Support began 2015 with its first round of
TMW transitions in Texas in February at three BBU
accounts while another TMW transition took place in
Cambridge, Ohio for Colgate.

New business startups are a primary responsibility

of the Ops Support Team. Startups are labor intensive
projects and include all sorts of challenges and duties,
including finding real estate, warehousing, staging
tractors and trailers, onboarding drivers and
managers, creating TMW environments, and writing
account specific policies in accord with customer,
company, and government compliance.
In January 2015s newest customer Shell Oil in
Houston, TX came aboard.

All three Texas BBU conversions were an absolute

success thanks to the great training, great office staff,
and great drivers. While the implementation took
place in Ohio for the Colgate, Ops Support helped
manage a new business startup in nearby New
Concord, Ohio for Colgate. The new business consisted
of shipping Colgate-Palmolive products to Walmart,
Sams Club, and Dollar General distribution centers.
In March, OPS support started the next set of BBU
conversions in the Midwest. The locations spanned
from Ohio to Missouri, and the BBU Midwest became
another 2015 success story. The final stage of the BBU
implementation brought the team closer to home in
Pennsylvania. BBU Pittston, Carlisle, and Sunbury were
the final sites of the BBU push.
NFIs Summer Jam 15 began with TMW
implementations for Trader Joes/WCD, one of NFIs
largest customers.

Two locations were in the crosshairs this round,

Minooka, IL and Suwanee, GA. When dealing with
accounts of this magnitude, it is vital to have all hands
on deck and everyone on their A game. After two
dedicated months of training and implementing, the
hard work paid off with two successful conversions.

The operation consisted of 18 drivers and 9 trucks

running a shuttle operation delivering from a Shell Oil
plant to various distribution centers. The next startup
took place on the West Coast in sunny Chino, CA. The
customer this time was Lowes Appliance.

Lowes Chino consists of 10 drivers and 6 tractors

handling about 45 store deliveries throughout the Los
Angeles metro area. The Lowes Appliance start up in
Pontoon Beach, IL consists of four tractors and 6
drivers delivering to about 38 stores throughout the
Midwest. The NFI brokerage department also helps
cover loads for the Pontoon Beach operation. The
Lowes portfolio has continued to grow back east in
Pittston, PA too. Lowes Pittston consists of 22 drivers
and 15 tractors delivering to 57 stores in the NYC
metro area.
(contd on next page)

Rent A Center has come on board in 2015 with 5

locations nationwide. Read Al Dyers in depth Rent A
Center article in this newsletter for more information.
The first half of 2015 has been a busy time for the
Ops Support Team. The team would not be able to
do it without the dedicated work and cooperation
of our teammates at cross centers across the
country. Thanks for all of your help and we look
forward to what lies ahead in 2015!

Special Thanks by John Coleman

To the Operations
Ops Support would like to extend a
special thanks to all the operations that have
worked hard through the implementation of
TMW this year. A full-scale software
implementation is no simple change and it
would not have been possible without the
tireless efforts of all our members in the field.
Between coming in on days off, coming in an
hour early, or staying an hour late to train, you
all have made our jobs that much easier and
your hard work did not go unnoticed.
To those who have assisted us
We would also like to thank members of
other groups who have helped the Ops Support
Team to ensure the success of TMW. In June
Ops Support was tasked with implementing
TMW at our Trader Joes account in Minooka,
IL, as well as all of its domiciles. Fortunately,
Ops Support wasnt alone in the task of training
the 280 drivers and over 30 members in the
office. Dean Bartelucci, Doreen Ramsey, and
Julio Orta could not have been more helpful in

ensuring the correct completion of orders, all

while helping the office staff to understand the
proper way to handle different situations. Ryan
Randolph also helped out at the domicile office
in Indianapolis, as well as Mike McClellan who
served in Bristol, IN and Erik Weber who helped
in Mauston, WI.
To Client Services
It was not just members from other
operations that lent a hand to Ops Support in
Minooka. We received a lot of help from the
folks in Client Services.
From the very
beginning Client Services has been crucial to
the success of the TMW rollout. CS has
established all the logic on the back end,
providing the proper rating for invoicing and
driver payroll at each account. When it came
time to roll out TMW in Minooka more than a
handful of CS members came out to lend a
helping hand. From CS, Abe Hudson, Mike
Curry, Mike Dulski, Scott Nelson, George Rose,
Tim Roadknight, and Will Weiss all came out to
join us on the road. Thank you all for providing
some much needed assistance.

Management Trainee Program

by

Nick Labrie

NFI has always worked toward developing talent

and expanding its pool of future managers. This
developed into a Management Trainee Program
that was started and managed by our HR Dept.
We in Ops Support have seen the fruits of their
labor as two of our most talented Ops Support
Managers graduated this program. Ops Support
became involved with the Management Trainee
Program to provide trainees field experience and
exposure to what we do operationally at NFI on
many levels. Two years ago Ops Support took over
the program from HR and expanded it.
The search for young, hardworking talent has led
Ops Support to not only look at existing
employees internally but externally as well.
Several Job Fairs and Employment Events at
Colleges and Universities have been attended
over the last few years by members of the Ops
Support team. This resulted in a large number of
resumes collected from hundreds of interested

applicants while promoting NFI's branding as a

great place to launch a career.
Like all positions, the selection process requires
several rounds of interviews and is very selective.
Once a trainee is selected to be part of the
Program a personalized "Rotation Plan" is
developed based on the trainee's prior
experiences or knowledge. The new recruit is set
up with a mentor who will guide, support, and
develop them as they embark on their new
professional career. This provides an opportunity
to learn about NFI, Transportation, and what it
means to be a great manager. We are very proud
to report that two trainees have graduated from
their programs so far and have been promoted to
Ops Support Managers, Andrew Sullivan and John
Coleman. Another three trainees, Kate Zoller,
Ryan J. Sullivan, and Brett Alonso are currently at
various points of completing their Rotations. We
look forward to seeing each of them graduate the
Program and become great Managers.

The TMW 100 Club

Below is the list of those accounts who have hit 100% in the Live and Accurate in TMW, which takes a
ton of hard work, discipline, and excellent driver management.

373 Nestle Waters Hilliard

408 RAC Dallas

427 - Ball Metal Adairsville

437 Lowes Pontoon Beach

832 - BBU Lebanon

854 Ball Metal Merrimack

893 - BBU Lubbock

Congratulations to all of you for reaching 100%!

Weekly Tips
Ops Support has a Shared Folder that contains all of the items from the Weekly Tips email that John
Coleman sends out.
The shared folder is located here:
\\nfii\root\NFIIndustries\InteractiveLogistics\Shared\Tips and Suggestions
Please follow these steps to map the Shared Drive to your computer:
Go to My Computer - Click Map Network Drive - Enter the location below
(copy it and paste it) :
\\nfii\root\NFIIndustries\InteractiveLogistics\Shared\Tips and Suggestions
Click Finish.
Go to my computer to see if it is mapped correctly.

The TMW News is published regularly by NFI Operations Support.