Lighting The Way - Jerr-Dan

Atlanta Wrecker Sales // Hampshire Towing // Super Load // 16 Ton Integrated PolyBody ®
An Oshkosh Corporation Company
FOR HARDWORKING TOWING PROFESSIONALS
FOR HARDWORKING TOWING PROFESSIONALS
Lighting
The Way
To Increased Visibility
FOR HARDWORKING TOWING PROFESSIONALS
Inside Fall 2012
PG. 3
Web & Social Media
Events Calendar
FOR HARDWORKING TOWING PROFESSIONALS
PG. 4
Meet the Youser: Hampshire Towing
PG. 5
Ohio Super Load
PG. 6
Lighting the Way to Increased Visibility
the tiedown
Joel Amsley is Senior Vice President of Jerr-Dan Corporation
I’ve noticed a unique trait that is shared by the majority of
towing professionals: they’re people who give 100 percent of
their energy to whatever they’re doing. At work, at home and
at play. And while towers know there may be an inherent risk
in giving their all, they wouldn’t live life any other way.
We understand that at Jerr-Dan. So, we are constantly
looking for ways to make your job easier, decrease your time
on a call, increase your profitability, or just make your life a
little brighter while on the job.
Our new deck illumination system, called Rear Awareness
Indicator Lights™ (RAIL), literally makes your work life
brighter through the use of bright amber LED strobe
technology that flashes in random patterns. Read all
about the benefits of Jerr-Dan’s newest product starting on
page 6 in Lighting the Way. Scan the QR code on page
8 with your smart phone and watch how RAIL works in
action. You can also watch the video from your computer
by visiting our website at www.jerrdan.com/equipment/
newinnovative-products/r-a-i-l.
As always, thank you for all you do. At the risk of sounding
corny, know that our loyal customers light up our lives, too!
Joel
© 2012 Jerr-Dan Corporation, An Oshkosh Corporation Company.
All rights reserved. Run Hard is a publication of Jerr-Dan Corporation.
2 // RUNHARD // FALL 2012
PG. 8
Meet the Distributor: Atlanta Wrecker Sales, Inc.
PG. 9
Who Says You Can’t Get No Satisfaction?
Run Hard magazine is your source for new products,
trends, and technical information pertaining to Jerr-Dan
towing and recovery equipment. Run Hard is published
quarterly for all employees, distributors and customers of
Jerr-Dan. The magazine is distributed nationally, featured
in American Towman magazine and on the Jerr-Dan
website, www.jerrdan.com.
LTD Creative, Design and Production
Kate McDermott, Editor and Correspondent
JERR-DAN STAFF
Joel Amsley, Senior Vice President
Dave Chickowski, Vice President Operations
Weldon Wright, Director of Sales
Tracy O’Dowd, Marketing Manager
Jeff Soldner, Product Development
Brandon Tucker, Director of Engineering
Mike VanAken, Customer Support Manger
Richard Puglia, International Sales Manager
Erick Montero, Director of Sales, Latin America
Phil Hammond, Motor Club Manager
Shane Coleman, Heavy Duty Sales & Market
Development Manager
Gene McKinney, Regional Sales Manager
Rocky Certaro, Regional Sales Manager
Joe Osterman, Regional Sales Manager
Dan DeAces, Regional Sales Manager
Mike Cherry, Retail Sales Specialist
13224 Fountain Head Plaza
Hagerstown, MD 21742-2678
Corporate Office: 800.926.9666
Fax: 301.745.5375
www.jerrdan.com
www.facebook.com/jerrdancorp
PLUGGED IN
EVENT SCHEDULE
October
4 – 6
The California Tow Truck
Association Show
San Diego, CA
12– 13
Charlotte Race Weekend
Charlotte Motor Speedway,
Concord, NC
November
2– 4
Texas Race Weekend
Texas Motor Speedway,
Ft. Worth, TX
16 – 18
Have you checked out the newly redesigned
www.jerrdan.com? The site has many exciting
new features, including:
American Towman
Exposition
Baltimore, MD
• Improved News and Announcements feed on the Home page
• Updated truck information
• A New/Innovative Products section
• New and updated truck photography in the Photo Gallery
• Updated contact information for Jerr-Dan staff
• An online Jerr-Dan store where you can purchase Jerr-Dan branded
clothing, hats, gifts, tools and accessories
Jerr-Dan Channel
Take a look and let us know what you think!
Jerr-Dan now has its own
channel on YouTube!
Find us on Facebook!
Go to www.youtube.com/jerrdancorp
to see Jerr-Dan products in action,
testimonials, and great footage.
Do you have a video you’d like
to share with us? Contact us at
[email protected].
Would you like to receive Jerr-Dan news and updates by
email? Drop us a line at [email protected] and tell
us to add you to our e-news list! Also be sure to add us to
your safe senders list!
www.jerrdan.com // RUNHARD // 3
Meet the YOUSER
W
hen you operate a towing and recovery business
in a state that during the last year alone has
ridden out a devastating tornado, a hurricane,
an earthquake and blizzards, you better have
equipment you can count on regardless of the elements.
That’s why Hampshire Towing of South Hadley,
Massachusetts, relies heavily on Jerr-Dan trucks. In fact,
more than 90 percent of the company’s light duty fleet are
Jerr-Dans, and since 1994, every piece of new equipment
the business has purchased has the Jerr-Dan name on it.
“Jerr-Dan is a great product,” says company president Bill
Johnson. “That’s why we continue to come back for more.”
Johnson says Jerr-Dan vehicles take on everything Mother
Nature throws at them, from blizzards to Nor’easters. “I
think the galvanized beds are the right way to go for our
climate,” he says.
And when it comes to needing service or parts, Johnson
says Jerr-Dan stands behind its products all the way. “We
have found that Jerr-Dan has been exceptional and has gone
above and beyond our expectations to take care of us.”
Pooling Their Resources
With 39 full- and part-time employees, Hampshire
Towing and its body shop are headquartered in western
Massachusetts in the town of South Hadley, but the
business also has impound lots in nearby Holyoke and
Belchertown. Its nationally-certified drivers provide local
and long-distance 24-hour towing and road service for
commercial, residential and specialty vehicles, including
motorcycles and construction equipment. The company
has contracts with six neighboring municipalities as well as
two state police barracks.
4 // RUNHARD // FALL 2012
Hampshire
Towing
South Hadley, Mass.
Sometimes the toughest jobs aren’t the biggest
Johnson remembers a particularly difficult recovery operation
more than a decade ago during which he used two
Jerr-Dan vehicles to do a clothesline recovery of a pickup truck that somehow ended up in a swimming pool.
Using a Ford 450 equipped with a Jerr-Dan HPL35 and an
International 4700 with a Jerr-Dan HPL60, they were able to
pull a water-logged truck from the pool.
“There wasn’t room to get anything else in there. We
couldn’t get a rotator in there if we wanted to,” Bill recalls.
But given the weight of the water in the truck, they also knew
they needed the strongest equipment they could get their
hands on. “We really worked those Jerr-Dans,” he says.
They Just Keep On Truckin’
And Jerr-Dans keep working for Hampshire Towing. “Our
1998 Jerr-Dan HPL60 has been great. It’s one of the best
trucks we have in the fleet,” says Bill’s son, Robert. “I think
Jerr-Dans are the work horses of the industry. They are
reliable and you know what you are going to get. We don’t
get rid of them because they keep doing the job.”
As John Borowski, the company’s Holyoke facilities
manager says, “You have a good feeling in your gut when
you make the investment in a Jerr-Dan because you have
confidence in the product.”
HOOK UP WITH US
Hampshire Towing
Address: 650 New Ludlow Road, S.
Hadley, Mass. 01075
Phone: 877-88-we-tow
Web: www.hampshiretowing.com
When Others Can’t…
Jerr-Dan Can
Jerr-Dan 50 Ton Rotator
Moves Ohio Super Load
You’ve heard the expression “Never
send a boy to do a man’s job.” Well,
that was certainly the case back in
June when the Ohio State Patrol called
Bill’s Towing of St. Clairesville, Ohio to
help tow a broken down truck that was
carrying a massive storage tank.
Bill’s Towing owners, Bill and Chad
Coulson, responded immediately in their
Jerr-Dan 50 ton rotator. Because the
truck carrying the tank couldn’t move
and its weight and that of its 169-footlong load, the Coulsons frame-forked
the truck just like any other tow but also
ran two ½-inch chains over the frame
of the truck and around their rotator
cross bar with a chain binder to lessen
the stress on the broken truck’s front
axle and to keep the truck from coming
unhooked.
The operation impressed everyone
who witnessed it, especially the folks
from the trucking company who were
faced with the dilemma of what to do
with their disabled truck and its load.
“The State Patrol called me and when I
showed up, the guys from the trucking
company said to me, ‘What do you
expect to do here?’ and I told them,
‘I’m going to move the truck.’”
And indeed he did. In less than two
hours, the truck and its super-load were
towed four miles to the industrial park in
Cadiz, Ohio, where the tank was going.
Although this was the first super-load
Coulson has handled since taking
delivery of his rotator in January, he
doesn’t expect it will be the last. “They
just started doing a lot of gas and oil
drilling around here so I’m sure
there will be a lot more of these to
come,” he says.
www.jerrdan.com // RUNHARD // 5
Lighting
the Way
Jerr-Dan Does Its Part to Enhance Operator Visibility
A
ccording to the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway
Administration, there are an estimated three injury crashes every minute in our
country. This means nearly 1,620 responders are working in or near moving traffic
every hour, based on a typical response that might include two law enforcement, four fire
department and two EMS responders, as well as one tow truck operator.
And for those first responders, the danger may be real and imminent. In an effort to further
assist towing and recovery operators, Jerr-Dan has designed the new Rear Awareness
Indicator Lights (RAIL) system which offers enhanced visibility and greater attention to the
incident scene. continued on next page
www.jerrdan.com // RUNHARD // 7
RAIL uses bright amber
LED strobe technology
that is side-mounted to the
carrier bed, helping eliminate
any obstructions from the
carrier or disabled vehicle,
and designed to project
horizontally for enhanced
rear visibility when the carrier
bed is tilted for loading or
unloading. This can be
especially important when
working in dark, foggy, rainy
or high-traffic conditions.
“Our goal was to look
at ways to enhance the
recovery vehicle’s visibility
while maintaining or even
enhancing the operation of
the carrier and the job of the
towing professional,” says
Sanjeev Kuriakose, Senior
Project Engineer for JerrDan.
That meant Jerr-Dan
engineers had to find ways
to position the lights so
they could angle up when
the recovery vehicle’s bed
8 // RUNHARD // FALL 2012
is in the loading position.
The result is an innovative
15-degree upward angular
placement that optimizes
horizontal visibility for
oncoming traffic while the
deck is tilted.
The amber lights flash
in random patterns for
increased attention and
are also positioned behind
where the operator stands,
so that they can focus on
the recovery job, while the
RAIL lights help keep the
oncoming traffic aware of
the carrier’s location.
The RAIL system housings
are constructed of strong,
corrosion-resistant steel
mounting brackets that offer
remarkable durability. They
are applied with a high-grade
automotive adhesive that
bonds right to the carrier
surface, making the system
capable of after-market
installation.
This innovative lighting
system made its debut at
the Florida Tow Show and
Kuriakose says the system
received positive reviews.
“We got a lot of good
feedback from everyone who
saw it,” he says.
Until American motorists
slow down and start to
respect and value the
dangerous conditions towing
and recovery operators work
in, Jerr-Dan will continue to
try to find ways to enhance
operator safety. The
D.O.T. statistics are indeed
troubling, but as Kuriakose
says, “It doesn’t have to
be the way it has always
been in the past. We are
constantly looking to improve
towing technology for our
customers.”
Learn more about the
RAIL system at www.
jerrdan.com or scan the
QR code to see a video
that demonstrates the
lights in action.
Meet the Distributor
From left:
The Chesnee, S.C. staff: Lee Giles, Matt Giles,
Martin Giles, Tony Powell, Jeff Davis
From left:
The Lawrenceville, Ga. staff: Terry
Crane, Heath Fassnacht, Dail Skelton
Atlanta Wrecker Sales, Inc.
F
or eight years running, Atlanta
Wrecker Sales has been JerrDan’s number one distributor of
wreckers and tow trucks. But
don’t expect Lee Giles, the company’s
owner and president, to brag about it.
Giles, along with his partners Dail
Skelton, Heath Fassnacht and Terry
Crane, is quick to direct the praise to
the people he believes really deserve
the credit. “Listen,” he says, “this is not
about us. This is about our customers.
These guys work hard for their money.
They are out there in dangerous
conditions, in all kinds of weather, 24/7.
They miss weddings, funerals, birthdays.
We are nothing without our customers.”
Service and Value
With offices in suburban Atlanta and
Chesnee, South Carolina, Atlanta
Wrecker serves a large portion of
the southeast, including all of South
Carolina, Georgia and portions of North
Carolina, Tennessee and Alabama. The
company sells and leases both new
and used equipment at both locations,
where they also offer installations,
financing, parts and repair services for
all brands of towing equipment. Atlanta
Wrecker employees can also customize
trucks for their customers in a relatively
short period of time.
For Giles, offering Jerr-Dan products
is a no-brainer. “Jerr-Dan has great
name recognition and a loyal following,”
he says. “It’s not hard to sell Jerr-Dan
because people trust the name.”
That has become especially valuable
given the tough economic climate
of the last few years. Giles says his
business has seen an increase in the
number of customers looking for used
equipment and he’s always comfortable
recommending a Jerr-Dan vehicle. “We
want to help our customers get the most
for their money when they go to spend
it,” he says.
“The customer is his No. 1 priority,”
says Gene McKinney, Jerr-Dan’s
Southern Regional Sales Manager. “At
Jerr Dan, we say, ‘Whatever it takes,’
and that is literally what Lee lives by.”
get the job done, including chains and
winch cables, light bars, lock-out and
jump start kits, toolboxes and straps.
For Giles and his partners, it all comes
back to helping their customers and their
businesses succeed. “Lee does not like
to draw attention to himself,” McKinney
says. “But he is 150 percent dedicated
to his customers. It is his life.”
Having invested his time, experience
and resources into the business, Giles
is committed to its success today –
and into the future. His sons, Matt
and Martin (as well as his cousin, Tony
Powell and long-term friend Jeff Davis),
work with the company. Together, this
family-oriented team will continue to
sell Jerr-Dans and continue to stay
focused on the people Giles says are
most responsible for Atlanta Wrecker’s
success: the customers.
Partnering for Success
Giles and his team believe that every
time Atlanta Wrecker sells or leases
a vehicle, they gain another business
partner. They want to make sure they
treat their new associates with the
respect and attention they deserve.
They strive to help operators hit the
road quickly by offering a “turn-key”
operation that in addition to offering a full
line of carriers and wreckers, also offers
many parts and accessories that help
HOOK UP WITH US
Atlanta Wrecker Sales, Inc.
340-A Maltbie St.
Lawrenceville, GA 30046
Phone: 770-432-0097
Parts Hotline: 800-689-8090
120 North Texas Avenue
Chesnee, SC 29323
Phone: 864-688-0170
Web: www.atlantawrecker.com
www.jerrdan.com // RUNHARD // 9
Who Says You Can’t
Get No Satisfaction?
M
ark Sexton isn’t an engineer.
He’s not a designer.
He’s not a salesman,
either. If you ask him, he’s
nothing more than a “good ol’ country
boy” who happens to have built a very
successful towing and recovery business
in Frederick, Maryland.
But in fact, Sexton in many ways
helped design, engineer and sell JerrDan’s new 16 ton PolyBody® integrated
wrecker. As the owner of Mark’s
Equipment Service, Inc. for the last 20
10 // RUNHARD // FALL 2012
Jerr-Dan Fulfills Customer’s Wish List
years, this former volunteer fire fighter
and fire chief knows what he wants in his
towing and recovery vehicles. And lucky
for him, Jerr-Dan listened to what he had
to say.
“From my years in the fire service,
I was aware of the UPF (United Plastic
Fabricating) PolyTank® line,” Sexton
says. In fact, he encouraged his fire
company to invest in a truck with a UPF
tank. Shortly after getting the vehicle,
however, it was in an accident and rolled
twice. The chassis was totaled, but the
UPF tank barely had a dent.
“This stuff is so strong,” says Sexton.
“But it’s also lightweight, corrosionresistant and has a longer warranty.”
Yet Sexton couldn’t find it on a vehicle
in the towing and recovery industry.
That’s when he decided to give Weldon
Wright, Jerr-Dan’s Director of Sales, a
piece of his mind, so to speak. “I think
the world of Weldon,” Sexton says.
“When other companies gave me that
‘He ain’t nobody’ feeling, Weldon would
take the time to talk to me and listen.”
Wishes Do Come True
So Sexton told Wright
what he’d really like in his
next truck: he’d like fireservice style roll-up doors
for maximum storage and
accessibility; he’d like pull-out
tool boards and underbody
compartments; he’d also like
his lighting switch panel to be
in the center of his cab and
not awkwardly placed at the
side of the driver’s seat; and
while he was at it, since he
wasn’t blessed with LeBron
James-type height, he’d like
adjustable height shelving
and for his control panel
to be inside the side body
compartment so he could
see and easily reach the
handles.
The result, he says, was
an “educational journey,”
one that was in his words,
at times “50 percent fun and
50 percent frustration.” As
Sexton and Wright worked
with Jerr-Dan’s engineers,
it became clear that some
of the items on the wish list
would be easier to achieve
than others.
“Mark wanted cross-over
tunnels so one of the biggest
challenges we had was
working around the existing
mechanisms so that the
tunnels wouldn’t interfere
with the boom when it was
raised,” says Brad Kresge,
Senior Principle Engineer
for Jerr-Dan. “But we also
needed to make sure we
could support the body the
way Mark was going to load
it up and meet the durability
requirement.”
In the end, though,
Sexton says he got nearly
everything he wanted on his
16 ton integrated wrecker.
The exterior lighting offers
improved nighttime visibility
and the compartments
can be easily cleaned. And
since taking delivery last
December, he has even
customized the final product
a bit more to meet his
needs, adding PVC pipes
to the main body so he can
store drive shafts and axles,
because he says, “I buy
tow trucks but I don’t buy
transmissions.”
From Prototype to
Standard Equipment
The process also benefitted
Jerr-Dan, who took another
16 ton PolyBody® to the
Florida Tow Show, where
Marshall Adkison of Adkison
Towing of Jacksonville,
Florida, saw it and was so
impressed, he took it home
to add to his fleet.
The PolyBody® is now an
upgrade option on Jerr-Dan’s
16 ton integrated medium
duty wrecker. For Kresge and
the Jerr-Dan engineers, there
is real satisfaction in knowing
they were able to develop a
product that so closely meets
what their customer wanted
and needed. “Working with
Mark was great,” Kresge
says. “He had a clear idea of
what he wanted. Although it
was sometimes a challenge
to take his ideas and develop
the design, we were able to
compromise here and there
and I think he is really happy
with what he got.”
In fact, that might be a
bit of an understatement.
As if speaking as a de facto
salesman for the product,
Sexton says “We’ve been
running the hell out of this
thing since we got it. It
has already outlived my
expectations. Jerr-Dan never
let me down.”
UPF Poly-Body®
Provides Strength
and Lifetime Savings
When Bill Bruns and the engineers at United Plastic Fabricating
in North Andover, Mass., were asked to partner with Jerr-Dan on
developing a PolyBody® application for the towing and recovery
industry, it was a welcome request.
“We work with fire service clients on their fire apparatus,”
says Bruns, who is UPF’s Vice President of Sales and
Marketing. “So we are used to a customer base that wants
trucks their own way. No two fire trucks are the same.”
Working closely on the CAD drawings, engineers from
both companies had to be sure that customer Mark Sexton’s
wishes were feasible, especially when it came to “how things
would be located and supported within the body,” says Brad
Kresge, Senior Principle Engineer for Jerr-Dan. “We really
relied on their (UPF) experience.”
It was an easy transition for the UPF teams, and in reality,
not too much of a stretch for Jerr-Dan personnel either. JerrDan’s sister company, Pierce Manufacturing, is the leading
North American manufacturer of custom fire apparatus.
Bruns actually spoke to Wilson Jones, President and Chief
Operating Officer (COO) of Oshkosh Corporation, Jerr-Dan’s
parent company, about the possibilities of using PolyBody® in
other equipment applications before Sexton raised the idea.
“We spoke at a trade show some years back about
maybe doing something with a truck body,” Bruns recalls.
But it was Sexton’s desire to use the material he had seen
during this firefighter days that finally brought the idea from
discussion to design.
Its implications for the towing and recovery business are
significant, since the PolyBody® material is 15 percent lighter
than fiberglass and half the weight of a steel body. “The
material is a high-impact, co-polymer polypropylene that is
maintenance-free, non-corrosive and lightweight,” Bruns
says. “It’s more expensive than other materials at the outset,
but it will never rust or corrode.”
Manufactured from a special blended resin, PolyBody®
is so flexible that even in high-impact situations, materials
just bounce off of it. “The material has a lot of flex to it”
says Mike Ashley, UPF’s VP of Engineering. Yet it offers an
automotive painted finish that Bruns says is so well done
“if you look at the cab and the body, you can’t tell the
difference.”
To find out more about Jerr-Dan’s 16 ton integrated
wrecker with the PolyBody®, please contact Shane
Coleman at 248-227-4465 or [email protected].
You can also visit our website at www.jerrdan.com.
www.jerrdan.com // RUNHARD // 11