Truckin’ Times From the Driver’s Seat GWP HOLDINGS, LLC

March 2011
GWP HOLDINGS, LLC
Truckin’ Times
From the Driver’s Seat
I am excited! When you read this newsletter I hope you share my enthusiasm. We have
several successes to celebrate. We were named Peterbilt Medium Duty of the Year.
We have a new customer, Coca Cola. We have expanded our presence into Prudhoe
Bay. Most exciting is that we have several customers or employees that recognize
some of our outstanding employees.
Thanks to all employees for your contributions.
GWP on the Move Again: Prudhoe Bay
Inside this issue:
Employee Recognition: Rob
Peterson
2
Employee Recognition:
Marty Ceniceros
2
Employee Recognition:
Brenda Celski
2
How About a Little Spring
Cleaning?
3
Coca Cola: Tenacity Pays
Off
3
Peterbilt Named Medium
Duty of the Year
3
Sacramento Unit
3
Take a Break
4
In an effort to continue to expand our dynamic company,
GWP has joined forces with
Conam Construction Company
to offer a full service dealership in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska.
Prudhoe Bay is located on the
shores of the Beaufort Sea,
roughly 500 road miles north
of Fairbanks. Prudhoe Bay
operates 365 days, 24 hours
per day. It is the largest and
most remote oil field in North
America, pumping close to
600,000 barrels of oil per day
down the Trans Alaska Oil
Pipeline.
GWP is no stranger to doing
business in Prudhoe Bay. Our
first major delivery of trucks
occurred in 1998. We continue
to deliver 20 – 50 new units
annually into the working oil
field. The Anchorage and Fairbanks parts departments have
founded and maintained many
quality relationships within the
very unique operating area of
Prudhoe Bay.
Given our growing market
share, as well as the very diffi-
cult working environment in
Prudhoe Bay, we decided to
“contract” the parts and service
requirements of the dealership
to Conam Construction Company. GWP will continue to sell
new and used trucks directly into
Prudhoe Bay. Conam Construction Company has been working
within Prudhoe Bay for over 20
years. Conam’s principal business is that of Pipeline Construction and Maintenance. Over the
years, Conam has diversified and
is also currently the OEM representative for Ford Motors as well
in Prudhoe Bay. With a proven
track record providing OEM direct support for Ford, as
well as their existing infrastructure, it
was an easy decision to partner with
Conam. This project has been in the
works for over a
year and has taken
quite of bit of time
and energy from
both Conam and
GWP. Please give
By Mitch Hatfield
thanks to Kelly, Royce, and
Matt of Anchorage for their
support of the project. Also
thanks to Gary Mayhew for
taking the task of being the
point of contact for all things
related to parts and ultimate
start up training, (see photo)
and all the other folks who
have had to endure the many
preliminary meetings getting
this going.
Page 2
Employee Recognition
Rob Peterson
Dear Sirs:
It is with great pleasure that I
would like to recognize Rob
Peterson, at WPI Liberty Lake.
Rob worked with our fire department for over a year. He
always displayed a high degree of integrity, and responsibility. He is definitely a sales
person that we would recommend to others. In addition to
Rob working hard on finding a
truck that would fit our needs.
He has shown excellent knowledge insofar as understanding
the needs we had on building
this truck into a water tender
for the fire department. He
has proven his ability to us in
organizing the sale and all the
paperwork that we needed.
We are looking forward to
working with Rob in the future
for any future fire department
needs.
Sincerely,
Marvin Eaves
Chairman Ferndale Fire Board
His good judgment and mature outlook ensure a logical
and practical approach to our
goals.
GWP HOLDINGS, LLC
Marty Ceniceros
Marty:
GREAT JOB!!!
Just a quick email to let you
know about a circumstance in
the shop that happened a few
nights ago. As you know Fox
Trucking came in at about
4:00pm with an issue on the
engine of one of their trucks
and we got the truck in, diagnosed the problem and repaired it that evening. Business as usual right? What you
probably don’t know is that this
truck had been to both Cat and
Kenworth for the same issue
prior to coming to us. Both
shops failed to address the
issue in an adequate manner
and Kevin Fox brought the unit
to us with an expectation that
the truck would be down for
quite some time and the issue
may or may not be resolved
upon completion. Needless to
say he was thrilled when he
found out that we correctly
diagnosed and repaired the
truck within a few hours.
What you probably also don’t
know is that I had been working on this customer for
months to little avail and as a
direct result of this excellent
service he was in my office this
afternoon filling out paperwork
to add a new truck to his fleet
through the Goods Movement
Program.
Over the past few months it
has been a pleasure watching
Brenda Celski
Gary and Ken,
Just wanted you both to know
how much we appreciate the
extraordinary service that
Brenda provides the PNW Purchasing Department. She is
always on top of our orders
and we have complete confidence in her abilities to execute our orders. If we need
something promptly, she al-
ways makes it happen (even if
we send her a PO that is not in
her geographic area).
Big kudos and thanks to
Brenda!!
Andrea Swanstrum
PNW Waste Management
Buyer
fleets start to come into our
shop that I had in the past
seen only at our competitors
(Gulf, Ramos etc.) This high
level of customer service has
sure helped make my job easier and it is very nice to know
that when you and I sit down in
front of Cemex next week and
tell them that we can give
them the best service anywhere we can back it up 100%.
Period.
Thanks to you and your team
for the or the excellent work!
Lance Hicks
Truck Salesman
Page 3
How About a Little Spring Cleaning?
As many of you have heard me
say, our success is based
largely on our strong brands,
great employees, and excellent
locations. As the busy season
is approaching, we want to be
sure that we have our facilities
looking their best. The leadership team, led by Ken Madison, wanted to show that we
can clean and/or build with
By Frank Anglin
work area looks tidy. Our goal
is to get every area looking
clean, and keep it clean!!
the best of them. We have
helped with our cleaning efforts so far at both Tacoma
locations, Seattle, and Moses
Lake. The next stop for the
senior team is Yakima.
Thanks for your support.
The Information Technology
team also cleaned the Seattle
archives. Much thanks to everyone for your efforts at all
locations. I ask that everybody
ensure that your individual
Need work done to
your personal car?
Coca Cola: Tenacity Pays Off
Just a note to remind all of our
people in front of potential
new customers, never give up.
Coca-Cola in Seattle was first
visited two years ago, and
Kenworth had their mobile
truck in their yard. Undaunted,
we went in and spoke with the
Service Director, and he said
they were happy with the service they were receiving. So a
few weeks passed and we
returned, they had the same
reply.
We would make a stop every
month to see if there was anything we could do, and finally
By KJ Hanson
the door popped loose with a
vendor application. We filled it
out and returned it immediately. As we kept checking in,
questions of “ can you take
care of…” and ”do you carry…”
would come up from time to
time. The door opened when
we offered free pick-up and
delivery with the ability to repair
their specialized trucks. The
vendor application was sent in,
and we started to repair part of
the fleet. Invoicing was a question at first, but that was resolved by Coca-Cola joining our
National Accounts System
Sign up with the
which put the final pieces into
place. Now service, parts pricing, pick up and delivery were
a neatly wrapped package.
Currently we have serviced
three of their trucks.
What this has created is a
great relationship with the
customer and gave us opportunities to shine in all departments! So remember, if you
get turned down at their door,
never give up, never surrender. It may turn out to be the
best smile you enjoy at the
end of the day.
service department
to get work done on
your vehicle when
the shops are slow.
You are charged an
employee rate for
service.
Peterbilt Named Medium Duty of the Year
Peterbilt Motors Company named
Western Peterbilt in Seattle, Washington the 2010 Peterbilt Medium
Duty Dealer of the Year. Frank
Anglin, dealer principal of Western
Peterbilt accepted the
award at the
annual Peterbilt
Dealer Meeting
held at Paccar’s
new Engine
Plant in Columbus, Miss.
bilt recognizes the value of selling
the entire Peterbilt medium-duty line
to diverse market segments to grow
their business,” says Bill Jackson,
Peterbilt general manager and Paccar vice president. “Their high level
of dedication and professionalism
helped them achieve a market share
growth to 26.2 percent in 2010, and
recognition as an industry leader in
their market.”
With more than 20 years of experience, Western Peterbilt has 11 locations across Alaska, Washington,
“Western Peter- Oregon and California.
“Our goal is to ensure our customers
have a great experience from start
to finish and that they get the attention they deserve,” says Frank Anglin, dealer principal of Western Peterbilt. “This award validates the
hard work and commitment our
team has for our customers and the
Peterbilt brand.”
Special thanks to Eric Streich and
Bob Carpenter for their sales to Boeing and City of Seattle as key contributors to achieving this award.
Truckin’ Times
GWP HOLDINGS, LLC
Sacramento Unit
The Sacramento Unit honored CTA 2010 President
Denny Wyatt at its President’s Night in November.
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In addition to honoring Denny, the unit also presented a number of donations to local causes, including WEAVE (Women Escaping a Violent Environment).
The Sacramento Unit made a $1,000 donation to
WEAVE during its
President’s Night
meeting in November. Accepting the
donation was Beth
Hassett, WEACE
executive direction,
second from the
right. Also shown are
unit members Pat
Blank, Chris Weaver,
Loren Belcher and
Bob Waterman.