Pictured from left to right: Diontrel Truitt, Chris Reasor, Kelvin Lanier, Alphonso Lockhart, Derrick Silmon
“I’m always looking forward and trying to improve.” – Santan Dave, British rapper and actor.
Pace and Lanter Delivery Systems ‘relationship is lengthy and strong. Lanter Delivery Systems is a great business and a great business partner.
Lanter Delivery Systems states their goal is for their customers to realize “peace of mind with logistics solutions that ensure reliability, speed, and consistency every time.” Their business model provides daily parts order fulfillment from supplier distribution centers to dealer and service locations with overnight unattended delivery before 8AM.
That’s where Pace’s mission critical role for Lanter Delivery Systems comes in. Pace provides final mile services that enable Lanter Delivery Systems to keep the promises they make to their customers.
Pace Central District Project Manager Chris Reasor recently reported thanks and praise from Lanter Delivery Systems for our Get the job done (Pace Core Value) services saving the day for Volvo and GM parts deliveries. Caitlyn Scott, Lanter South Central Regional Manager, wrote to say, “EXCELLENT save here Bessemer team!”
Lanter Delivery Systems network linehaul provider CEO Roger Quesada of DNA Logistix was equally grateful. “Thank you for the collaboration and the save on this one on behalf of DNA and the SC Region,” he said. The DNA Logistix Director of Operations messaged Chris to say, “wanted to tell you thank you for your team minimizing the damage that could have been caused by our late linehaul out of Memphis.” Additionally, several Lanter dock managers and executives shouted out our Pace team on our daily GM call the following morning. Lanter Delivery Systems Regional Vice President added his thanks.
The late linehauls not only put the scheduled pre-8 AM unattended delivery schedules at risk but also created a potential cascade of late routes for our Pace network dependent on the linehauls arriving at our docks on time. Another concern was potential driver hours of service restrictions.
Chris recalled that a year ago Pace was experiencing low performance rankings within the Lanter network out of our Bessemer dock. “We had meetings where we were discussing consistent route failures, scanning issues and other factors that made our customer question whether we were the right fit,” he said. “When I joined the shift, I noted Kelvin Lanier and Derrick Silmon giving this team everything they could, night in, night out. After some discussion, we promoted Kelvin to Logistics Supervisor and he and I began rebuilding the service.”
From the start Chris noted that Kelvin had ultimate responsibility, but Kelvin insisted that Derrick should have equal voice. “As a team, we restructured just about every aspect,” said Chris. The team held the drivers to a higher standard, while also supporting them in advocating for tighter rules around what is safe to deliver at night, providing support in using the tools, and training and building a team atmosphere.
Diontrel Truitt joined the team as a temp driver, running our two toughest routes for several months. “His outstanding performance was rewarded with being onboarded last summer and is now lead driver for the team,” Chris reported. Alphonso Lockhart was added via Staffmark a couple of months later, and he has become another integral part of the team.
Chris summarized the turnaround success.
- A one-team mindset, working toward our core value to Always improve.
- A humble approach toward a Serve relentlessly spirit.
- Respect for customer needs.
- Respect for contract partners.
- A sincere desire to Get the job done.
“The team makes what’s a very difficult endeavor appear easy, night in, night out,” Chris said. “That has been the key to their success, one team, working towards humble excellence. Each night they perform with a quiet confidence, with an expectation that every piece of freight is going to be delivered; that everything is going to be on time; and in the rare event that we have a failure, we will have a plan in place and our customer will know every step of that plan.” Always looking to improve, as a Pace Core Value, inevitably leads to delivering big for our customer. It’s the name of the game.
