Carrier Profiles
Taylor Made Express
"A successful Taylor Made owner-operator typically possesses flexibility, a willingness to cooperate with dispatch and he wants to make a lot of money," says Harry (Chip) Miller, VP of Operations for the Wisconsin-based Taylor Made Express.
"By flexibility, I'm referring to a driver who is willing to drive a few miles and relocate to a busier area. We're looking for owner-operators who are aggressive in going after freight."
Taylor Made Express is a privately-held expedited freight company with corporate headquarters based in Milwaukee along with a satellite office in East Peoria, IL . The company handles a variety of freight within the 48 States and points in Canada.
Founded in 1996 with two cargo vans, Taylor Made's fleet of 150 trucks is a mix of 80 percent company drivers and 20 percent owner-operators. The company drivers are utilized primarily for local courier work and pick and delivery.
"We have two local courier services in Milwaukee and those entities will continue to use company drivers for local P and D. I want to put our owner-operators in a position in which they don't have to compete with company trucks."
"We would like to establish a larger owner-operator fleet for the expedited side of our business. We envision our expedited fleet of owner-operators taking those loads that travel over one hundred miles away from Milwaukee," says Miller.
Miller, who manages both the Milwaukee and East Peoria locations, tells of his history with Taylor Made: "I've been with the company since its inception except for a four year period. I returned to the company five years ago and I now have twenty years in the expedited freight industry. In fact, I was working in this field when the only competition was Roberts Express."
Taylor Made uses an automated dispatch system and is a member of the Expedite Alliance. This system allows member carriers to share the location of their available equipment with other members of the Alliance.
"We're a technology-driven dispatch operation. By utilizing the Alliance program, we truly are a 48 state operation and we're Fast Track and CSA approved."
"Our trucks are equipped to send us messages that are integrated with our software which is powered by Nextel and Qualcomm units. We've taken it to the point where we've integrated our customers' email addresses with our software and our software with our equipment so we have a direct link to the customer with features like event notification."
"The customer receives information at the same time we do. In our case, real-time tracking means real-time tracking."
He continues, "Because we are a transportation provider for a large national account, we have freight opportunities all over the U. S. and we have partnerships with 315 carriers across the country. We are major players with the Alliance system and we know how to employ it so that everyone benefits."
Miller explains, "We've defined our freight areas as core to core, core to non-core, non-core to non-core and non-core to core. The majority of our paid miles are non-core to non-core."
"Once a driver is out of the Milwaukee area he has increased freight opportunities. We don't care where a driver is domiciled, as long as he's willing to go where the freight is."
As an example of his company's growth, Miller says that Taylor Made was the recipient of several awards at a recent Expedite Alliance of North America (TEANA) meeting in Mesa, AZ. Two of those awards were in the prime categories of "Most Brokered Loads" and "Most Booked Miles".
Cary Evers is Taylor Made's Director of Recruiting and he comments on the qualities of successful Taylor Made drivers:
"A good work ethic, a solid background, a good driving record, a professional appearance, demeanor and attitude."
"As a case in point, we recently signed on a man from Albania. Now, he has some trouble with English and has no experience in this business (in fact, he owned a restaurant for the last 19 years.) He did however, display a desire to work and he came to us with a brand new 2007 cargo van which demonstrates that desire."
Chip Miller says, "If an individual is coming to expedite from another career and they have retrained themselves along with their investment in a piece of equipment and they want to be successful, we'll help them."
"If the owner-operator understands that the dispatchers here know where the freight is and he is flexible and willing to move a few miles to get to the freight, he will be successful. If he has that willingness to cooperate with dispatch and wants to make a lot of money, this is the place to work."
On the topic of potential owner-operator income: "I try to be very honest with the applicant," says Miller. "I tell him that he is going to determine his income."
"We have owner-operators who are hungry and will keep their truck on the road for 3-4 weeks at a time, take a couple days off and then it's back out there. On the flip side, we have Wisconsin-based owner-operators who will take a run, come back home and take 2 days off."
"For those drivers who want to stay busy, we'll keep 'em as busy as Hours of Service allow."
The Taylor Made owner-operator package includes:
Sign-On Bonuses (Class A - $1,500, Class B - $1,000) 99% No Touch Freight Fuel Discounts Available Team Incentives Bi-weekly Settlements Nationwide Breakdown Service Ride-Along Program Pet Policy Comdata cards More Paid Miles No Forced Dispatch Huge Customer BaseTaylor Made is seeking owner-operators with well-maintained straight trucks and tractors that are 5 years old or newer.
Interested parties should contact Cary Evers at
Direct Line 414 847-1761 Outside WI and IL 800 205-5409 ext. 183 Inside WI and IL 888 829-9079 ext. 183 FAX 414 747-4836or, use the Online Pre-application.