Truck Topics

Express-1 Continues Growth and Expansion

COMPANY AWARDS

Closing out 2001 on an up-beat note, Express-1 of Buchanan, MI held it's company awards banquet on December 29 at the Blue Heron facility in SouthBend, IN.

With over 150 company personnel, owner/operators,drivers, spouses and significant others in attendance, a concerted effort was made to recognize the Express-1 drivers and their contributions to the company.

After a catered dinner, the presentation of the awards took place.

The winners included:

Company Driver of the Year - Jim SamolczykStraight Truck Owner/Operator of the Year (Art Fetterhoff Award) - Scott Hancock Straight Truck Team of the Year (Cindy Garner Award) - Bruce Hebert, Bill Hebert, Diana Smith Cargo Van Owner/Operator of the Year (Dave Woolsey Award) - Al Huffman

A side note: As an indication of the high esteem in which Express-1 drivers are held by the company, the awards are named after Express-1 drivers who had made significant contributions to the company during it's early years.

The safety awards saw ten drivers receive their first year awards, seventeen people won their second year awards and eleven drivers won their third year awards, with six people winning twelve month safe driving awards.

The awards total represents almost half of the Express-1 fleet!

Michael Ruelle, Human Resources Manager tells us, "The banquet was important enough to our drivers that one of them drove from North Carolina to attend - a drive of over 700 miles."

"I was very happy to see so many of our owner/operators take the opportunity to be thanked for what they bring to Express-1. We have an incredible group of people and they makeExpress-1 a great place to work."

The evening ended with dancing to the sounds of DJ Larry Pickles, who is also the Maintenance Manager at Express-1.

DEDICATION OF BUILDING ADDITION

"When we first occupied our original headquarters building in 1995," says Michael Ruelle, Human Resources Director for Express-1, "We probably had fewer than ten people on the staff.

"We've since grown to a staff size of around forty people and until we moved into the building's new addition, we had some offices occupied by two and three people, including the president of the company."

Groundbreaking for Express-1's new building addition took place in March, 2001. The construction was completed and the staff moved in this past October.

The new office space in the addition effectively doubles the previous floorspace available.

The dedication/party, held on Thursday, January 17, was arranged with the Buchanan, MI Chamber of Commerce and Niles, MI which is also known as the city of four flags.

There were over 150 people in attendance representing the local business community and business partners of Express-1, along with many employees and owner/operators.

This multi-purpose event included the dedication of the new addition as well as recognition of Express-1 by the local community as being among the more successful local businesses. Express-1 was also recognized for it's participation in the local United Way, being noted as one of four pacesetter companies.

Express-1 successfully increased it's employee andowner/operator contributions by 65 per cent; a remarkable achievement in this, only the company's second year of participation.

"Express-1 is gratified to see that we have had such a positive impact on our industry and community," states Michael Ruelle. "The show of support from our business partners and friends was overwhelming and greatly appreciated."

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