Excellence at Work: Amarillo Truck Center Trucking is a 24/7, year-round business so with the exception of Thanksgiving and Christmas, the Amarillo Truck Center parts and service department is open 24 hours 7 days a week. Trucks don’t break down on schedule and when a rig is down the driver’s not making money, so Bobby’s techs get the truck and the driver back on the road as fast as they can. “Time really is money in this business. This is a relationship-driven business where customer service is the most important thing,” says Cooper.
bobby cooper Driving in to town from the east, it seems like Amarillo is nothing but one long line of truck stops, not uncommon for cities located on an interstate. As unremarkable as Amarillo may seem to passenger traffic, our fair city is an oasis to commercial truck drivers on the long stretch between Oklahoma City and Albuquerque. This makes Amarillo a prime location for logistics companies, truck dealerships and diesel repair shops, one of which is Bobby Cooper’s Amarillo Truck Center, located off I-40 behind Loves Truck Stop. Bobby’s Dad owned some trucks, so even though he didn’t “know a camshaft from a crankshaft,” Bobby bought his first truck from his father when he was a sophomore in high school, another one when he was a junior, and then sold them both his senior year. In search of a “decent certificate” after high school, he attended AC on and off until he finished. His Dad eventually bought a glass business because he didn’t like “long haul,” but Bobby figured that trucks are made to sell. a c t x . e du
Amarillo Truck Center is a proud member of Freightliner’s Elite Support Team, a designation that indicates their customerservice experience has been fine tuned and proven to a degree of excellence highly desirable in an extremely competitive industry. Only 9 dealers out of 110 in North America have earned the coveted honor, and every year they have to pass a 136-point inspection to maintain the title. When the folks at East Campus talk about industry partnerships, the working relationship AC has forged with Amarillo Truck Center stands out as one of the best. On the surface it seems pretty straightforward since they need the diesel technicians that Amarillo College trains, but that’s only part of the story. Bobby relies on Amarillo College as a “great resource partner for technicians” because he’s found that his techs are more likely to stay in Amarillo if they have roots here. He has also donated trucks to the diesel program that students can work on.
industry, so we need to cultivate and care for the people who want to stay here in Amarillo.” said Cooper, “and they’re more likely to stay with the company if they grew up and have family within 100 miles of our shop.” Amarillo Truck Center has a work/school program for technicians still in school. They work at the I-40 location for 6-9 months and then they’re transferred to the big shop to work under 1 of 2 mentors. They learn computer diagnostics, bigger engine repairs … they’re basically apprenticed, something that lots of companies don’t do anymore. In the past he had tried to form an industry partnership with the College but it wasn’t until Lyndy Forrester got there as Dean they were able to put some programs together with Brian Jacobs, instructor automotive. “Techs can make more money if they specialize,” says Cooper, “but they all want to take engines apart just so they can say that they did it. That’s not always what we need. It helps to stay in communication with the folks who are training our techs. “Our apprentices make an hourly wage with mentors and then if they’re good, they move on to a commissioned wage, which is where they need to be to make a good salary. It’s a win-win for everyone,” says Cooper.
Bobby Cooper understands how important it is to train the right people for his business, and he also understands how hard it is to keep them. “Turnover is a problem in any A M A R I L L O CO L L E G E T EC H N I C A L E D U C A T I O N N e w s l e tt e r , J anua r y 2 0 1 4