Wadhams Enterprises

A FAMILY-OWNED AND OPERATED TRANSPORTATION FIRM

WADHAMS ENTERPRISES

SAFETY FIRST

As an historic family-owned transportation company, Wadhams Enterprises is steeped in heritage. We speak with Steve Wadhams, President of the organization, to dive into operations Writer: Sean Galea-Pace | Project Manager: Tom Cullum

The industry is exciting, scary, and unpredictable all at once.”

Those are the words of Steve Wadhams, President of Wadhams Enterprises.

Today, the North American market is dynamic and challenging in equal 2 | North America Outlook issue 03

measure. Steve believes it’s important to be agile and adapt to the latest trends quickly in order to be ahead of the competition.

“It is exciting if you like change as it is changing fast and it’s hard to keep up,” he explains. “Technology is moving very quickly, and it is

unpredictable. And sometimes, people say that they want something before they really need it.”

Wadhams Enterprises is a familyowned and operated transportation firm. The company combines the flexibility and capacity of a large business, with the personal, friendly

SUPPLY CHAIN

and service-orientated approach of a family-run business.

In 1949, Earl (Red) Wadhams began the business upon the acquisition of his first milk hauling truck. Today, his sons Rick and Steve work with more than 750 employees while maintaining a fleet of over 430

trucks and 600 trailers. Over the past 72 years, Wadhams has grown and formed three distinct divisions: ARG Trucking Corporation, Earl T. Wadhams Inc. and RIST Transport Ltd. “Our three divisions complement the other from an admin side of

things,” explains Steve. “Wadhams Enterprises itself gets a lot of buying power from the companies operating under one umbrella, the resources that we use, our safety department manages all the different companies and business units. Our HR department covers all of them.”

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WADHAMS ENTERPRISES The company believes in establishing a foundation of respect, reliability, flexibility, integrity and customer service in order to thrive throughout the years regardless of any industry changes. For Steve, there was never a question over which direction his career would take.

“Both my brother Rick and I spent our childhoods riding with our dad

and drivers on the milk routes, and then later before we were old enough to get our licenses, we both worked in the shop,” he recalls. “We spent time in dispatch operations, and the administrative back-office side as we grew. As we expanded into other areas of transportation such as petroleum and freight so did our personal growth.”

North America Outlook: In terms of working alongside your brother, how challenging is this or does it benefit the overall business due to your relationship?

Steve Wadhams: “We have always had our space we worked in, so I think that has had its benefits, but we have also always got along. We are always going to have some disagreements, but our personalities are different, so it does mean that we complement each other. Things are always changing, and we are adjusting especially with other family members involved now but Rick has always managed the equipment needs for all divisions and also ran the Earl Wadhams milk business whereas, I have been more involved in the admin and the dry van freight and Petroleum divisions.

Recently, in the last couple years, things have started to change with our kids beginning to play a big part in the business. And these have duties and changed. We also have some dedicated long-term employees from drivers to management that make things happen.”

The Wadhams Family, with brothers Steve (left) and Rick at the fore 4 | North America Outlook issue 03

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Propane Gas Services for Home & Business DiSanto Propane has been serving the clean energy needs of upstate New York homeowners, businesses and homebuilders since 1937. As a family-owned company, we have developed a reputation for reliability and dependability that is the envy of the propane industry.

www.disantopropane.com | +1 (800) 752-4574 North America Outlook issue 03 | 5

WADHAMS ENTERPRISES

Thompson & Johnson Equipment Wadham’s and Thompson & Johnson’s relationship encompasses both the supply of Toyota forklifts to operate in their terminals, and the leasing of a staging area for trailers in the Elmira area.

From a personal standpoint, Steve and Rick are candid and men of their word, which makes conducting business a pleasure.

With a rich family connection, Steve believes that it is his father’s mindset and mantra which has acted as the catalyst for the success the company enjoys today.

“Ever since 1949, there hasn’t been one minute when everything is shut down or we’re off duty and that includes Christmas Eve and Christmas Day,” he explains. “We grew up with that mentality because we realize that we can’t fail the farm community that we service, and I think that carried over to the other businesses. My dad led by example. He never asked anyone to do what he wouldn’t do.

“I think Rick and I have tried to be the same as him but it’s harder now because a lot has changed and it’s almost impossible to know it all. We have had to learn to trust and put faith in others.”

“Safety is our biggest concern.

Finding enough qualified drivers isn’t a new story but it is a continuing one.

But it’s not just drivers. We must find the techs that will be on call when a driver has a problem at night, or a road service company that will have the techs that will go out at night on a road service call.”

The COVID-19 pandemic meant companies had to transform 6 | North America Outlook issue 03

sales@thompsonandjohnson.com

Tallmadge Tire operations almost overnight. For Steve, he acknowledged his company had to do things differently to mitigate the impact of the virus.

“It certainly did change our operations because we had to make a lot of adjustments, particularly in our office,” he says. “We were sending a lot of our LTL traffic and customer service people to work from home and set people up to ensure that we had the proper office set up. We had to do this across all our facilities because ultimately, safety is the key.

It did affect us, and we had to think differently.”

As the pandemic took hold, areas such as Northern New Jersey and New York, where one of RIST biggest terminals were based, were one of the areas that were hardest hit initially because of COVID.

We have enjoyed a great 40+ year working relationship with Wadhams Enterprises.

Their family owned, family oriented business has grown extensively over those years allowing ours to grow as well.

We provide all three trucking operations with new tires, retreads, wheels, tire service and alignments.

Many of the local employees bring their personal vehicles to us as well.

With two other independently owned locations in Cortland and Binghamton, we are able to extend our coverage area to help out Wadhams and our many other large fleets with any roadside needs.

Tallmadgetire@yahoo.com

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WE ARE LEADERS IN QUALITY, DELIVERING OUR PROMISE

Thompson & Johnson Equipment Co. 6926 Fly Rd East Syracuse, NY 13057 Sales@thompsonandjohnson.com Tel: 315-437-2881

SERVICES OFFERED: • Commercial, passenger/light truck, farm, industrial and garden tire service.

• Commercial truck tire retreading.

• Passenger and Commercial vehicle alignments • Brake service • Oil changes • Full mechanical service for passenger and commercial vehicles.

• 24 hour emergency truck tire road service.

Tallmadge Tire founded in 1932, Geneva location opened in 1976 (moved to current Waterloo location in 1997)

Email: Tallmadgetire@yahoo.com | Phone: 315-539-1168

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WADHAMS ENTERPRISES

DeCarolis Truck Rental DeCarolis Truck Rental is proud of our relationship with Wadhams Enterprises.

Our partnership began over 40 years ago at our Geneva location.

Wadhams’ growth and expansion over the years was a testament to their hard work and expertise in the industries they serve. As they grew and expanded their footprint, we continued to support that growth with our other locations.

“I thought they were going to shut everything in that New Jersey county down at the time. I didn’t know what we would have done if that was the case because that is one of our major hubs,” explains Steve. “We weren’t taking any chances. Early on, masks were difficult to come by and were extremely overpriced. Fortunately, we found a local vendor here that we got our first masks from and acquired our first 10,000 masks. But our drivers and operations people on the front lines haven’t missed a beat. They’ve stood up to the challenge and have been very diligent.

“The cost has been significant both from a supply standpoint and the time required. We’re already drivers and staff short so we lose productivity with contact tracing when our drivers get told to isolate. But it’s something we’ve just had to deal with.”

For Rick and Steve, they are not used to resting on their laurels and standing still. It’s a mantra instilled in them by their father and one they follow closely today.

“Since our dad founded this business, we haven’t missed a day of operation,” Steve affirms. “Of course, we’ve been hampered by bad weather and other challenges but there hasn’t been one minute that we haven’t had something happening. I believe this is our competitive advantage. To service our customers in the right way, you have to be there 365 days a year. It 8 | North America Outlook issue 03

doesn’t end.”

Establishing key, strategic business relationships with partners is essential to long-term success. To Steve, he points to his company’s collaboration with Idelic as a key example of a mutually beneficial partnership.

“It’s a relatively new relationship, but they’ve asked me for a number of years to work together,” he explains.

“Their software is something that brings together a lot of the tools that we have already here with our onboard computer software and bring in our drive cam data and our in-house data that brings all of this safety information together almost instantaneously. This allows us to look at our high-risk drivers and enables our supervisors to identify quickly which drivers we need to address, coach and discipline to mitigate risk.

DeCarolis is proud to provide and maintain vehicles to support their operations.

We wish Wadhams Enterprises continued growth and success!

www.decarolis.com

We are excited about this project and investment.”

As digital transformation has started to transform the logistics and trucking industry, Steve recognizes that the space isn’t like it used to be and he has had to adapt, but stresses that his partners have played an influential role in helping his company remain a major player.

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800-276-1169 decarolis.com

Serving Businesses Since 1938

Proud to partner with Wadhams for over 40 years as Upstate New York’s premiere provider

RENTAL

PARTS

LEASING

SERVICE

Congratulations Wadhams Enterprises on all your success!

MAG ONLY

PITTSBURGH-FAYETTE EXPRESS, INC.

A family-owned and operated trucking company since 1978 PROUD TO SUPPORT

Rist Transport LTD (724) 929-2220 office@pfep.com

www.pfep.com

Loans and Leases Tax Services Payroll Services Business Consulting Record-keeping Country Home Loans FarmStart for New Businesses Real Estate and Equipment Appraisals

Proud to support Northeast agriculture all along the food chain FARMCREDITEAST.COM 800.562.2235

North America Outlook issue 03 | 9

WADHAMS ENTERPRISES

WADHAMS CORE DIVISIONS

ARG Trucking Group

RIST Transport

Service stations, manufacturing plants, home heating suppliers and other bulk businesses count on ARG’s professionalism, efficient delivery and exceptional service.

Its primary services area includes Upstate New York, Western Massachusetts, Southern Vermont, with authority to pull product from Montreal, Quebec, Toronto, Ontario and Northern Pennsylvania.

The firm has terminals in Albany, Rochester, Phelps and Buffalo with satellite locations in Syracuse, Utica, Watertown, Plattsburgh and Binghamton. It services the industry with nearly 100 tractors and 150 trailers. The trailers consist of both light oil tanks and insulated heavy oil tanks. ARG also services the propane industry with several propane trailers in key areas.

Truckload: With industry-leading equipment and technology, experienced drivers, dispatchers and managers, RIST Transport offers efficient shipping solutions to across the Northeast, Midwest and Mid-Atlantic regions.

10 | North America Outlook issue 03

Less-than-truckload: Operates 10 cross dock terminals located in New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey, Wadhams provides next-day and second-day delivery for customers throughout those direct points. The firm also offers service throughout New England and the Southeast with partner carriers.

Some of the services offered include alcohol permitted vehicles, Container freight station pickups and delivery, IDAC certifications with 235 tractors and 480 trailers.

Earl T Wadhams Inc, (ETW) ETW is renowned as a leading provider of farm pick-up and transportation services for bulk milk from farms in New York, Vermont, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts that utilizes a fleet of 85 tractors and 100 milk trailer tankers. Its terminals are stationed in Phelps, Canastota, Elmira and Cambridge while also possessing a terminal in Allentown and East Earl, Pa and in Granby Ma. The division is actively seeking to expand its routes and purchase other existing operations from retiring carriers.

Its services include reliable daily pickup from dairy farms; consistent on-time delivery of raw milk from dairy farms to processing plants often located in the North-eastern States, which are dependent on flexibility of delivery locations and schedules.

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With safe, on time, next day service in the Northeast, and extended service throughout the US, AMA Transportation’s friendly staff is ready to make you and your customers happy, where ever they are.

www.amatrans.com +1-800-322-3210

“Technology and equipment is moving fast,” he says. “Our trucks and trailer equipment vendors are vital to us and our partners that help keep us competitive are important.

I can’t emphasize that enough.

In my opinion, all the new truck manufacturers struggle with the downtime of the new equipment.

Sensors and check engine lights coming on and shop time needed to evaluate all causes lost productivity.

Back in the old days, you bought a new truck and it just ran but that isn’t the case anymore with all the new technology. It’s not as simple as it used to be.”

Recruiting and retaining the right staff is an essential component of any business, but even as a family-run organization, Steve acknowledges the need for great employees to lead and surround the company with talent.

“Between my brother and I, five of our eight children work in the business,” he explains. “They are all working in different departments and

are learning different things.”

However, when it comes to bringing in new employees, Steve is adamant that potential employees must showcase the right characteristics.

“This job isn’t for everyone,” he says simply. “Hiring the right people that are loyal and have dedication to the business is our first priority. But, it’s not nine until five and it’s not for everyone. Safety is essential and you can’t just turn the switch off at five in the afternoon.”

It is fundamentally clear that safety comes first to Wadhams and as such, the firm is upgrading its Lytex drive cameras to allow for better visibility over driver operations and more coaching opportunities.

“This will even further make the Idelic software even better for us,” says Steve. “Safety is an ongoing task and it’s tough for supervisors who really need to be promoting safety if they’re so tied up in operations all the time to do their homework to

talk intelligently about safety. Idelic streamlines this process and allows our supervisors to thrive with the information they’re given in real-time.”

With the future in mind, Steve is keen to continue ensuring that safety remains the priority and is constantly seeking ways to scale it further.

“We’re seeking continued growth in some areas of the business,” he stresses. “I believe in the LTL and in the milk hauling markets because there are some opportunities there to grow with some major Northeast LTL carriers that have exited the business and with our flexibility in the milk hauling market. With our service, this will give us an advantage over a lot of our competitors. I believe the future is bright.”

WADHAMS ENTERPRISES Tel: 315-789-8871 www.Wadhams.com

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WADHAMS ENTERPRISES 369 Bostwick Road Phelps, NY 14532-9309 Tel: 315-789-8871 www.Wadhams.com www.Risttransport.com www.ARGtrucking.com www.Etwhauling.com

PRODUCED BY NORTH AMERICA OUTLOOK MAGAZINE