DC Velocity - December 2018

4 DC VELOCITY DECEMBER 2018 www.dcvelocity.com inbound

Here’s our monthly roundup of some of the charitable works and donations by companies in the material handling and logistics space.

; Greer, S.C.-based material handling systems manufacturer Creform Corp. donated two automated guided vehicles (AGVs) to the Alabama

Industrial Development Training Center, an agency that provides work-force development training for area businesses. The vehicles will be used to simulate manufacturing processes in the training center’s lab.

; Lexington, Ky.-based lift truck maker Clark Material Handling Co. raised money for the Susan G. Komen Foundation through its “CLARK Raising Hope” program, with 22 dealers and 18 vendors participating by either making a qualifying donation—matched by Clark—or purchasing a pink Clark WPL25 pallet jack to support the breast cancer research group’s Race for the Cure event. Clark had 145 employees and family members participate in the 5K run and the one-mile family walk.

; Brownsville, Texas-based railroad network operator OmniTrax Inc. donated $5,000 to repurpose a caboose as a children’s library. The library, housed in a former Brownsville

& Rio Grande International Railway car, is expected to open in early 2019.

; Jacksonville, Fla.-based railroad CSX Corp. launched a community investment program, called CSX Pride in Service, to provide financial assistance and support to service members, first responders, and their families. The program will connect recipients to the resources and help they need through partnerships with several not-for-profit organizations, including Blue Star Families, First Responders Children’s Foundation, Operation Gratitude, Operation Homefront, and the Wounded Warrior Project.

; Chandler, Ariz.-based regional parcel carrier OnTrac donated $2,000 to a canned food drive to benefit the St. Vincent de Paul food pantry and help fight hunger during the holidays. The “Million Can Crusade” food drive netted over 2. 3 million cans last year, with proceeds benefiting community food pantries and food boxes delivered to hungry families in the Greater Phoenix area. Logistics gives back

As the trucking industry struggles with epic driver turnover, many fleets are reaching out to women as a previously overlooked source of skilled labor. Industry leaders have been emphasizing the need to recruit more women (who account for less than 8 percent of the national driver work force) as a solution to the driver shortage, which is expected to reach 63,000 in 2018.

The proponents of hiring women have data on their side. Statistics show that, on average, women truck drivers have a lower risk of being involved in a crash than men. A two-year study by the American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI), the research arm of the American Trucking Associations, found that women truck drivers were safer than their male counterparts in every statistically significant safety behavior.

And now a new study points to another benefit of putting women behind the wheel of a big rig—they are less likely to quit. A research paper from

Stay Metrics, a South Bend, Ind.-based provider of driver feedback, engagement, training, and retention solutions, showed that women drivers were more satisfied with their jobs than male drivers were. Compared with men, female drivers were less likely to report being bored by their work, and were more likely to feel they were fairly compensated and more satisfied with their home time. Significantly, the study also found women were less likely to have considered leaving their present carriers and more likely to see themselves driving for the same carrier next year.

Stay Metrics generated the data through the Annual Driver Satisfaction Survey it administers to drivers on behalf of its motor carrier clients, using responses from nearly 16,000 drivers who completed the survey between Jan. 1, 2017, and July 31, 2018.