DC Velocity - July 2019

inbound

Here’s our monthly roundup of some of
the charitable works and donations by
companies in the material handling and
logistics space.
b Material handling and warehouse
solutions provider The Raymond Corp.
collaborated with New York’s Sidney
High School during the 2018–19 academ-
ic year to develop the Raymond Welding
Skills Development Program to help
prepare students for a welding career.
Raymond also supported the institution’s
new in-school welding center by provid-
ing improvement training with Toyota
Production System principles and sup-
plying materials, including more than
300 pounds of scrap metal, for students
to practice on.
b In honor of
the World Health
Organization’s World
Blood Donor Day in
June, temperature-controlled packaging
manufacturer Pelican BioThermal and
its parent company, Pelican Products,
teamed up to host blood drives in
Minnesota, California, and Canada,
where Pelican’s offices and partner sites
are located. Blood donations benefited
combat units overseas as well as local
communities.
b Transcontinental railway Canadian
Pacific helped raise more than $505,000
during its third annual Spin for a Veteran
event. The proceeds benefited the Homes
for Heroes Foundation’s efforts to build
homes for homeless veterans. To date, this
event has raised approximately $800,000
to support veterans reintegrating into
civilian life.

b U.S. freight forwarder MTS Logistics raised over $50,000 for autism awareness through its 9th Annual Bike Tour with MTS for Autism. More than 165 cyclists participated in the June event, which was the culmination of months of fundrais-ing by the company. The proceeds were donated to New York-based Spectrum Works, a charity that provides job training and employment opportunities to young adults with autism.

Logistics gives back
Mechanics strut their stuff at annual
Ryder competition

As a business with more than 272,000 vehicles to maintain, the fleet management, transportation, and supply chain solutions provider Ryder System Inc. is serious about training its technicians.

To motivate its mechanics to sharpen their skills—as well as highlight its commitment to quality maintenance service—Miami-based Ryder hosts a “Top Tech” competition each year, offering a $50,000 cash prize to the “Ryder Top Technician.” A prize that big attracts a lot of attention, and this year, more than 2,800 of Ryder’s 6,300 U.S.- and Canada-based technicians signed up for the contest.

After three rounds of written
tests and hands-on competitions,
Center in Indianapolis for the competition’s final round, where they
went head to head in a series of mechanical skills tests across 10 truck
“workstations.”
The winner of this year’s competition was Ken Bilyea of London,
Ontario, who took home the top prize. But the other contenders didn’t
go home empty-handed. Each of the other seven finalists received a
$10,000 cash award.

The need to shore up the nation’s aging transportation infrastructure can be a tough sell to people outside the logistics industry, so one freight advocacy group is bringing the message home with a simple example— bubble gum.

To highlight the importance of maintaining the nation’s highways, bridges, and intermodal connectors, the Coalition for America’s Gateways and Trade Corridors (CAGTC) recently unveiled an educational tool designed to help illustrate the importance of a seamless, efficient intermodal freight network to the nation’s economy.

Timed to coincide with May’s annual Infrastructure Week, the group released an educational brochure called Follow That Bubble Gum that illustrates the multimodal nature of the modern supply chain. The bubble gum’s “multimodal adventure,” which includes trips by truck and train, begins when sugar cane is harvested at a farm in Florida and ends with the finished product’s arrival at a gift shop in Cooperstown, N. Y. In the accompanying commentary, CAGTC notes that the best way to support the bubble gum supply chain—and the rest of the country’s highways, seaports, airports, and intermodal terminals—is for Congress and the administration to authorize at least $12 billion annually to fund multimodal freight projects.