DC Velocity - May 2017

inbound

Storage rack maker Frazier Industrial Co. won plaudits from MHI during this year’s ProMat trade show for its contributions to the group’s Career & Technical Education (CTE) program, which supports education in material handling for students from high school on up.

On April 5, Patrick Davison, MHI’s director of education and standards, presented Domenick Iellimo, Frazier’s executive vice president, with a plaque in front of several dozen students attending ProMat as part of Student Days. During the annual Student Days event, MHI hosts students and faculty members from universities, high schools, community colleges, and technical schools for two days to give them firsthand experience on equipment and technologies used in the industry. “We give the students a sense of what life will be like after they get out of school,” explained Davison.

Frazier Industrial Co. earns extra credit
from MHI

In March, we invited readers to enter
a contest: Spot the reference to a song
title in our magazine and be entered in a
drawing to win a prize.

We’re happy to report we have the first winner in our monthly contest. M.G. Sikorski correctly identified the song reference in the headline “Indiana wants us” on our interview with David Holt of Conexus Indiana. (The headline alludes to the 1970 hit “Indiana Wants Me,” written and sung by R. Dean Taylor.) She’ll get a pound of organic java from Joey Kramer’s Rockin’ & Roastin’ Coffee, a business owned by the Aerosmith drummer and located in DC VELOCITY’s home town of North Attleboro, Mass. Fittingly, Sikorski works for Conn-Selmer, a company that manufactures and distributes musical instruments—and is based in Elkhart, Ind. Congratulations, M.G.!

Another reader gets an honorable mention for finding a song reference we didn’t even know we’d made. Bruce Nicotero of Jo-Ann Fabric & Craft Stores noticed the headline “Toyota enters brave new world of integrated fulfillment solutions” (News Worthy, March 2017, p. 15) and made the connection to the Steve Miller Band’s 1969 song and album “Brave New World.” Rock on, Bruce.

Think you’ve found the song reference in this issue? E-mail us at dcvrocks@dcvelocity.com with the answer and your mailing address by midnight May 31. We’ll pick a winner from the correct responses. The winner’s name will be announced on social media.

Time was when the supply chain profession had very few female practitioners. But today, that’s all changed. Women have ascended to key leadership roles in logistics and related fields and are using their influence to change lives. For an example of that, look no further than Andra Rush.

Rush, who was recently honored with the Women In Trucking Association’s (WIT) 2017 Distinguished Woman in Logistics award, is chair and CEO of Wayne, Mich.-based Rush Trucking Corp.—a company she founded in 1984 with one van and two pickup trucks. Today, Rush Trucking transports goods for Fortune 100 companies across the U.S. and Canada with 1,100 trucks and 700 drivers. In addition, she is president and CEO of Dakkota Integrated Systems; and chair, president, and CEO of Detroit Manufacturing Systems (DMS), two affiliated companies that supply components and assemblies to the auto industry. As founder, chair, president, and CEO of Rush Group, which operates Rush Trucking, Dakkota, and DMS, she leads the largest wom-an-owned business in Michigan and one of the largest Native American-owned businesses in the U.S. Her mission from the very beginning has been to create sustainable job opportunities in underserved communities.

President Barack Obama acknowledged Rush during his 2014 State of the Union address for creating manufacturing jobs in Detroit with the June 2012 opening of Detroit Manufacturing Systems— the first such plant opening in the city in decades.

In a measure of the growing role of women in the industry, other finalists for the award included respected leaders Lacy Starling, president of Legion Logistics LLC, and Karen Duff, president and CEO of International Express Trucking Inc. (IXT). The prize was established three years ago to promote the achievements of women employed in the North American transportation industry, highlighting their work in the field of commercial transportation and logistics, according to WIT and award sponsor Truckstop.com. The winner of this year’s award was announced at the Transportation Intermediaries Association conference in Las Vegas last month.