2022 was certainly eventful, and we’re excited to reflect on all of the changes and growth that happened at Nussbaum.
2022 By the Numbers
This year, Nussbaum drove 50,121,000+ miles, hauled over 77,000 loads, and earned approximately $140 million in revenue. This is up from 2021’s $115 million and our second year over $100 million. And for reference, 50,000,000 miles is 100 round trips to the moon, or 2,000 trips around the earth.
Our personnel numbers have increased too! Driver count grew from 450 to 488 and home-base staff (office and shop) grew from 162 to 186. With all of these new faces and willing attitudes, it’s no wonder Nussbaum had a big year!
First and foremost, we’d like to recognize and applaud our biggest “department”: our drivers! THANK YOU for all that you do every day to keep Nussbaum running smoothly! As we often say at Certified RED ceremonies, none of our “other” efforts (HR, IT, Operations, Sales, Marketing, etc.) would matter if it weren’t for our drivers – we would all be in a different business! This truly is a team effort, and we appreciate everyone’s hard work! As the ESOP Committee fondly says, we’re all a piece of the pie. (Or something to that effect 🙂 )
Let’s look back at the various departments and their biggest accomplishments from 2022.
Recruiting
1 word summary: Strong
New Employees: Lisa (transferred from CAC group).
News: Joe married Saige (from marketing) in July.
Numbers:
- On pace to hire 250+ drivers (previous record was 223, set in 2021).
Accomplishments:
- Launched the Trainer Recognition and Incentive Program (TRIP).
- Hired a Flatbed Trainer (thank you, Gene Tisdale!) which allows us to hire/train flatbed drivers from within our existing fleet.
HR/Safety
1 word summary: Innovative
New Employees: Jeff Jackson (moved into the office in March), Jeff King (became a full-time instructor in June), Douglas Moore (announced plans to become a CDL instructor for the school), and Cole Zeller (transferred from Recruiting).
News: Cole (and wife Sabrina) welcomed baby Beckett, Jeremy (and wife Janae) welcomed baby Wellington, Kevin Funk welcomed grandbaby Rowdy, and Brendon celebrated 10 years at Nussbaum.
Numbers:
- 5 Drivers hit 500K Certified RED miles (the first year this has happened!).
- 52 drivers achieved Certified RED status.
- Twelve classes at the Nussbaum Trucking Academy with 73 total students, 16 of which have come to work at Nussbaum!
- NTA students had a 97.3% CDL exam pass rate.
Accomplishments:
- Got the best insurance renewal we’ve seen in years.
- Launched Safety Video of the Week, which has been a hit.
- Launched CSA Video updates.
- Launched the Safe Driver Apprenticeship Pilot Program (SDAP) and got our first apprentice approved 12/1/22.
- Saw lots of drivers engage in safety and ask good questions. We are thankful for what our drivers do and the interest they take in operating safely!
Marketing
One word summary: Famous
New Employees: Daniel Maher (video creator extraordinaire who hopped on board in June)
News: Saige married Joe (from Recruiting) in July
Numbers:
- 2 issues of DRIVEN released.
- 1,180 gift boxes packed.
- $77,500 worth of coupons used on the store.
- 4,559 items purchased from the store.
- ~1,500 posts across 5 different social media channels.
- 27 OWNit Moments.
- 22 Episodes of Dashboard Radio.
- 9 Episodes of Terminal Exchange.
Accomplishments:
- Created 2 custom Nussbaum products: the ESOP puzzle (released in October) and ‘On the Road Again – A Nussbaum Coloring Book’ (released in December).
Accounting
One word summary: Steady
New Employees: Wyatt Gerber (a collegiate scholar), Toby Plattner (an excel/process improvement guru stolen from HR), and Noah Zimmerman (a former Nussbaum accountant and pricing analyst).
News: Michaela (and husband Matt) welcomed baby Maverick in October, Cody (and wife Kelli) announced they are expecting in 2023, and Noah married Aubrey in August.
Numbers:
- Over 75,000 invoices sent to customers.
- Over 30,000 checks issued to Nussbaum employees.
- Over $2,000,000 towards retirement contributions (that’s roughly 4% of gross wages!).
- ~15 people have better spreadsheets because of Toby’s advisement.
Accomplishments:
- Overall, the department feels more balanced. We’ve spread some of the weight with various managerial roles to better manage our growing list of tasks.
IT
One word summary: Growth!
New Employees: Morne Van Rensburg, Drew B Martin, Thad Steffen, Cole Knapp, Zach Plattner, James Rocke, Ethan Bright, Dayton Rumbold, and Matt D Zimmerman.
New Mascot: Duck
News: 4 new babies – Katie (Brent Vierling), Selah (Ben Virkler), Elijah (Morne Van Rensburg), and James (Dan Craig); one wedding (Congratulations Drew & Rebecca Martin!); and some role changes: Jon Roth transitioned to Data Engineer and Dan Craig became IT Service Manager.
Numbers:
- 6,000 support tickets closed.
- 3,000 calls to IT Help Desk.
- 125 projects completed.
Accomplishments:
- Restructured IT to be 3 smaller teams rather than 1 large team. Each team works on software for a different portion of the business and is supported by a product manager (better workflow all-around).
- Built up Power BI, which has allowed for more precise decision-making and clarity.
- Implemented a new phone system.
Operations
One word summary: Tireless
New Employees: Josh Walder, Joe LaTulip, Mitch LaTulip, Tylar, Thompson, Chris Smith, Lupe Diaz, Nic Riley, Joe Good, Kristin Stoner, Leah Zimmerman, Jason Banwart, and Creed Welsch.
News: Jerrid Knight returned from military leave in January, got married, and has since welcomed a baby girl, Autumn. Matt Cheever hit his 15-year Nussbaum anniversary while Nathan Wertz, Derek Rabe, Roger Thomas, and Scott Ubbenga all hit their 5-year anniversary. Jim Noe retired In December – how we will miss him! We also had some role changes; Anthony became a fleet planner in January and then a regional planner in October. Scott Ubbenga transitioned to Operations Manager – Logistics, Drew Martin transitioned to Planning Manager, and Brenda Carr became a Senior CAC. Evan Nestel moved from CAC to BAC (Brokerage Account Coordinator), and Jason Banwart moved from Operations Intern to the CAC team. Last but not least, Brad Haney took on the Afterhours Manager position.
Numbers:
- Dedicated Backhaul Incentive Program brought in an additional $165,000 in profit.
- Grew the department to 56 people (not counting Doug B).
Accomplishments:
- Created a 6th fleet (with Lupe Diaz and Joe LaTulip).
- Implemented the Executive Driver Manager Program.
- Won GE Carrier of the Year Award for the Louisville and Munster locations.
- Onboarded several new dedicated positions throughout the year with some of our key customers. This means more consistent revenue and usually offers the driver a home-daily opportunity / more consistent home-time schedule.
- Started “Monthly Fleet Financials” meetings with each pod to isolate/review key metrics. This has promoted healthy dialog on how we can make improvements.
- Implemented monthly “residual training” courses within Operations where we focus on a single topic, tool, or program that many of us use regularly. We share best practices, shortcuts, and make sure everyone knows how to use the program(s) effectively.
- A special shoutout to driver Larry Snyder – he helped source a lane for us in early 2022 that has turned into ~4 loads/week as a backhaul for another account! we haul. A special thank you to him and other drivers that see opportunities and communicate them to us. It can really make an impact!
Sales/Pricing
One word summary: Rollercoaster (in a good way)
New Employees: Ryan Mara (transferred from Operations)
Numbers:
- Linehaul rates were over 11% higher than in 2021.
- That 11% was $10,000,000 in rate increases. $700,000 of that was by negotiating increases before the contract was up for renewal.
- Processed an average of 1,300 lanes and 7 bids per week.
- Had a 34% close ratio! (Up from last year’s 28%).
- Added 9 customers: Justrite Manufacturing, Packing Corp of America, Oakley Industries, Kraft Foods, Mohawk Industries, Gordon Food Service, Shasta Beverages, Mechanical Devices, and Hagerty Steel.
Accomplishments:
- Riding out the year! The first quarter was a HOT freight market with unbelievable demand for our services and very high spot market rates. We struggled to bring on new lanes and shippers because we received so many load tenders from our current lanes and were not able to take delivery on new equipment because of supply chain issues.
- In the 2nd and 3rd quarter, the market was reasonably stable from a contract rate point of view, with the spot market falling rapidly.
- Now in the 4th quarter, we have equipment to grow our fleet and the demand for our services has started to fall, so we are actively pursuing new lanes and shippers.
The Shop
One word summary: Productive
New Employees: Max Vogen and Ryan Duggins (Channahon Technicians), Luke Evans, Gavin Park, Bryson Farris, Paul Mool, Eric Johansson, Craig Shipley, Jeff Brinkman, and Nick Kephart (Hudson Technicians), Brooks Jorgensen (Nightshift Coordinator), and Adam Kilpatrick (Daytime Service Advisor).
News: Tim Kelly married Brittany in February, Trevor Davis transitioned to the Unassigned Truck Lead position, Ryan Farmer became Second Shift Lead, and Levi Fehr became the Channahon Shop Foreman.
Numbers:
- 2 new trailer bays (2 more than we had 🙂 ).
- 3 more truck bays (bringing us up to 9 total).
- 25 sale trucks (totaling 625 labor hours) were completed in September to take advantage of the hot used-truck market.
- 23% reduction in FleetNet calls because of our new after-hours additions.
Accomplishments:
- Driver Lounge expansion is in progress.
- Completed a new tech breakroom (with an oven).
- In the process of moving domicile parking in the east lot to open up driver/tech parking and bobtail parking.
- With the addition of Brooks Jorgensen, the shop phone path is now available to the drivers until midnight, Monday through Friday. This helps to reduce the amount of work handled by a third party.
A Moment to Reflect
Amidst the growth and excitement, life also brings pain and grief. Here at Nussbaum, we were deeply saddened by the passing of five employee owners during the course of the year. We remember and honor the legacies of:
- Jeff Kramer – Driver
- Lonnie Bartak – Driver
- Daniel Feist – Driver
- Ray Little- Driver
- Jerry Shipley – Technician
Let’s continue to keep their families in our thoughts and prayers.
Thankful
What a full year! We can only thank God for all that we’ve been able to achieve this year. We look forward to seeing what 2023 has in store!
Great article! Thanks for putting this together.