Open communication and creative solutions are our hallmark
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| Greg Syfan, President |
Throughout our industry, a lot of what we do looks the same. We take orders for loads. We arrive at a customer location, pick up the load, then deliver it to the receiver.
However, there is one simple thing we do that separates us from our competition: Transparency. In other words, we communicate – even if it’s bad news.
Open communication sounds easy, but so many companies avoid it. I compare it to children who hide the truth from their parents to avoid getting punished. It’s human nature to avoid sharing bad news, but it’s not how we do business. It’s also why we have been so successful. Like our new ad campaign says, “We ship loads of confidence.”
3 Things We Can’t Control
One reason why open communication works for us is that we don’t just share bad news and say we’re sorry. We offer other options – which most of the time allow us to still get the load there on time.
When something goes wrong with a shipment, it’s usually caused by one of three factors that we can’t control:
1) Imperfect weather
2) Equipment
3) Drivers (sickness, life events, etc.)
We do our best to control the uncontrollable, but bad weather happens. Trucks break down. And drivers sometimes get sick or have other conflicts.
No matter the reason, we communicate immediately – not only with our customer (the shipper) but also with our customer’s customer (the receiver). And then we work to execute our plan — like calling on our strong carrier relationships to secure another truck or driver.
When faced with a challenge, our Syfan team is very creative in coming up with a Plan A and a Plan B to make sure we cover every possible solution. We have been trained well from our long history of shipping poultry and other perishable products in addition to meeting tight deadlines for JIT (Just In Time), parcel, automotive, and other high-demand customers. Our experience with these shippers is how we meet our deadlines – and how we know to keep customers in the loop just in case the uncontrollable happens.
How We Are Building Capacity
I mentioned three things that can go wrong with a shipment, but there is a fourth excuse that some of our competitors use. They blame tight capacity and supply chain issues.
At Syfan, we face those challenges too, but we have been proactive in addressing them. For years, we have been expanding and hiring more team members to continue growing our carrier relationships on the brokerage side. On our asset side, we have been adding to our own fleet of drivers and equipment. Investing heavily in both strategies has proved to be the right decision, especially now in this difficult economy.
It’s a tight labor market, too, but we have met that challenge through our internship program and innovative partnerships with local universities to recruit sharp young professionals.
Proof Is In The Pudding – Our Annual Loads
It’s one thing to say we can deliver, but actions speak louder. Our number of loads increases every year (they more than doubled between 2019 and last year) which is the clearest evidence that we deliver successfully for our customers.
So, when we say Syfan ships loads of confidence, it’s more than an ad slogan. It’s what we do. Every hour and every day.
Be On The Lookout:
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Faith Over Fear Book Coming Soon
The COVID-19 pandemic outbreak in early 2020 and other national tragedies tested us in many ways. To help all of us cope, we began a series of weekly faith-based email messages sent to team members, customers and friends. We’ve collected these messages into a new coffee table book – Faith Over Fear: How We Navigated The Year 2020. We’ll keep you posted on the book’s release.
AJC Honors Syfan Logistics as a Georgia Top Workplace for 2022
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Syfan Logistics has been named to the 2022 Atlanta Journal-Constitution Top Workplaces list for the second time in three years.
We ranked 15th out of 66 mid-size companies. There were more than 4,500 companies nominated and only 175 were named a Top Workplace. We were one of only two logistics companies on the list.
“We strive to have a workplace where our team members can grow,” said Jim Syfan, Syfan Logistics CEO. “We want them to find their place to thrive and have opportunities to advance in our company.”
Companies named to the AJC list were recognized based solely on surveys about the workplace completed by their respective employees. The AJC surveyed Syfan team members to capture their feedback in 15 areas about company’s culture.
EMPLOYEE SPOTLIGHT: Alex Shiver
Alex Shiver serves as our training manager leading our four-member development team.
As part of our ongoing expansion and hiring plan, Alex oversees training of our new team members – from their orientation and comprehensive training at the start of employment to continued development throughout their careers at Syfan Logistics.
“We work to ensure they are set up for success from onboarding to continuous education,” Alex says.
We are fortunate to have Alex. He has been in the training and development field for over 10 years, beginning at Home Depot and later with the Compass Group. He started his own training and development consulting company in 2018 before joining our company this year.
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| Alex Shiver |
“My joy comes from helping and setting up individuals for success from technical job function training to self-development,” he says.
Alex and his wife, Shay, were married in 2015 and welcomed their daughter, Lynley, in August 2017. They live in Braselton and Lynley attends Jefferson Elementary. Shay is a radiation therapist at the Northeast Georgia Medical Center in Braselton, helping deliver cancer treatments.
A native of Jacksonville, Fla., and a Florida Gator fan, Alex has lived in the Gainesville/Buford area for 25 years. He serves as an audio/visual director at his church, Ivy Creek Baptist Church in Buford. He also loves golfing with friends, shooting guns with his family, and collecting firearms.
Jim Syfan Named to Georgia Board of Regents
Our CEO Jim Syfan has been named to the University System of Georgia’s Board of Regents by Gov. Brian Kemp.
The Board of Regents oversees the public colleges and universities that comprise the University System of Georgia and has oversight of the Georgia Archives and the Georgia Public Library Service.
“It’s an honor and a privilege to be named to the Board of Regents,” Jim says. “I appreciate Gov. Kemp’s appointment and I look forward to working with the other board members to keep our college system one of the best in the country. I will be looking out for the kids.”
Jim will represent the 9th Congressional District for the university system’s 19-member board.
“For many years as a strong business leader, Jim Syfan has worked hard to make his communities and our state better,” Gov. Kemp said. “With decades of experience, he is eminently qualified for this post, and I am honored to name him to the Board of Regents to serve our top-ranked university system.”
Higher education has always been a passion for Jim. He has worked tirelessly for decades to add a transportation logistics curriculum to university business schools that previously offered only manufacturing and warehousing in their supply chain class studies.
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| Jim Syfan, left, was sworn in by Gov. Brian Kemp earlier this year. |
Recently, Jim assisted the University of North Georgia as it created the first-ever logistics course that later led to the idea of creating an authentic third-party logistics learning environment at the school.
Expansion Project Begins
We have begun construction on the 15,600 square foot expansion of our headquarters. We will be adding two floors with space for an additional 150 team members. The new space, which will house our accounting and dispatch departments, should be completed in the third quarter of this year.
Turbo Sales & Leasing Announces New GO-TURBO App
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Our sister company Turbo Sales & Leasing recently rolled out its GO-TURBO app for the company’s terminal tractor fleet-leasing customers.
The technology tool will help Turbo stay on top of repair issues with its leased terminal tractors by allowing customers to communicate more efficiently with Turbo’s team – at any time or day. Most importantly, it supports Turbo’s focus and mantra to “sell uptime, no downtime” for all its customers in the time-sensitive warehouse and distribution industry.
Terminal tractors are dependable workhorses, but they do need maintenance at times. Responding in breakdown situations has always been a strength
of Turbo.
“We are already well-known for our service and especially our responsiveness to breakdown issues,” says Chris Smith, Turbo’s general manager and vice president of dealer operations. “But this app is going to take our repair service and communications to a whole new level.”
The Turbo app utilizes a sophisticated GPS program to track all vehicles within each customer’s terminal tractor fleet.
When you log in to the app, you can automatically view a map displaying every terminal tractor and its location within your fleet. You simply select the one requiring maintenance, and the app will immediately send a service request to a Turbo technician on call. By selecting your geo-located terminal tractor from a map on the app, you can then choose from a list of common repairs in advance of a call from Turbo’s service department. Diagnosis, maintenance and repairs are streamlined from there.
Driver Spotlight: Tudor Trutan
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| Tudor Trutan |
Tudor Trutan is in his second stint as a driver for the Syfan family. He started in 2002 when the Syfans owned Turbo Transport and came back to drive for them with Syfan Logistics in 2012.
“I hope to stay until I retire,” Tudor says. “It’s a small company with a good atmosphere. There is always open communication if you have a problem. They treat me good.”
A native of Romania, he moved to the U.S. in 1985 and began driving a truck in 1993.
“As a driver, you make your own hours,” he said. “You do what you have to do. You get to see all parts of the country and meet new people. I’ve been all over the U.S. and into Canada.”
Through all his years driving, Tudor says the mountains out west are his favorite to see.
Tudor lives in Gainesville with his wife, Leonora, and his son, Tudor Andy. He calls himself a workaholic but enjoys fishing on Lake Lanier when he can.
BEST OF HALL AWARDS
Through the years, we’ve collected dozens of national awards from trade publications and customers. But it’s nice to be recognized by our neighbors as well.
Syfan Logistics was recently chosen Best of Hall 2022 in a community contest run by The Times newspaper in Gainesville, Ga., our home base.
We were honored to be named Best of Hall in the Shipping Company category. It is the third straight year that we have received the award. The newspaper’s readers voted for local companies in numerous other business categories.
In the past, we’ve also been honored locally by the Greater Hall Chamber of
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Commerce and numerous area nonprofits for our contributions to economic development and our community. Although we don’t seek the attention, it sure feels good to be appreciated.
Thank you to our hometown, and God bless you for your continued support of Syfan Transport and Logistics here at home!
Look for our 2022 ad campaign in digital and national trade media
In The Community: Blood Drives Scheduled in May and July
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| The next blood drive is May 13. |
We have scheduled regular blood drives with LifeSouth Community Blood Centers with the next at 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on May 13 at our headquarters.
This is not just for our team members. It’s open to everyone that wants to give. If you can’t make it on May 13, we also have a blood drive scheduled for July 19.
During a drive in February, enough blood was collected to save 100 lives.
Also in December, we along with Pilgrim’s, J&J Foods and WDUN worked together to gather and deliver essential supplies to the people in Mayfield, Ky. that were hit with devastating tornados.
Whether its local or our extended community, being involved and helping is important to us.