Excellence in Everything
Seminole
Feed’s Dedicated Trucking Company Wins the Feed Industry’s
Top Award.
by Terry Temple
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To
feed Seminole is to know you’re caring and nurturing
your horses in the most important way possible – through
their nutrition, the very basis of their being. Seminole’s
commitment to excellence
is evident in the freshness, consistency and high quality
of their feed’s natural ingredients. It’s obvious
in the level of customer service they provide their farms
and dealers. Now, it has been has been recognized –
on a national level – that even how Seminole transports
their goods to market is best in
show.
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On November 10,
Rex Runyon, the president of the American Feed Industry
Association (AFIA), presented Seminole Feed’s dedicated
carrier, Branch Logistics, with the industry’s most
coveted annual award – the 2006 Truck Fleet of the
Year.
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“It’s
really a case of David versus Goliath,” said Runyon.
“Every year the competition to attain this recognition
is fierce and many of the companies who seek it are the biggest
in the business. This year David, in the form of Branch Logistics,
prevailed.”
According to Runyon,
the award represents the best that the feed industry has to
offer in truck fleet operations. It involves a very stringent
grading process that considers safety, technology, on-time
performance and the quality of the products being shipped.
Seminole/Branch’s excellent management, high-tech operations
and an emphasis on customer service were the elements that
placed it ahead of the competition. |
In ceremonies at the company’s headquarters Greg
Branch, president of Seminole Feed, received a plaque, symbolic
of their achievement, from AFIA Vice President Rex A. Runyon.
(L to R: Ocala City Councilman Kent Guinn, Seminole Feed President
Greg Branch, Branch Logistics Vice President Richard DeSimone,
and AFIA Vice President Rex Runyon.) |
Fleet manager Steve Temple’s experience in operations
and sales helped increase efficiency and develop back haul
business, which keeps the cost of feed from skyrocketing in
this age of rising gas prices. The company spares no expense,
though, when it comes to its equipment and in utilizing the
latest technology. All of the tractors are late model and
impeccably maintained and each driver is equipped with a hand-held
GPS cell phone-walkie-talkie, which allows constant communication
with the Ocala office.
“The
GPS system does a lot more than track trucks,” says
Temple. “It greatly improves our ability to support
our drivers. In the case of a breakdown or other problem,
we know exactly where they are and can stay in touch with
them throughout the solution.”
Much
of the credit for the award must go to the Seminole/Branch
team of drivers, who have gone almost two million accident-free
miles. These good citizens of the road, in their clean white
tractor-trailers with the vibrant horse graphics, deliver
over 65,000 tons of bagged and baled feed to their customers
each year, whether they are a race or show barn or one of
over 150 dealers in the Southeast.
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Richard
DeSimone is Seminole’s director of operations and
logistics. “What a great advantage it is to be able
to go to dealers and say, “We can be your sole supplier
for the equine customer – feed, hay, straw, health
supplies, whatever a horse needs. You can get these products
on a weekly delivery schedule and our guys will roll it
right into your store or feed room. We’ll even rotate
stock for you.”
What
does all this mean to the Seminole user? It means we can
be assured that this “just-in-time” delivery
system guarantees us the freshest feed available. Feed is
made and shipped the same or next day and is in stock at
your barn or dealer fresh each week.
This
isn’t the first time Seminole has been honored on
a national level. In the 80s, Seminole’s President
O.C. Branch was recognized by former President Ronald Reagan
at a White House ceremony and named the first runner up
in the national Small Business
Person of the Year program.
Then
in the 90’s, Seminole’s
feed mill was recognized by its industry peers as one of
the top feed mills in the U.S. The honor was awarded by
the American Feed Manufacturers Association (AFMA) and Feed
Management Magazine. |
Steve Temple, Branch Logistics Fleet Manager and Richard
DeSimone, Branch Logistics Vice President, celebrate the
company’s achievement at the awards ceremony. |
Since
then, it has been the company’s goal to gain recognition
for the trucking operation.
“Seminole Feed is very honored to receive the AFIA Truck
Fleet of the Year award,” says Seminole’s president
Greg Branch. “It validates the company’s vision
– ‘To provide the world’s best equine feed
and service to our customers’. Now the goal is to become
just the second company to win the AFIA award twice.” |
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In
her spare time Terry Temple enjoys riding her two
Arabians Ayla and Khody. Terry owns Temple Media,
a full service marketing agency and in the interest
in full disclosure, she is married to Branch Logistics
Fleet Manager, Steve Temple. |
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