When founded in 1982, Lift Truck Supply consisted of a small shop in Tyler, Texas, with just two employees. At that time, communication and being engaged was a simple task. However, 41 years later and growing to five locations across Central and East Texas has made it challenging to stay connected. According to Walter Flora, General Manager of Parts and Service, the biggest challenge was staying engaged across all five locations.
After attending the TLM Class at the factory last February and the daily adrenaline meeting at the plant in Columbus, IN, Lift Truck Supply borrowed the idea from the production team at TMH. Walter stated, “The communication at the meeting was amazing, and I wanted to bring it back to our facility somehow.” Lift Truck Supply initially tested the daily adrenaline meeting in a very small room and received a lot of pushback. However, they continued to hold the meetings and asked each team to build a KPI for their department, and from the beginning, it has evolved tremendously in the spirit of Kaizen.” Walter continued, “We have a great team, and I feel that it is important for everyone to have this meeting. We have expanded our room, and there is dedicated space for the Adrenaline Meeting. There is total buy-in now, and we enjoy the company-wide engagement.”
Lift Truck Supply meets daily via Google Meet, connecting their branches in Tyler, Temple, Cedar Park, Mt. Pleasant, and Texarkana at 7:50 am. They meet for about 10 minutes and keep the conversation to a minimum (meaning they cover the same specific topics each day, and unless there is a best practice to share with the team side conversations take place separately). These are the topics that they cover daily.
- PM Completion
- Field Service KPIs
- Tech Jobs (Field and Shop)
- Parts (Items back ordered/received yesterday and to be received today)
- WIP
- Rental
- Sales
- Delivery
Programming
Those on the call include Sales Managers, CSSR Managers, Parts Managers, Service Managers, and Rental Managers. Sales Representatives and CSSR Representatives also attend the meeting, and this is important as it gives the reps a heads up on when delivery is going to take place for new, used, and rental units, as well as when a service job is going to be completed allowing for the reps to follow up in an efficient and educated way for the customer. In addition, with centralized dispatch at Lift Truck Supply, the Adrenaline Meeting has been a huge help for dispatch in scheduling service calls, ultimately ensuring a highly satisfied and well-informed customer.
Ultimately, this has allowed the dealership to connect their departments, improved communication, and increased both accountability and visibility with each other.
If you’re interested in attending one of Lift Truck Supply’s Daily Adrenaline Meetings or if you have additional questions, please contact Walter Flora at walterf@lifttrucksupplyinc.com or at 903.533.9600.
