About one in five Americans belong to the bathrough boom generation, and by 2030, the 73 million other people will succeed in the 65 years, known as the “retirement age,” when Social Security benefits can begin to be collected, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. This does not mean that all bathrough boomers can or will leave their jobs in the mid-1960s, but it does mean they can plan an exit strategy.
In road transport, age attention is directed at drivers. Nearly a third industry (29.3%) trucks were over 55 years old. But what about the executive side? The current average age of a CEO in the United States is 54 years, an increase of 4 years from 2010, according to Statista.
And for the circle of family businesses in the road transport industry, this is perhaps the ultimate vital countdown for the entire decade. Because if a good enough succession plan is not in position for the next generation of leaders, all hours of seeking maximum productivity go back to the investment of white emissions generation and the years spent building a strong paint culture can simply be useless. A poorly prepared move can damage decades of relationships and success with visitors.
“Families have a rich history, which they are naturally proud of, and rarely remain legacy assets just because they have been part of the family circle and shaped their identity,” said Jennifer Pendergast, clinical professor at Kellogg School and director of Northwestern University Family Business Center. “But to succeed as an entrepreneurial circle of family members, you have to be applicable to the market.”
Staying relevant has been a Marion Body Works war in Marion, Wisconsin, has been fighting since 1905. The company, now in its third circle of family owners, began as a forging workshop that manufactured milk carton cars and now manufactures truck chassis for advertising vehicles, emergency reaction and defense sectors. In 1964, it was the first bodybuilder to use all aluminum in the fireplace appliances. The lightness of the vans is also a major fear as the last kilometer segment develops and fleets seek to decrease weight to increase fuel power and battery life.
What weighs most in the brains of Curt Ignacio, Marion’s president and CEO, is how to transition from the corporate to the next wave of business leaders. His father-in-law, Bud Simpson, bought the company in 1980. Ignacio began running there in 1988. He and Bud’s son James Simpson took over in 2003 as co-chairs. James, who was also chief executive, died suddenly in 2012 in a car accident. Ignacio has run the company only since then. With the announcement of the appointment of his son Kevin Ignacio as Director of Business Development, it turns out that there is a transparent trail of succession in Marion, which employs 290 people. Kevin was an intern at Marion in college in the summers of 2012 and 2014.
FleetOwner recently spoke with Ignacio about the benefits and demanding situations Marion Body Works faces in this succession.
FleetOwner: When did you start feeling it was time for me to take the reins?
Ignacio: I don’t know if I’ve reached that point yet. I’m 66 years old. My father-in-law worked until he was 75. My wife would probably tell me I have to prevent early and enjoy life. Over the next few years, I’ll check to locate the time when I won’t be here on the site. Thanks to technology, I can reach in minutes by phone, email or Microsoft Teams if something happens and the team wants to send me an idea.
FleetOwner: With so many adjustments to the transportation equipment, do you see young people as a credit for being relevant?
Ignacio: That’s precisely the plan Bud, Jim and I had 30 years ago when the first grandchild was born. We have all other young people who wish to put the company in a position of control will have to complete their university studies and paintings elsewhere for at least 3 years before they are considered a task at Marion. We need you to come up with new ideas.
You’re getting short-sighted. I need, for the intelligence of the workers and for the intelligence of the company, other people who, at a minimum, consult the concepts I throw on the table and press the buttons to see if they work.
We have a lot of other very smart people here. Our turnover rate is about 1%. We only know how we did it because that’s how we did it. It’s vital for someone else to look at what we’re doing and say, “What if we carry something? What if we replace him or move him elsewhere?”
This new look will be a great advantage for all the other people who have been around for over 50 years.
We also put Kevin into business progression because we thought it would give him the widest way to be painted on any task we have here. There will be no doors he just doesn’t open.
FleetOwner: What does it mean to stay in the family business circle?
Ignacio: For others who have been here 25, 35 or 50 years, it is vital to know that we are not for sale, that we will not close, that there is a circle of family members who can this place.
When Jim died, I was afraid to sell the business. I made sure everyone knew it wasn’t our plan and it wasn’t our plan. We’re going to honor Jim’s memory, we’re not going to run and hide, we’re going to move on and keep growing.
FleetOwner: And how can your consumers know there’s a manager?
Ignacio: Kevin recently went with a team of six other people to a great taxi visitor because I couldn’t get past it. This is your chance to meet one of our visitors. He participated in a videoconvention with other clients. Some have known him as a child, through corporate purposes with burgers and kids and that sort of thing.
It is vital for customers, as well as our employees, to know that there is coherence, responsibility. Kevin will learn about the history of corporate and the history of this consumer, which is vital to him. Because one day there will be news with this consumer and they won’t know the story. Right now, it’s my job, and it will be your job to figure out how we got here today, here’s why we got here and here’s everything we’ve done to help this consumer.
FleetOwner: What’s new you’re doing to customers?
Ignacio: Try to remove excess weight from a truck. They need a smaller engine, a lighter truck, more payload. I see the last mile market is moving from 26 to 30 feet of direct trucks to shorter trucks. And lower-rated CDL trucks, because it’s harder to locate CDL-rated drivers. And no more refrigerated vans, more delivery material, more deliveries from the last kilometer home.
FleetOwner: How does it feel to be located when you’re going to have to adapt to electrification and other zero-emission, near-zero-emission propulsion systems?
Ignacio: For us it is to understand how to lighten the frame and make all the pieces work. Customers decide, and it’s up to us to know more and make sure we do everything we can to facilitate their service and trust.
The most thing for me is to be a master in the care of the rest of the customers. I learned this from my father: “Listen, pay attention and then pay attention again.” Is it a consultation to see the desire and how to achieve it?
FleetOwner: What do consumers tell you?
Ignacio: They want lighter weights so they don’t want CDL drivers. They also want less difficulty getting in and out of trucks, chassis and back of the truck. Much of these curtains will eventually be loaded and unloaded by hand.
FleetOwner: What do you expect to miss in the transition?
Ignatius: I believe that the culture we have here with our workers and the attention we give to workers and visitors is paramount. What is vital for us is to keep the circle of hard relatives here and the corporate here in the area. We’ve had the fifth worker since I’ve been here 50 years. I’m not sure we’re going to have another one.
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The latest edition of the best-selling pickup includes many protection features, such as the pre-collision assistance warning, as well as the new 3.5 L PFDI V6 engine for greater fuel economy.
What is the logo of a truly safe vehicle? One way to put it, of course, is the collision rate. However, if I’m in the vehicle, I’d rather never be informed about the deformation zones or the speed at which the airbags are deployed. I’m looking for features that help me avoid danger, not melt the blow. And that’s exactly why I wasn’t drawn to the driver’s seat of the Transit Crew Van 2020 at my entrance, which comes with the Ford Co-Pilot360, the car manufacturer’s Advanced Driver Assistance System (ADAS). In addition to some new additions to ADAS, the team seats and intelligent all-wheel drive (AWD) are new to the platform.
“We took the vehicle to the same point as all passenger cars,” said Ray Eyles, a leading program engineer at Ford Transit North America, before my three-day trial period. He said Ford’s engineering team had moved away from the popular industry of quiet vans from the past to “make cars as reasonable as possible” with little emphasis on safety.
Things have changed. “It’s much more for us to make sure we’re also at the forefront of van protection technologies,” Eyles said. “These things are harder to drive, they’re not familiar to people. Visibility in a pickup truck isn’t as smart as in a lot of cars.”
The Co-Pilot360 mitigates all those points with a variety of sensors and cameras. This includes: pre-collision assistance with emergency automatic braking, which alerts the driving force and may interfere when an object is too close to the front bumper; Lane Keeping Assist to warn the driving force, a gentle force on the dashboard and a soft haptic return to the guide wheel if the vehicle is deviating on the line in the absence of an active flasher; and the Blind Spot Information System (BLIS), a convenient sensor that illuminates an alert when a vehicle arrives from the rear.
Pre-collision assistance warning and lane maintenance assistance are standard, while the BLIS is optional. Equipped with this control vehicle, BLIS is by far the ultimate practical assistant for this neophyte dealer. My daily driving force is a Chrysler Town-Country, however, this Transit Crew has a wheelbase of 148 inches, more than two feet more. In general, the Transit is 20 feet long and nine feet high.
For my first mission, I’m about to drive from my home to the outskirts of Cleveland’s metropolitan domain to the narrow Slavic town. My purpose is to leave baby-related items at a charity called Another Chance of Ohio, a commuted home with household items and clothing that allows the network to “take whatever you want, whenever you want what you take.”
I was carrying maybe a hundred pounds in the back of the spacious pickup truck, even with this low load, the new 3.5L V6 PFDI petrol engine didn’t give as much “break” as I would have liked to merge on the road. An EcoBoost 3.5L edition is also available for higher performance and adds idling start/stop function for increased fuel economy.
Photo: John Hitch / FleetOwner
The maneuvers were much less difficult than expected with a vehicle so giant that it didn’t need to damage, and the track verification helped. I would say that for the next version, the BLIS becomes the norm. You never know when an impatient motorist will pass.
Ford’s navigation took me to my destination and, this Transit has improved active parking assistance, I only used the rear camera to go back down the narrow driveway, opened the doors, which can enlarge 253 degrees, and made the descent. The rain began to fall and navigation struggled to help me locate the road, due to the closure of a ramp by structure works. I’m a local, so I discovered my way back on the road just in time for a deluge of heavenly rain falling on me and my fellow drivers. “That’s how I die, ” I thought. Fortunately, the van proved navigable on the new interstate, and probably due to all-wheel drive, I can tell a little bit how much water was running while holding a safe speed of 30 to 35 miles consistent with the hour. The telematics report noted that he had only had a few sudden braking occasions at the start of the holiday (while feeling the van was leaving).
The next day, I made another delivery to Louis Stokes Veterans Hospital, because Ford had enough to donate 4 boxes of masks and face protectors made to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. This unfolded without incident and I felt like I had been driving the vehicle for years.
The Transit Crew 2020 van had three hundred cubic feet of area in the passenger row. Photo: John Hitch / FleetOwner
The only genuine complaint I had was that the navigation refused to get me on the road during my vacation to Milan, Ohio, where I was leaving the van to my colleague, although this is just a setup that can change. In terms of handling and safety, I think Ford has done a perfect balancing exercise and it looks like the 41 years of mastery in the van will continue.
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As of our services, you agree to obtain magazines, electronic newsletters and other communications about Endeavour Business Media’s related offers, its brands, affiliates and/or third parties in accordance with Endeavour’s privacy policy. Contact us by [email protected] or by mail at Endeavor Business Media, LLC, 331 54th Avenue N., Nashville, TN 37209.
You may opt out of receiving our communications at any time by sending an email to [email protected].