We are a self-performing constructor working at-risk specialty in the specialized energy and transportation businesses. We have a substantial fleet (more than 1,000 pieces owned/leased) and we are looking for a general fleet manager with strong construction acumen, business skills, leadership skills and IT skills to manage all aspects of large fleet ownership and operation. To do this job you would be coming from a fleet leadership position in a self-performing construction (largely civil) environment with substantial experience ranging from financial accounting and critical path scheduling to business process. You have prepared multi-million dollar equipment and maintenance capital budgets, managed a shop system of 50+ persons, developed, maintained and used computer based record keeping systems for maintenance, repair, job billing, and purchasing. You have been key oversight in new equipment evaluations, provided field interface with division managers, and directed all aspects of heavy fleet business from rigging and transportation, to the yard and the weld shop. You believe in IT you are a systems and procedures expert and have developed repeatable standard operating procedures and methods of procedure for everything in your business. You are sharp in every way sharp is defined.

A BETTER CAREER PATH

We are big enough to provide a lifetime of career growth, small enough that you will touch everybody at the top routinely, and have succeeded for decades in powerfully funded niche markets. We are thinkers with a desire to use new concepts and state of the art technologies to manage our business. We are moving for on excellence as opposed to bulk and inertia.

Long term success is about the target markets, their potential and our differentiation. We have unique capacities and sell our services into the very specialized public works (read that largely government money) environment supporting constructions that America needs and constructions that must take place. Eighty years into the business, we have the size, track record of continuous success, stability, loyalty and genuine business integrity that makes this a good place to build a career.

We are a high quality, high integrity and exceptionally stable public works contractor with a history that dates back into the 1920s. We are private, not a family business, profitable and run as an open book company. We have continuously grown, we have planned and continue to plan that growth and it has been done under control.

Our shop is an essential element in the business. It has been a stable employer and well managed and we are passing torches from a senior maintenance shop leadership team that had decades of service here. We had traditionally moved staff up and many of the supervisors and superintendents pulled wrenches and operated equipment for us over the years. We do not have staff that is in any way prepared for the duties and responsibilities of this position, so we are forced to look outside the company.

The business we pursue is diverse government systems construction / public works which means that we are generally working for a government agency, be that municipal, state, or federal. Our big business is transportation and energy related. We have business deals under contract that will not complete for more than 10 years and are acquiring new business continuously. Our growth and success does not track the economy at large. Consumer spending does not stop fundamental infrastructure projects, many of which are critical to National Security. Government job money does not track home mortgages or unrest in the Middle East.

Our fleet services division is part of a system of related business units that makes our whole business program work. You will work directly with the company CEO and president, with our division managers, project managers, equipment operators, at times the actual field operations and will work side by side with the project teams on sites to understand needs and issues. While you will make high-level capital equipment decisions for purchase and replacement, and set up maintenance and overhaul schedules, we are looking for a leader who understands how that equipment is used in the field and what the potential applications and specific machine strengths and limitations are. We are looking to optimize the overall iron strategy and capital equipment balance at all times. We are a bleeding edge and hands on company all at the same time. Finding a business person with contemporary systems management experience, and IT experience that is also a construction and equipment expert is a tough quest but that is what we are after and that is what we need.

We have that half century plus of local relationships and we are a cherished supplier and for the local vendors, a cherished client. You will benefit from service arrangements and purchasing power that is unique because of our size and equipment utilization. You will receive attention and support from the vendors commensurate with our buying power and credit worthiness.

The point of all of this input is that we are a career destination and we are a growth company that does so by formal plan. We are already one of the top rated specialty contractors in the USAand we push every day. We have a multi-state footprint and we are a national rather than regional contractor. While we are looking for the top cog in our fleet system, that system has doubled in size in the past 10 years. We have machines with seven figure single unit price tags and we have more than a few such pieces. This is a sophisticated system. The business targets vital American interests and will grow everyone who is reading this is long gone. This is a career destination for a top fleet professional.

The shop operations are theoretically tied through a database system to an overall enterprise resource management system. You are going to insure that seamless flow of information. Our intent is to run every department and every project under control. It is reasonable to say that fleet systems has not tapped the potential of our existing IT frameworks and is not running up to the standards of the general corporation.

We are constantly looking ahead and trying to improve working conditions, invent tools and systems that make jobs easier and safer and generally look at improving all aspects of operations.

Management is both smart and reasonable. The company has a culture that can be defined by willingness to train and mentor, we have the desire and make the effort to promote from within wherever possible. That effort to bring our people up is part of our culture. This is a class organization run in a smart, ethical and high performance way. In this case, and for the size and requirements of this business, we simply do not have a person that we can promote, and no way to train or mentor for the skill sets we are requesting.

Where you invest your career years determines the possibilities for your career, the goodness and security of your future and from my observations, your mental health. We are a fierce and sometimes an unbeatable competitor because we have made huge investments in vertical integration. We self-perform in areas none of the competitors do in our marketplaces.  Many of our machines are specialized, and some are proprietary custom builds that no manufacturer offers at all. We have tooled work that the competition still does the old fashion way and there are cases we have doubled productivity. Management here has that future orientation and the wiliness to invest in big dollar capital equipment and R&D to develop custom task-specific machinery systems that give us a big edge by giving our company unmatched productivity. We have the brilliant strategists and risk managers that will be behind the goodness of your future here.

We’ve got the right markets, we have got the work, we have the financial strength, we have the smarts, we are a people sensitive business to a greater extent that most large heavy construction companies and that is what makes us a great place for you if you have the skills and character that fit.

THE JOB

Being the director of a major heavy fleet means having an eye on all aspects of operations and making sure it is running in accordance with plan, servicing the internal clients, preserving construction schedules, operating smoothly, minimizing expenses and maximize all measurable productivity.  We are not operating a Profit/Loss center today, though there are a number of executives that are considering that. At this point we need fulfill the needs of our internal clients, the construction divisions, and to do so with the greatest speed and lowest possible cost to the company. We also need to be able to see all the activity and costs in real time, and get prompt cost allocations to the proper projects.

Financial management is a large portion of the job responsibility. That presumes you know how to read and interpret a reasonably complex balance sheet. This presumes that you know how to use financial accounting tools, are strong there, and relentless about keep operations tight on “paper”. Your will inherit fleet analysis and business planning responsibilities, and capital budget formulation for the shop. This is an old business, so the start here is warm, but we have not done a good job in financial accounting and tracking the allocation of costs.

Perhaps a derivative of finance is capital equipment purchasing, disposal and replacement. Most equipment has life cycle history sufficiently deep to have identified a point in hours when we will replace, or that is our presumption. The goal is clear beyond identification of right fit equipment: the key is to identify what pieces need to be rotated out of what service types precisely when. Following the life cycle analysis and optimizations the issues are the movement of depreciated machinery and decisions related to the trade, private sale or whatever means of disposal it is that proves to be the most economical for disposing of capital assets. Considerations there include your time, shop time, risk, and tax benefits.

You are the warranty director and should assemble warranty registration records, track warranty services and maximize use of warranty and FACTORY POLICY to the maximum of its potential.

You will be responsible for the management of rental, leasing, and rent to buy for the fleet and a deep knowledge of machines, our varying field conditions, machine application and good ROI modeling is required to be successful in that area.

The management of staff is a major responsibility. You will be part of the hiring process; you will be part of the review process for the more senior staff and line managers in the fleet system, which consists of half a dozen or so management personnel.

You set the standards and policy for preventative maintenance and you will detail the systems for the capture and accurate monitoring/tracking of that work. This is politically sensitive because maintenance has to minimally disrupt field operations. Not easy.

You are also the education, workforce training and leadership development manager for the shop. You will develop syllabus and curriculum for specialized needs. You will manage association memberships and subcontractors and schools to be used for training. You will match our employee’s skills levels to needs and will manage career paths and attendant training and education for all shop personnel.

You are our shop risk manager. You will be a safety liaison and responsible for shop and yard operations. You will chair and oversee safety meetings and interface with the safety department and field safety engineers. You are the forensic oversight for all accidents that fall within your area of responsibility. We are a ZERO TOLERANCE company when it comes to safety.

You will be responsible for interaction and participate in negotiation with unions, your will assess pay structures and you will participate in risk analysis and benefits reviews related to employment.

You are responsible for directives that drive hiring and firing, and have overall responsibility to maintain good communications with all personnel.  You are responsible for staffing levels and need to have enough quality staff but not too much staff or non-performing staff. Those tough decisions are yours. The maintenance of a high level of morale is a goal for the company and your operations as well. Keeping a high performance team where everyone pulls their weight is one of the keys to good morale.

You will be a principal vendor interface for equipment purchasing, vehicles purchasing, tools and shop systems and facilities, and deeply involved in all fleet systems purchasing. You may delegate some of these responsibilities but you will have formulated policy for matters you delegate and you will assure conformance with your policies.

You will review jobs, personnel allocations and progress on the schedules with the shop superintendents. For very large field projects that have big machinery and mobile mechanic allocations you will be involved in critical path methodology scheduling, which has not been a formal practice. As jobs have multiple phases and there are clear precedents or thing that must be done in a particular order, we see the need to have leadership that knows how to build and detail a critical path schedule. If you have used a Primavera scheduling product or Microsoft Project to schedule equipment and maintenance for a complex long duration civil construction program, that would be an asset here.

You will be part of the diagnostic process and watch for unusual conditions, machine abuse or unusual failure modes. You may direct operator training where you believe failures are precipitated by inexperience or improper application of machines.

You will do ROI analysis for all sorts of equipment for a very wide variety of projects. You will become an expert on our various types of construction circumstances, which will entail site visitations. You will maintain and advance your personal knowledge of machine applications, staying in touch with vendor development, new machines, tools, systems and techniques. We are looking for a heavy machinery applications strategist.

You are responsible for all shop facilities and their operations. You will control shop meetings and set the agendas and content.

There are dozens on miscellaneous activities from review of need for custom capital equipment, to yard oversight, weld shop oversight, and refinement of all operational activity from dispatch and service writing, to call management and call record keeping.

In the end, you are the driving force to keep the whole process happily and efficiently moving along, and you are responsible for growing it as the company grows, and ceaselessly improving it.

Here is the trick: The trick is to identify the problems and to develop systems and processes that are repeatable and can be delegated to routinely manage all the unexpected issues. Our historical failure mode here has been micromanagement, and while we employ some very talented and committed micro-managers, in their absence, the systems break down. We want to get away from small picture management and put the good systems in place and SOPs to go along with them. That is what we are looking for in you and from you.

QUALIFICATIONS

It is really the ability to demonstrate consistent success performing the functions we have carefully outlined above. You must be a heavy equipment specific fleet professional coming out of a self-performing construction environment that is performing project based work with the attendant inviolable schedules, you must have the financial skills and HR skills and you must be a powerful systematization person and solid user of information technology to control and monitor all the service, maintenance, purchasing, and operational processes. You are also a good construction and machine head. You know machines and the field.  Finally, we need a leader. You will have to push senior managers. You will have to fight for what is necessary. You must be able to justify your requests, policies and allocations. You will need a powerful (but not a “bully”), and compelling personality and natural personal authority and you will need genuine solid intellect. I have seen people I would consider unflappable and unflappable would be good here. At the risk of identifying my advancing years, Henry Kissinger was such a man. Yes, he was short of personality, but he got the job done.

COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS

The company provides a base salary, company profit sharing, merit/performance bonus, 401K with match (50% first 6% salary), medical and dental insurance, disability insurance, vehicle allowance or vehicle and gas, computer equipment, cell phone, and business expense account.  Base compensation for this position ranges from $135,000.00 to $165,000.00, with bonus for a contributing manager to fall into the twenty (20) percent range. There is not a specific bonus cap, and if you deliver excellence we will make sure you are justly rewarded. You will find our management ranks SUPER STABLE. That only happens when you are taking care of your people.

HOW TO APPLY

Please email a cover letter and resume DIRECTLY (not through a job board) to the address below. DO NOT POST A RESUME PUBLICLY IN RESPONSE TO THIS JOB.

Email us:

EMAIL: construction@entermail.net

SUBJECT LINE: FLEETGM

PROTECTING YOUR PRIVACY

A technical consultant will do first resume screenings. Our policy is that NO INFORAMTION AT ALL can come back to us without your permission. This person knows the business and what we are looking for in a leader. The exchange will be productive from the first call.

Please provide phone numbers for day and evening contact, acceptable calling times, and any warnings about calling that must be followed to maintain confidential communication.

Thank you!