JAMES ECKHARDT

When arriving at Spokane Produce my first and largest task was to lower our trucking labor hours and operating costs while at the same time finding new ways to better service our customers and increase our profitability. Despite the unplanned headache of COVID we managed to lower driver overtime by 50%, increased our fleets MPG by 1.5 and built a better working relationship with the five other departments within the company that MUST work in unison for the business to thrive. My ability to accomplish that led me to being promoted to General Manager and taking on new challenges in my professional career. Taking control of facility management, refrigeration and food production we have continued to grow and look for new ways to expand the brand into new markets all while managing 220 team members and reporting directly to ownership of this family business.

• Managed a team of drivers, providing support and guidance to improve performance and productivity.
• Conducted regular evaluations of transportation procedures for continuous improvement opportunities.
• Planned and supervised shipments from production to end-user and scheduled daily and weekly routes.
• Trained new employees on company policies and best practices, fostering a culture of excellence within the department.
• Increased transportation efficiency by optimizing routing and scheduling processes.
• Resolved customer issues efficiently, minimizing lost business due to transportation errors or delays.
• Prepared and updated employees' daily work schedules and resolved delivery problems.
• Developed criteria and application instructions for federal and state public transportation programs.
• Reduced transport costs for the company through strategic negotiations with vendors and carriers.
• Consistently met budgetary targets through effective resource allocation and cost control measures.
• Collaborated with other departments, aligning goals to improve overall company performance.
• Collaborated with planner to schedule and implement backhaul processes to meet third-party backhaul goals.

• While at Kam Way I successfully ran the Hermiston/Spokane branches concocting of 30 OTR trucks making sure each truck hit it targeted metrics to ensure profitability
• As my time grew with Kam Way I began running all of the operations team in Blaine helping them understand the metrics needed to become a profitable operation
• Working with customers strengthening relationships, ensuring we communicate and service our customers at the level they expect and answering directly to the CFO and CEO
• I also created reporting metrics for the entire company to see and understand to help make all departments understand each other and work together with a common goal.

• While at Mike Tamana I have taken on many roles
• I have worked with customers in numerous capacities, became a trusted mentor for our staff and drivers as well as working to establish consistency in our daily operations to make Mike Tamana more financially successful
• I worked to recruit a strong staff and driver fleet as well as working with the staff and drivers already employed at Mike Tamana to help make them stronger
• I have gone on many sales calls to extend our existing commitments as well as bring on new customers that have great value to Mike Tamana's success
• I pride myself in being able to find ongoing solutions for our customers to not only further our success but to also further our customer's success
• I facilitated the transition to electronic logs for our drivers, helping to answer any questions, hosting safety meetings in order to allow our drivers express their concerns as well as being able for us as a company to be able to address any safety issues we are facing
• I have worked to establish a well-rounded safety department that works directly with our maintenance staff so our drivers are safe on the road for the benefit of themselves, the company and all others sharing the road with them
• I brought staff on that brought invaluable customer relations that allowing us to expand the footprint of Mike Tamana to across the United States as well as met that growth with the staff and development of a team driver division
• Combined this has been a financial success for Mike Tamana but also given our customers a solution to their problem while making better use of our equipment and increasing overall driver happiness
• I have single handedly taken over the brokerage division in order to gain more control
• I have been able to turn it around from a division that was often breaking even or ending in monthly losses to a financial staple for the company with roughly a $280k increase between my hire day to the end of 2018
• Additionally, I have worked with many carriers to build valuable relationships for both parties which also adds a benefit for our customers
• There have been many changes and challenges in the time that I have been at Mike Tamana but I have taken those all in stride and worked to my full ability to help find solutions that works for our company, drivers, staff and customers
• I have become a vital part in the company's communication chain often being the first contact for customers, staff, drivers and managers as I pride myself as being a reliable contact always will to go the extra step and constantly holding myself accountable.

• I began my career at TWT as an over-the-road driver
• I showed reliability and knowledge and soon advanced to become a driver trainer
• In time I was moved into an office position where my skills could be further utilized in an operations role
• I started as a dispatcher for 50 company trucks and drivers
• My role was imperative as the communication go-to between drivers, safety, customer service and our company's customers
• Seizing an undeniable opportunity, I helped create and build TWT Logistics from the ground up
• It started as a zero-dollar revenue operation to becoming one of the most successful branches of TWT at 12 million dollars in annual revenue
• After being promoted to the title of Operations Manager I continued to strengthen and grow relationships with our core customers, I built and developed a team division of company drivers to 40 trucks and grew the size and weight division from 6 trucks to 42 trucks
• As Operations Manager I was responsible 23 office employees as well as 160 company drivers ensuring our company was on-time, safe and running legally whilst meeting the needs and demands of our refrigerated customers
• Additionally, as the Operations Manager I was an imperative role in successfully building and implementing the TMW operating system for our company
• Not only being a leader for office employees and drivers alike in training but also making the transition a seamless one while working through the transition of operating systems.