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Trailcon Leasing Inc. began operating in Mississauga in 1992 with just one employee, President Al Boughton. Al has more than 35 years of experience in the trucking industry, and has served as chairman of the Ontario Trucking Association’s Allied Trades Division and member of the OTA Board of Directors. He was the first member of the Allied Trades Division to be named to the OTA executive committee. Since its inception, Trailcon’s fleet of equipment has grown to over 5,000 units servicing companies such as A&P, Andlauer Transportation, Canada Cartage, Canpar Transport, Cascades, HBC Logistics, MacKinnon Transport, Norampac, Sobey’s, Sylvite Transportation, and TNT - to name a few. Trailcon was the first company to move into the Ontario Transportation centre, which is located in the Derry Road – Highway 407 – Highway 410 hub. Its modern facility, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, includes space for more than 100 trailers in the rear and office space for more than 60 employees and mobile mechanics. Trailcon Leasing has also expanded to Markham and Edmonton. With these additions, it now has a base from which to serve the needs of customers throughout the GTA and Western Canada for leasing, renting, and servicing wide varieties of trailer equipment.
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Trucking Industry Loses One of its Finest Canadian Trucking Alliance Exclusive interview with Trailcon's Al Boughton: Part 2 By: Lous Smirlis June 1, 2005 Trailcon Leasing's Al Boughton By: Lou Smyrlis May 1, 2005 Industry Mourns Popular Trucking Figure MISSISSAUGA, Ont. (Mar. 16, 2005) |
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Trailcon Leasing opens Edmonton branch September 20, 2007 Trailcon Leasing joins NationaLease as charter trailer member June 30, 2006 Trailcon Leasing announces new sales executive Posted by Julia Kuzeljevich May 25, 2006 Trailcon Leasing marks record year in 2005 Posted by Julia Kuzeljevich April 10, 2006 |
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Trailcon Leasing opens Edmonton branch Mississauga, ON—Trailcon Leasing Inc. has opened a branch in Edmonton to serve customers in the thriving province of Alberta. Dave Ambrock, an industry veteran and most recently general manager of Legal Freight Systems in Edmonton, is branch manager of the new location, responsible for all sales and operations. Edmonton is a strategic location for Trailcon Leasing. With the recent opening of the Fairview Container Terminal in Prince Rupert, B.C., the city will serve as a major rail hub link for containers arriving in Prince Rupert from the Far East. Edmonton is also a base for transportation to and from the Alberta oil sands. The new Trailcon branch is a partnership with Gateway Trailer Repairs, with whom it shares the building and who will service all the equipment. The branch will off er all the same services — including mobile repair units — and equipment as our existing locations in Mississauga and Markham, Ont. “The new branch in Edmonton represents a major step in the growth and expansion of Trailcon Leasing Inc. into the Western Canadian market,” says Alan Boughton, president of Trailcon Leasing Inc.
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Trucking Industry Loses One of its Finest Canpar Chief John Cyopeck Passed Away Over Weekend (Toronto: April 17) – John Cyopeck, CEO of Canpar LLC, Chairman of the Canadian Trucking Alliance, and Vice Chairman of the Ontario Trucking Association passed away peacefully this weekend in his sleep. The 60 year old trucking industry leader, husband and father, and friend and mentor to many will be sorely missed, said CTA CEO David Bradley today. “John’s wife, Maureen, and his children have lost a loving husband and father. Many others have lost a friend and mentor. The entire trucking industry has lost one of its true gentlemen and finest leaders,” said Bradley. “John’s battle with brain cancer over the last year and a half or so was well-known. Still, when the news came of his passing it was a great shock. Many of us had been with John just a few days before at the CTA annual meeting. While it was clear that his illness, surgery and the treatments he had received were taking a toll on John, nobody anticipated that the end would come so soon. We all wanted so badly for him to beat his cancer. For the longest time he seemed to be doing so marvellously well and had inspired all of us to believe; to be positive; and to be charitable to others even less fortunate. “In time, I hope we will come to see the suddenness of John’s passing as a blessing. He died at home, in his sleep. “My last words to him now seem so ironic. In providing the CEO’s report at the CTA’s annual general meeting, I told John what a privilege it has been to work with and for him during his first year as chairman. I spoke for all when I said what an example of courage, of decency, and of selflessness he and Maureen had set for all of us. But, I also said to him that while he had accomplished so much during the preceding year, I know that if he could, he would have wanted to slow time down. John looked at me and nodded. “Not to diminish what John achieved over his half-century in the trucking industry, or his many acts of charity over the years, but during the last year he had more impact on more people’s lives than most of us could hope for in an entire lifetime. John’s Delivering a Dream campaign on behalf of the Trillium Health Centre (Cyopeck raised $1.3 million towards the construction of a facility to construct a new MRI unit) is the stuff of industry legend. The campaign was a success not because John was sick, but because of the man himself. The industry would have rallied around John had he been in perfect health. That is how admired he was. “John would not want us to feel sorry for him. Often he reminded us how blessed he felt. He had a loving family. He had a wonderful career. He had many friends. That is true. He would want us to carry on building the industry and the associations he so believed in. But, it is we who knew John, who were lucky enough to call him friend, or simply to be inspired by him, who were blessed, and who will continue to be blessed so long as we carry John’s memory with us,” concluded Bradley. Friends may call at the Turner & Porter Peel Chapel, 2180 Hurontario Street, Mississauga (Hwy. 10 N. QEW) 2-4 and 6-9 pm on Thursday and 5-9 pm on Friday. Funeral Mass will be held at St. Patrick’s Church, 921 Flagship Dr. (at Tomken) on Saturday, April 22 at 11 am. If desired, donations in John’s memory may be made to Gerry and Nancy Pencer Brain Tumour Centre, c/o Princess Margaret Hospital or Trillium Health Centre-Mississauga.
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Trailcon Leasing's Al Boughton By: Lou Smyrlis MISSISSAUGA, Ont. - Truck News speaks with Al Boughton in part one of an exclusive interview discussing the challenge of growing a new company and a new culture with no ceilings. TN: It's impossible to discuss Trailcon without speaking about Al Boughton. Not only are you a large part of what created this company but you have such a presence within the industry. And although the industry has changed over the years it is still characterized by straight shooters who like to know exactly whom and what they're dealing with. There are many different perceptions about who Al Boughton really is. Which is the correct one? Boughton: They say that who you are in personality is a sum of all the people you've met and listened to. So, who am I? I'm a mosaic that will be different tomorrow than it is today. I'm George Hendrie, I'm Dan Einwechter, I'm Cam Carruth and David Bradley, Jim Wilson and Stan Dunford. From a business point of view and values and what Trailcon is all about, a great portion of that comes from George Hendrie, my former boss at Provincial Trailer Rental. Probably an equal amount of that is Jim Wilson and the friendship that we've had since 1981 and our partnership we started here in 1992. Over the years I've tried to take the best of the people I met in this industry. George Hendrie would tell me there's three parts to your business: your suppliers, your customers and your employees. And if you treat any one of them differently you find the formula for failure. Customers can become suppliers, suppliers can become employees and employees can become customers. TN:Another thing that makes you stand out is all the work you do for the industry; for the Ontario Trucking Association, for example. Obviously it makes business sense to do so but it seems like you are having too much fun for it to be just because of that. Boughton: I admit my first motivation was selfish. I attended my first convention at the Royal York Hotel and was blown away by every one standing up as they piped the head table in. As I stood there clapping and these people came in who were industry legends, I made up my mind that this was going to be a goal of mine to be at the head table of an OTA function. As I was elected to my first board in 1977-78, the guys who were on the board were so great, so giving, I couldn't wait to help. And when I decided to do things myself, other people couldn't wait to help me out. TN: You're pretty straightforward in your opinions and how you express them. Looking at it from a business standpoint, has that perhaps hurt you sometimes? Are there things you've said that you wish you hadn't? Boughton: I certainly have created some friction in the industry - for example a year ago with the OTA - because I'm passionate about what I think needs to be done. Being forward, does it cost you? Yes - but when you walk into a business meeting today and the customer greets you, the pleasantries that used to be the bulk of the meeting are now a small part of the front and back end. Why? Because everybody is so busy. So I think I'm more effective today because of my personality. They immediately want to talk business. What can you do for us? Having a straightforward approach is probably more effective than the touch-feely approach we had in the '70s and '80s. TN: The day you founded Trailcon was the scariest day of your life, you've admitted in the past. Take us back to that time. What prompted you to leave a comfortable position and take this risk? Boughton: It was October 1992 and I was the president of Provincial Trailer Rental (PTR) when I left. The Hendrie family owned PTR and then sold it to a new ownership group whose methods of business were different from ours. As you know with any leveraged buyout comes huge amounts of debt and it changes the way you do business. It required a change in business philosophy and I was not comfortable working in that environment. I liked the old way of doing business. TN: If, back then, you could have looked ahead to now, is this where you would have expected to be? Boughton: At our first Christmas party we had four people, including spouses. This year we had close to 120. One of our mechanics asked me the exact same question at this year's party and I told him my favourite politician - and I don't have many that I like - was Bobby Kennedy. Though JFK was always known for his "don't ask what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country," Bobby Kennedy said: "some people see the way things are and ask why, and I see the way they could be and ask why not?" I've never had a glass ceiling. The first day I wanted to see if I could get one trailer on the road. Once I got one, I tried for two and after I got to five, then it was 10, and so on. I never did then, and still have not, set a ceiling on what we can achieve. |
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Exclusive interview with Trailcon's Al Boughton: Part 2 By Lou Smyrlis MISSISSAUGA, Ont. - Truck News interviewed Al Boughton on the challenge of growing a new company and a new culture - with no ceilings. This is the conclusion of the two-part interview... TN: Starting anew, with your own money on the line when you started Trailcon, must have made for some tense moments. Boughton: I'll tell you, until then I didn't know what a panic attack was. My first day on the job back in 1992, this wave came over me. I felt faint. I put the key in the door and walked into this building and realized I was incapable of even understanding exactly how the copy machine worked. I had no people and I had to somehow run this company. No customers, no revenue. It was terrifying. But the wave didn't last for more than a few seconds. I did what I do best. I picked up the phone and called someone. From that point on I never felt that way again because by the end of the first week I had actually put eight trailers on the road. I started to do the math, and thought wow we could make money at this. In 2003 we did 711 trailers and $29.6 million in revenue, which was a record year for us. TN: You had a large part to play in creating Kenderry Gate. What has this location meant to the success of Trailcon? Boughton: One of the things we wanted to do is to take the image of transportation and remove the word "ugly" from it. People associate anything to do with transportation with being unsightly, noisy, dirty and unprofessional. What we tried to do with the 26 acres we had to design was to put on a more modern appearance; we wanted to put our best foot forward. If you take a look at our building, for example, even though we moved here in 1996, it's still a modern appearance. If you come here in the summer time you won't find a nicer place. We have grass, rocks and flowers. The location also ties everyone in. We have Manac and Trailmobile, a reefer supplier, etc. It has been positive from an image point of view and positive from having suppliers close. I can bring a customer here and say let's go look at this trailer or reefer and just walk him across the street. We are like a supercentre - it's one-stop shopping. TN: Image is clearly important to you - whether it's having a modern building or a sharp-looking suit. Where does your attention to image stem from and would the industry be better off if it paid greater attention to image do you think? Boughton: The first trip I ever went on with Jim Wilson, we were going skiing and we were flying to Aspen. We went on the airplane and we were on the front of the plane and he said something about being uncomfortable. I asked why and he said this was the first time he had ever been on an airplane without a tie on. His father would say you should always wear a tie when on an airplane because you never know who you are going to meet and who you are going to sit next to. It was something that stuck. I think the industry as a whole could benefit by us putting our best foot forward by dressing appropriately and acting appropriately, although I guess I'm sometimes guilty of not doing the latter. TN: Let's talk about leasing. What do you see as the major issues affecting your customers going into the next few years and how has leasing in general, and Trailcon specifically, evolved to be in tune with such customer needs? Boughton: Productivity and compliance are the two biggest issues for the customer. Productivity requires having the best assets in place. For example, Pizza Pizza has all these trailers that no one else has - with special side doors and compartments. To design the trailers for them was a very arduous process but worthwhile from a productivity standpoint. The other thing is compliance - making sure the trailers we put on the road don't have a negative impact on a customer's CVOR - which means proper maintenance at the right time. Customers can't afford downtime because the trailer is broken down or have the driver sitting at the dock because the trailer lights don't work. They can't have a load delivered spoiled because the reefer ran out of fuel. The demands of our customers are the demands of their own customers, and they continue to increase. Everybody wants to go harder. If my customer needs to have his reefers fueled at four in the morning because he wants to get on the road before the traffic starts, then I have to have them fuelled by four in the morning. That's the challenge and then to try to take all these demands from different customers and fit them into a schedule that still allows us to be profitable. TN: What are the major challenges that leasing companies themselves face in trying to keep up with customer demands? Boughton: Growth itself presents a challenge. You are constantly bringing new people in, which requires attention be paid to training and ensuring that every one who comes in is not only singing off the same page of the hymn book but actually knows the hymn book. The demands of the customer are not unreasonable because they are a direct reflection of what they need to do to make their business sustainable in a changing market. You need to be ready to change all the time. Every Tuesday morning we have every manager here and every single item that needs to happen in the future is discussed. If we are not a leader we are a follower and I hate to be a follower. We need to be better because the customer comes to us expecting to be better. You need to be able to say to the customer, we've run our own tests on this tire and this is the kind of improved performance we are finding. That's what reinforces in his mind he is making the right decision. TN: What's the impact of the steel shortage on your ability to get new trailers and how do you see this situation playing itself out? Do you see it having an impact on the decision to lease? Boughton: It was an issue in 2004; it slowed supply down no question about it. We have some smaller suppliers who didn't have the clout to influence on-time delivery. And it wasn't just steel, many raw materials were affected. Tires were worse than steel. We had trailers built with no tires. It drove the price of trailers up and it slowed deliveries down. Both of those left the customer unhappy. Where does it go from here? Ask China. We don't know the amount of steel they will be using up as they continue to plow consumer products back into the North American market. But China is going to continue to be a major consumer of natural resources. TN: So you see the shortage having an impact on the buy versus lease decision of smaller carriers? Boughton: No question, particularly if a carrier can be flexible on the specifications. We spec' a trailer a particular way with a number of maintenance reducing items, from heavy-duty dollies to LED lighting. If the customer has 30 options but can live with 18 of the revenue-producing options we go with, and we can make his order part of our 150-trailer order instead of his 10, the price becomes so substantially less than what the order of 10 would be. It becomes very palatable for him because he doesn't have to put the capital out. He can spend his money on primary areas such as warehousing or buying new trucks, satellite tracking or invest it in his people. I think the trend towards leasing will continue as long as the carrier continues to struggle with margin. TN: The trailer market itself is on the upswing. What impact is the upturn having on leasing opportunities? And how is the high Canadian dollar playing into this? Boughton: If a carrier phones a trailer manufacturer and wants five trailers, the manufacturer will build them but the price is going to be up here and delivery is going to be several months out. We fill big orders so we can offer advantages on price and delivery to our customers. TN: Trailer purchases can make up to 1/3 of a carrier's CAPEX. Is it your sense that Canadian fleets pay as close attention to their trailer assets as they should? Have they twigged in to the financial and other benefits of leasing or does the industry still have an education process ahead of it? Boughton: There is a lot of attention paid to the tractor to ensure the right level of comfort for the driver, onboard technology, etc. But the last time I checked you can't get a lot of freight inside the tractor. Customers don't pay as much attention but that can also be a direct reflection of having good providers that take care of looking after a lot of the trailer equipment. Trailers are built better than before. The technology is superior. The maintenance scheduling can be stretched out just like in your car. There's not as much complexity in the maintenance as long as you spec' it right. If we've done our job right we become invisible to the carrier's operation. TN: There's a lot to think about in making the decision to lease. What would you consider the main things a fleet owner should understand about his operation before making the decision to lease? Boughton: Number one is do you have the capital to buy the trailers and if you don't you better be leasing. Is the return on buying a trailer equal to the return you get by buying a tractor or extending a warehouse, or investing in software? That's really 1A. and 1B is what are your maintenance capabilities? If you are not prepared to run a shop and invest in the personnel, hardware and software to manage that fleet, recognizing how important your CVOR is, then you shouldn't be even thinking of going to anything but a full-maintenance lease. The trailer then becomes an invisible component of the business. TN: Effective and efficient maintenance management is increasingly important for carriers required to pay higher insurance premiums and under pressure to boost productivity. What's your advice for how to properly evaluate a leasing company's maintenance capabilities? Boughton: Is it real or is it script? Anybody can say they have the service. When you've given the job to somebody else and you find out they don't really have the equipment and procedures in place to take care of it, it's a really lousy time to find out, particularly when you've signed a five-year deal. Ask for their customer list. Take any number of names off the list and call them. If you ask for references, they will always give you just the good ones. TN: Where would you like to see this company 10 years from now? Boughton: Ten years from now I think our market penetration will continue to expand. We will grow as the industry grows. How quickly you implement technology and how quickly you will be able to be responsive to the needs of the customer is crucial. If we are faster, more efficient and respond better than Brand X, where are we going to be? More branches, expansion into the U.S. You know what, when we started the company our goal was to reach 2,000 trailers, then it became 4,000, now it's 5,000 by end of this year. Why not 15,000 or 20,000? Will we branch out of trailers? No, but we may have more specialty trailers. There's no ceiling. |
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Industry Mourns Popular Trucking Figure The following article has been taken, with the permission of Today's Trucking magazine www.todaystrucking.com MISSISSAUGA, Ont. (Mar. 16, 2005) -- He wasn't a vocal industry lobbyist or outspoken fleet owner, but it seems anyone in trucking from these parts knew who Donald Newsom was. Don Newsom -- known as "The Wrench" to friends -- was vice-president of maintenance, safety and compliance at Quik X Transportation since 2001 and also a member of the Ontario Trucking Association Maintenance Council. He passed away late last month due to heart complications. He was 65. "Don was extremely knowledgeable in the industry. He always kept things real simple -- facts were facts -- and he always planned ahead with both feet on the ground," says Quik X President and CEO Gary Babcock, whose relationship with Don stretches back to their days together at TNT Transport. "He was tremendous at mentoring people, and extremely well respected -- whether it was his own employees or suppliers, you never heard anyone say anything but the best about Don. Added Alan Boughton, president of Trailcon Leasing and personal friend to Don: "There's two words we use at Trailcon to describe our business -- honesty and integrity. Those words describe Don Newsom perfectly," Boughton told TodaysTrucking.com. "He was the type of guy where the job at hand and the company he worked for were always his focus. You never got anything for nothing from Don, but I'll tell you, he was as fair and knowledgeable of a guy you're ever going to meet. Boughton confirmed that he's recently made plans with the OTA's Education Foundation to donate a $1,000 scholarship in Don Newsom's memory for a student who is completing a heavy-duty mechanic course at a recognized college. It's been over three weeks since Don last strolled the halls of Quik X, but it will still be some time before the staff here can get over him no longer being around, Babcock says. "We took it extremely hard. This place was in shock for a while," he said. Not only will Don be remembered at Quik X for his professional contributions to fleet and driver safety, but also for making everyone at the Mississauga, Ont.-based fleet laugh at the drop of a hat. "I've never known anyone with the one-liners that (he had)," Babcock tells Today's Trucking. "You never knew where they were going to come from next. He just had them ready." Although he wasn't someone who craved the limelight, his funeral attracted dozens of people from all aspects of the Canadian trucking industry. "It was unbelievable how many people showed up to the funeral," one Quik X staffer says. "I think his family was really able to see how much of an impact he had on the industry and how much he was respected." Boughton says Don was a natural-born leader. "He wasn't the guy pounding on the table. He just did it," he says. Don is survived by his wife Dorothy, his children Danny, Debbie, and Dave; and grandchildren Jason, Michelle, Lindsey, Ryan, Dayna, and Dalton.
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Trailcon Leasing joins NationaLease as charter trailer member June 30, 2006 For immediate release Mississauga, ON—Trailcon Leasing Inc. has joined NationaLease, the largest truck leasing system in North America, as the charter member of the organization’s new trailer division. As a member of NationaLease, Trailcon joins more than 550 truck leasing companies across North America. Trailcon customers will benefit significantly from this relationship. “As a result of our membership in NationaLease, our customers will enjoy the benefits of full-service coverage throughout North America,” says Jim Wedgewood, Chief Financial Officer of Trailcon. “In addition, all service requests will receive ‘priority’ status when they are handed over to a service contact in any area.” As the charter trailer member, Trailcon will provide emergency service to other future trailer leasing members. Trailcon will also have access to NationaLease’s many purchasing programs, as well as to some new initiatives geared to non-power leasing. Alan Boughton, President of Trailcon, will serve as the NationaLease company representative. For more information, contact: Alan Boughton, President
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Trailcon Leasing announces new sales executive By: posted by Julia Kuzeljevich In this capacity, Gallagher will direct all sales and marketing efforts of Trailcon Leasing, developing and expanding the company's customer base, as well as working closely with its supplier network. He reports directly to the president. Gallagher has over 13 years of sales and marketing experience in the transportation industry. Most recently, he was corporate sales executive for key major accounts. |
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Trailcon Leasing marks record year in 2005 By: posted by Julia Kuzeljevich From its beginnings in 1992, Trailcon Leasing has grown to offer tailor-made solutions - including rental, lease and buy services, along with guaranteed maintenance and service programs ñ to its ever-increasing customer base. Last year, Trailcon also placed its largest chassis order since the boom period of the early '90s, reflecting the steady growth of inter-modal transport, said the release.
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