Maxim Messenger: June 2022

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President's Message

Greetings and welcome to our June 2022 Maxim Messenger.

Well, the past year was quite the year as we continued to manage through COVID 19, experience greater uncertainty in the world around us and sell through a Supply & Demand cycle the likes of which we have not seen before. I believe our focus on teamwork and working better together to serve our customers had a significant impact on our success in managing our way through a very difficult year.

We knew going into the year that we would be facing many challenges and our goal was to go above and beyond, working together with our customers through the difficult situations. The disappointing communication throughout the year from our suppliers was: production capacity being reduced, production being pushed out on current orders, component shortages, component price increases, equipment not being built to completion, price increases and surcharges for orders in the system, and Dealers being put on allocations limiting what we were able to sell. As an aggressive sales organization that takes pride in leading the way… this news was hard to accept, and I am extremely proud of the effort and professionalism of the Maxim team and working with our customers to the best of their ability. Thank-you!

For our sales and financial results, our sales volume was behind forecast and up 3% vs our prior year. Our financial results finished ahead of our forecast for the year, and we trust that trend will continue through Q1 & Q2 for the year ahead.

We always like to recognize performance and our Top 3 Branches for financial performance and improvement year-over-year were:                               

To our loyal and dedicated employees, I would like to thank-you for your commitment and taking pride in your work. We appreciate those who can keep a positive attitude and lead by example while they work to get the job done. We are always “On the Lookout” for good people and if you know someone who would be a good fit, please make the introduction so we can see if there is an opportunity and welcome them to the Maxim team!

On June 9^th we hosted a charity BBQ in Winnipeg in support of Harvest Manitoba, and I am happy to share that the event was a HUGE success. For everyone who volunteered and helped towards making the event a success, I would like to thank-you for making a difference and Giving Back to help support people in need. I am proud of the great people that make Maxim a great place to work!

Wishing all of you and your families a safe & healthy summer!

Sincerely,

 

 

 

 

 

 

Troy Hamilton, President

 

Service and Operations

The purpose of this memo is to give you all a quick update of how Maxim Service and our Fleet Maintenance Group fared since our last newsletter (in December 2021).

Service Financial Results

Service finished Fiscal 2021-22 with financial results ahead of the same period last year (up 6.8%)

Top 3 Performing Branches	Top 3 Most Improved Branches
1. Regina	1. Winnipeg Trailers
2. Thunder Bay	2. Saskatoon
3. Prince Albert	3. Winnipeg Southside

 

Service - New Location

• Todd Wilcox, Kevin Kowalchuk, and the Service Team in Prince Albert (with support from Chris Pichette and the PA Parts Team) successfully launched a second location in the city, which officially opened on June 01/22.
• The new shop (designated Branch N) is located on the North end of the city and is focused on providing Trailer Service and Parts for our growing customer base in the region.
• Congratulations to the PA team for all the efforts made getting ready for this exciting launch.

New Maxim Branch N in Prince Albert is a branch focused on trailer repairs & maintenance. 

Service - New Offering

• Continuing with the Prince Albert theme, the Parts and Service Teams secured the right to call themselves an Authorized Allison Repair Centre.
• While this initiative was led by Kevin Kowalchuk (Branch O Service Manager) there was good cooperation from all departments to ensure we met the training, tooling, and parts inventory requirements necessary to earn this designation.
• Being an Authorized Allison Repair Centre will help us better support not only our valued customers in the region, but our own Lease and Rental fleet as well.
• Great work Team PA!

Fleet Maintenance

• Supply chain challenges (related to the addition of replacement units to our fleet and the availability of parts to repair downed fleet units) continued to impact our operations in the second half of the year.
• Also, our Service shops across the country were all quite busy during this period (particularly during what turned out to be a very difficult winter in many regions) and made it a challenge to get fleet units in and out of the shops in a timely manner.
• However, Maxim’s Fleet Maintenance Manager Gillian Giesbrecht and her Central Fleet Maintenance (CFM) Team worked diligently to ensure our fleet remained on the road supporting our valued customers.

People

• Kevin Ambrose (Branch 1 Service Manager since 2017) decided to move on to an Outside Parts Sales role (still in the Maxim family), and we wish him the best of luck in this new capacity;
• David Bacon (Branch K Service Manager since 2019) agreed to take on the challenge of replacing Kevin as Service Manager at Branch 1;
• Jamie Robinson was hired to be our new Service Manager at Branch K and brings a wealth of experience to the Maxim Service Management Team;
• Keith Yakimchuk returned to Maxim as a Service Sales Professional in Winnipeg (all branches);
• Bethany Dickson (Calgary), Shaelyn Evans (Prince Albert), Danielle Pailing (Thunder Bay) and Mykala-Lynn Johnston (Winnipeg – Branch 1) were added as Service Advisors/Administrators;
• Kyra Reyes was added as a Central Fleet Maintenance (CFM) Advisor in Winnipeg;
• Thomas Lightfoot was added as a Yardperson at Winnipeg Collision/Recycling; and,
• The following technicians were added across our network (Gavin Crossley – Brandon, James Hutlet – Winnipeg Collision, Ashton Denysiuk – Winnipeg Recycling, Taylor Schwam – Edmonton, Aiden Gettis – Prince Albert, Kieron Hoko – Prince Albert, Kade Johnson – Prince Albert, Jordan Esopenko – Prince Albert, Derek Crossman – Saskatoon, Adryan Ens – Saskatoon, Parris Ackerman – Saskatoon, Aaron Swirsky – Saskatoon, Hunter Reilly – Regina Trucks, Richard Gardner – Calgary, Firdous Zawari – Calgary, Travis Townsend – Calgary, Jordan Johnston – Calgary, Stuart Fraser - Winnipeg Trailers, Robert Friesen – Winnipeg Trailers, Hermie Amante – Winnipeg Trailers, Sukhmandeep Ghuman – Winnipeg Trailers, Don Sparks – Winnipeg Southside, Sahil Kumar – Winnipeg Southside, and Simarpal Pannu – Tereck Diesel/Winnipeg Eastside).

• 

• 

• 

• 

Congratulations to all of you and we appreciate you taking on these new challenges within Maxim!

Closing

With COVID, our world seemed to get more complicated on a number of fronts.  Now that the threat of COVID has reduced somewhat, many new challenges (such as the logistics issues I have noted above) have reared their ugly heads.  With all these challenges facing us each day, I sincerely appreciate the fact our dedicated Maxim Team members continue to show up each day and work hard to support our valuable customers in their efforts to keep our economy moving.

In closing, I hope each of you get a chance to enjoy some of the long-awaited summer weather with family and friends.

You have earned it.

Take care.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kyle Cuthbert, Senior Vice President of Service & Operations

Parts

For our sales and financial results, Parts finished ahead of last year’s results, and we had a great year overall. We have grown sales and profit two years in a row and are back on track after less than favorable results two years ago. The gain on sales is due to the new route optimization program and salesmen metrics that were put in place. We are also seeing many new customers buying from us and our current customers are purchasing more product than during regular times. I believe the fleets want to ensure they can continue business as usual and sometimes that means buying inventory while it is available.

Top 3 branches this fiscal year are:

We have added 4 new Sales members this fiscal year: Jeff Knapp (WPG Trucks), Joel Wray (WPG Trailers), Troy Albert (Regina) and Kevin Ambrose (WPG Trucks). 

All four of these new Sales members are a welcome addition to our Sales team, each one of them in their own way has done a great job helping Maxim grow our market share.

We are still short three outside sales positions, we are actively recruiting for one in Brandon and the recruitment for the other two territories in Edmonton and Thunder Bay will be dictated by sales growth and opportunity in those territories.

We continue to have challenges with various vendors when it comes to supply. Fortunately we have an experienced purchasing team and many options when it comes to our vast number of suppliers. We have Navistar and Great Dane from a dealer perspective but have many other options with direct supply from aftermarket suppliers such as Automann and Irving which allows us to gain sales in our market. I believe our size and network of suppliers have positioned us well during the economic downturn. Fortunately, we have been able to avoid some of the issues that many of our competitors have run into - and continue to experience - as the supply chain tries to catch up.

We have switched our GPS and Route optimization into the SYNNRG platform. I am very pleased to have a program that will allow our Outside Sales team to optimize their time with our customers and grow their relationships as we work to understand our customers and their needs better. We are developing a better process to track our customer calls; duration, frequency, and quantity to ensure we are visiting our largest potential customers consistently. Having a well-informed team and having them prepared before they even step in front of our customer will take our business and our customer service to the next level.

I would like to thank our entire Parts team for the results we achieved this past year. I appreciate everyone’s effort and commitment to satisfying our customer’s needs and the way you have adapted to the changes in our business. To see your dedication on the front lines day after day throughout these challenging times makes me happy to be part of this team.

Great work and congrats to all!!!

Thank you and I wish you all a great summer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Steve Young, Vice President of Parts

Sales, Lease and Rentals

The Sales, Lease and Rental divisions (SLR) year-end financial results finished ahead of forecast and well ahead of the prior year.  In a year full of uncertainty driven heavily by supply vs demand, production delays and parts shortages, SLR as a group was able to continue to build on our success from earlier this year and finish strong.

Our top three branches for overall performance and our top three branches for year-over-year improvement are:

Maxim Excellence Club

I am pleased to announce and congratulate the following account managers into this year’s Maxim Excellence Club;

Platinum: Mark Bilan, Ken Bilous, Mark Carlson, Bill Heuchert, Dan Poulin

Qualifying: Andy Dubort, Lindsey Fergo, Rodney Fewchuk, Scott Kinsman, Brian Laboucane, Darrell Lewicki, Ray Saruk, Phil Whelpton, Tom Wingert

In closing, I would like to thank the entire SLR team for their efforts and dedication to making this year a success for Sales Lease and Rentals and for Maxim.  Everyone has been challenged in ways we have not faced in the past and you all stepped up and faced those challenges head on.  I want to thank you all again and I hope you and your families have a safe and enjoyable summer. 

Take care,

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ryan Sapach, Vice President of Sales/Lease/Rentals

Lightning Round

With nearly 500 employees spread across 17 branches from Vancouver to Montreal, it's hard to know everyone at Maxim. For each issue we feature two employees answering our fun Lightning Round questions so you can get to know Maxim employees from other branches. Be ready for when your turn comes for the Lightning Round.

Marketing

Have a great summer,

Harry Dornn, Vice President of Marketing

Maxim Truck & Trailer Raises Over $35,000 for Harvest Manitoba at Charity BBQ

Doug Harvey (Founder of Maxim Truck & Trailer), Vince Barletta (Harvest Manitoba, President & CEO), Colleen McVarish (Harvest Manitoba, Director of Food & Fundraising), Troy Hamilton (President of Maxim Truck & Trailer) at the June 9, 2022 BBQ

June 15, 2022, Winnipeg, MB) Maxim Truck & Trailer (“Maxim”) held a live charity BBQ event on June 9, 2022, at their head office in Winnipeg and raised $35,704 in support of Harvest Manitoba (“Harvest”).

The in-person event – the first in almost 3 years – was attended by approximately 500 guests. It took a team of more than 80 Maxim employee volunteers to organize the annual event that’s been part of Maxim’s history for more than 20 years. Funds raised were from Maxim’s corporate, employees, customers, suppliers, and friends who helped make the annual event a big success.

“Whether it’s time or money, it’s important to me that our company has a culture of giving back,” said Maxim Truck & Trailer President, Troy Hamilton. “Maxim has always had a mandate to give back to our community,” said Hamilton. “We continue to see a tremendous amount of need out there, particularly with the high cost of food. We want to do our part to ensure no one goes hungry.” 

“Maxim is a tremendous partner, going above and beyond to support Harvest,” said Vince Barletta, Harvest Manitoba President & CEO. “Whether it is through donations, community events or assistance with our fleet, Maxim provides invaluable support to our organization. Earlier this year Maxim provided a truck to Harvest, enabling us to deliver food to Shamattawa and Fort Severn First Nations (link to video: https://youtu.be/4S_9RM7sZNQ). Harvest Manitoba is truly humbled by Maxim Truck & Trailer’s ongoing support.”

About Harvest Manitoba 

Harvest Manitoba (“Harvest”) is a charitable organization dedicated to nourishing our communities and our sense of community so that no Manitoban goes hungry. We collect 11 million pounds of food every year, which is sorted and packed largely by volunteers into Harvest Hampers and distributed to Manitobans through our Community Food Network of more than 325 food banks and agencies in Winnipeg, rural, northern and First Nations communities. Right now, we feed 80,000 Manitobans every month, 46% children. Our Food Distribution Centre, which includes our Emergency Food Support Assistance Line and Warehouse, are in our Winnipeg Headquarters. To learn more or donate, please visit: HarvestManitoba.ca

Maxim Truck & Trailer Earns Top Awards as Canadian Truck and Bus Dealership

Troy Hamilton, President of Maxim Truck & Trailer celebrates prestigious awards as top truck and bus dealership in Canada.

Winnipeg, MB  January 13, 2022 – Maxim Truck & Trailer, a Truck & Bus commercial dealership, has received the prestigious International Truck Presidential Award and the top IC Bus Diamond Award. Maxim was the only dealership in Canada to receive both awards, representing a tremendous accomplishment. 

The Presidential Award honors the top eight percent of International Truck dealerships that achieve the highest level of performance in terms of operating and financial standards, market representation, and most importantly, customer satisfaction. Only 14 dealers in North America earned this prestigious recognition in 2021. This is the second year in a row that Maxim has earned the Presidential Award.

The IC Bus Diamond Award goes to dealers who have made a tremendous impact on their community, customers, and the school bus industry. There are only 10 Winners in all of North America including Maxim Truck & Trailer as the sole winner in Canada.

 “The Presidential and Diamond awards are the highest honors an International dealer can achieve from the company,” said Mark Belisle, group vice president of Dealer Sales and Operations at Navistar.

Belisle continued, “These awards also recognize the effort and dedication of all the dealership’s employees. A highly skilled, professional staff is a critical success factor for any commercial truck and bus dealership. Maxim is clearly committed to growing their business and being recognized by customers as the dealership of choice in their markets. I congratulate everyone at Maxim Truck & Trailer for their commitment to outstanding customer service, operational excellence and representation of the International Truck and IC Bus brands.”

“These awards are a great honor for everyone at Maxim Truck & Trailer because they recognize all the hard work and professionalism we bring to customers in the Manitoba, Saskatchewan and North Western Ontario market areas,” said Troy Hamilton, President of Maxim Truck & Trailer.  “This past year has not been easy with all of the COVID and supply chain issues so I want to recognize the staff and team at Maxim Truck & Trailer who made these awards possible.”

Human Resources

The HR Team helps you with; Recruitment, Employee Relations, Employment Legislation, Performance Management, Policy Development, Disability Management, Training & Development and Compensation    

• Lisa Parent – Director, People & Culture
• Breanne Caufield – HR Advisor (Employee Relations/Performance Management focus)
• Bryce Dooley – Talent Acquisition & Social Marketing Specialist
• Brandi Sims – HR Coordinator (Recruitment focus)

Recruitment

Across our Maxim branches, we hired 96 people this year. We are always excited to promote from within our Maxim team and I’m happy to share some current promotions to new roles:

• Allen Zaik, Service Manager, Winnipeg Tereck
• David Bacon – Service Manager, Winnipeg Trucks
• Chinedu Ofokansi – Credit Director, Winnipeg

Although the current economy and the lingering impact of COVID 19 has challenged the recruitment process, the HR team is up to the challenge and working diligently to exhaust every opportunity to add new faces and talent to the Maxim team. You can help find that next great co-worker.

Refer a Technician candidate to Maxim – if they are hired and stay with Maxim for at least 6 months, you will receive a FREE iPad and $1,000.  This year, 11 employees received this incentive!

A list of all open vacancies is emailed to Maxim employees every second Friday for your quick review. If you or someone you know are interested in a current open position, please see the full details anytime at www.maximinc.com/jobs

Retirements

We thank the recent retirees for their service to Maxim:

• Ross Halsted, Rental Manager, Rental Manager, Calgary – 17 years
• Vic Thiessen, Parts Purchaser, Winnipeg  – 13 years
• Bill Wilson, Rental Manager, Saskatoon – 14.5 years
• Peter Tanchak, Technician Welder, Winnipeg Trailers – 25 years
• Rick Roy, Account Manager, Sales & Leasing, Regina – 19 years

A sad note:

We announce the recent passing of Wayne Grandmont, Parts Counter/Order Desk, Winnipeg Trucks with over 30 years of service. Read about him here.

Outstanding Service Award

Have you noticed excellent internal or external customer service from a fellow employee?  Did they go the extra mile and you’d like to recognize and thank them?  Forward your monthly nomination to maximhr@dlhgroup.ca All nominees receive a $25 gift card and one will receive a $100 gift card through a random draw. 

For more details and to see a list of recent winners, please visit: https://synnrg1.maximinc.com/synnrg_cms_maxim/index.php/help-center/hr/outstanding-service-award (You will need to be on the Maxim network to view this link)

Employee Assistance Plan (EAP)

An Employee Assistance Plan is a confidential, short-term, 24/7 counselling service that supports you and your family’s well-being. Please reach out to the EAP line if you need a hand. Maxim’s EAP service is provided by Lifeworks.  Masters-trained professionals offer free advice and guidance on a variety of topics such as work-life stress, finances, relationships, retirement and health concerns issues. 

Have a fun and safe summer,

Lisa Parent, BA, CPHR, Director, People & Culture, DLH Group