Aim News

Safety is vital to any company, but for those in the transportation industry, like Aim Transportation Solutions, it’s everything. And when it comes to safety, Aim employees don’t just talk the talk. They walk the walk, as the Aim-Family Express driving team recently proved.

Family Express is an award-winning convenience store chain with more than 70 locations in Indiana, and they count on Aim Integrated Logistics’ dedicated fleet service to ensure those locations remain stocked and ready to serve their valued customers. That means it’s up to Aim and its skilled, professional drivers and helpers (who ride with drivers to help unload product at the stores) to deliver their quality products on time all the time. The foundation of carrying out that mission successfully is, of course, safety.

Family Express Associate Director of Distribution Center Operations Derrick Woods (left) is pictured with the Aim Integrated Logistics team (l-r): Youssef El Ashmawi, Regional Safety manager; Rich Bass, Driver; Robert Van Nortwick, Aim-Family Express Account Manager; Robert Matos, Driver; Tony Miele, Regional VP of Logistics; Bob Tully, Driver; Matt Kuhn, Helper; Robert Swarn, Helper; Walker Brummett, Driver; Susan Lindstrom, Driver; Braulio Segoviano, Driver; Jaquan Williams, Driver; Rodney Green, Helper; and Bob Thibodeau, Director of Safety.

A reimagining of this vital foundation began in 2020, when Family Express and Aim teamed up to make significant improvements to safety. Given Aim’s experience with other customers and Family Express’s think-outside-the-box approach, experts from both companies dreamed up a big-time evolution for the delivery process that was simultaneously safer, provided a better work-life balance and was more efficient. A major win-win-win.

Prior to this meeting of the minds, Family Express—like several companies in similar spheres—made deliveries utilizing refrigerated straight trucks with walk ramps. This meant drivers were running product on dollies up and down ramps upwards of 30 times per day. Eliminating that process was key.

To do this, they ditched the refrigerated straight trucks and invested in day cabs and refrigerated trailers. So instead of ramps, today drivers take everything off a lift gate. This shift in the delivery process made both loading and unloading safer and less strenuous. Now, this switch in equipment is just one piece of the puzzle. The other piece is the individual efforts of each driver and helper.

Driving heavy equipment is an inherently dangerous job. However, when an entire team commits 100-percent to putting safety above all else, the group can go 100 days, 200 days, 300 days, even 474 days and counting without an injury as the Aim-Family Express drivers and helpers have done.

“We couldn’t be prouder and more appreciative of the Aim-Family Express driver-helper team,” said Tony Miele, Aim Regional Vice President of Logistics, who attended the meeting in Chesterton. “This job has a lot of moving parts—truly a ton of variables to watch out for—with unloading products at different stores multiple times a day, and yet here we are nearing 500 days without an injury, which is a testament to each driver’s commitment to being laser focused and making safety the priority.”

Family Express Associate Director of Distribution Center Operations Derrick Woods (left) shakes hands with Tony Miele, Aim Regional Vice President of Logistics.

According to Robert Van Nortwick, Aim’s onsite Account Manager, this remarkable achievement is a total team effort. It’s the result of everyone, from top to bottom, fully committing to making safety the priority. It’s a true partnership between both companies.

“It’s because of the efforts of all involved—from our drivers, helpers and the Family Express warehouse teams loading product to leadership at both companies and everyone in between—why we’ve been able to achieve such an extraordinary streak and remarkable turnaround,” said Van Nortwick. “It’s with everyone working together that we’re able to ensure our drivers and helpers come home safe every night.”

This impressive safety streak began way back in November of 2021, and during a recent meeting between Aim and Family Express, held at the Hilton Gardner Inn in Chesterton, IN, both companies showed their appreciation for this extraordinary achievement.

For their unwavering commitment to safety and improved efficiency, Aim-Family Express drivers and helpers received a Family Express gift card along with a variety of Aim gifts to choose from, which included items like a Samsung Galaxy tablet, Igloo BMX 25 cooler, cornhole boards, a barbecue set and much more.

Extra special recognition was given to drivers Rich Bass and Bob Tully for their hard work, dedication and long tenure. Driver Susan Lindstrom also received an additional well-deserved spotlight for being Aim’s January safe driver of the month, a score-based contest built around Netradyne’s in-cab camera safety technology.

Part of what makes Aim Integrated Logistics’ (a Top-25 Carrier in the nation according to Transport Topics) dedicated fleet service so enticing to businesses like Family Express is the value Aim adds beyond just providing trucks and drivers. Aim’s Integrated experts work hand-in-hand with customers, engineering unique solutions to increase efficiency and maximize profitability. On top of that, dedicated fleet customers benefit from continual route optimization, 24/7-365 operations and roadside support, administrative relief and, as the Aim-Family Express drivers have demonstrated, a safer transportation operation, mitigating risk and reducing liability.