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Central Transport | Was it Chris Keylon?

runawaytrain

runawaytrain

Wear their scorn with pride.
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Damages and Linehaul inefficiency was one of their big problems. But I wonder if it was just beyond saving when Chris Keylon took over....Could Vitran have been saved with another LTL guru at the helm? There are so many theories of why they failed. Not being able to run certain lanes overnight really hurt service and the competition really beat them up. There are so many things that contributed to their demise so my basic question is simply this....Could the right man have saved this company? Or was it just too late for anyone to save Vitran?
 
Personally, I believe it was far more complex than any of us probably could imagine. I am no college educated business guy, but along with what you said, and Vitran growing to big, to fast, at the wrong time (when economy was at all time low) did them in. I am a big history guy. Other company's made the same mistake. Remember Kmart? They grew to big, to fast (due to "Walmart"), and almost went down if it weren't for Sears. They made pulled it out, and survived. Vitran couldn't. Maybe the right guy? I think if they had pulled back earlier, and went back to just the Mid-west lanes they may have pulled it off. Just my opinion.
 
Snark Monkey said:
Salvation with ex-red shirts was not possible. Just read the fxd and ccx boards. Micromanaging does not work.
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I truly understand that. And I truly hope this thread can on topic....SM because I know a little bit about your history in management I can truly say your on to something.....But let me ask you this? Could the company have been saved with a different approach? If an analyst were brought in to examine where the numbers failed and why it couldn't be salvaged what do you think he would have said? It started with Gaetz I'm sure we can agree on that,....But beyond that was it just a matter of too little too late? And what was their biggest downfall from an operational stand point ?
 
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Rightturn53 said:
Personally, I believe it was far more complex than any of us probably could imagine. I am no college educated business guy, but along with what you said, and Vitran growing to big, to fast, at the wrong time (when economy was at all time low) did them in. I am a big history guy. Other company's made the same mistake. Remember Kmart? They grew to big, to fast (due to "Walmart"), and almost went down if it weren't for Sears. They made pulled it out, and survived. Vitran couldn't. Maybe the right guy? I think if they had pulled back earlier, and went back to just the Mid-west lanes they may have pulled it off. Just my opinion.
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Great point......If a different man other than Keylon was at the helm and took a different approach could this company have been saved?....After all like you said.....K-mart did it.......Why not Vitran?
 
I have gotten most of my answer's from this thread via PM....Thank you for that ......I can understand why you refuse to post on here any longer. We will all pickup somewhere else and meet later down the road, but until that day comes we can find solace in the fact that most of us gave it their all. And we were let down by a bunch of Canadian drifters.
 
I believe you are right on "Train". Their approach was too little to late. It they would have taken a more extreme approach to down size earlier, (like almost starting from scratch) and then start building back up at a more slower pace I do believe they could have made it. Also getting into the automotive freight was a bad move. As I heard from some USF drivers that they one time had the GM service contract once, and don't miss it because it really doesn't pay as good, and the servicing of the contract is difficult. We once had the Detroit Diesel contract (air freight shipments, etc...) Dayton Freight out bid us for the contract. Management told me it was more of a problem than it was worth. Hey, look at OD. If what I hear is correct they don't do automotive. Automotive freight just doesn't pay. I work now for a company that doesn't do nothing but automotive. They don't pay a higher wage like the LTL company's because they cannot afford to. You know "Train" in my opinion some times it really doesn't take a very intelligent brain to run a business. Some old fashion common sense can go a long way.
 
Rightturn53 said:
I believe you are right on "Train". Their approach was too little to late. It they would have taken a more extreme approach to down size earlier, (like almost starting from scratch) and then start building back up at a more slower pace I do believe they could have made it. Also getting into the automotive freight was a bad move. As I heard from some USF drivers that they one time had the GM service contract once, and don't miss it because it really doesn't pay as good, and the servicing of the contract is difficult. We once had the Detroit Diesel contract (air freight shipments, etc...) Dayton Freight out bid us for the contract. Management told me it was more of a problem than it was worth. Hey, look at OD. If what I hear is correct they don't do automotive. Automotive freight just doesn't pay. I work now for a company that doesn't do nothing but automotive. They don't pay a higher wage like the LTL company's because they cannot afford to. You know "Train" in my opinion some times it really doesn't take a very intelligent brain to run a business. Some old fashion common sense can go a long way.
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Most think Chris Keylon just didn't have the skill set to turn this company around. He was just in over his head.....That is a general consensus.
 
Train after being away for a while and looking at the big picture I have a different take. Most of us operated on the belief that the financial numbers that were released were accurate. If you take into consideration how much freight we were moving (even the low revenue freight) and how much the company was saving on a reduced compensation package I don't believe the "official" numbers anymore. This seems especially true since almost every other ltl company is turning a profit. If Vitran was really losing $12-$17 million dollars per quarter then what is Central losing? $40-$100 million per quarter? Even if you are a billionaire that type of loss will get your attention unless you have ulterior motives. I think we were scammed that last few years. Its my OPINION that they used the "losses" from the ltl segment to offset capital gains taxes on the sale of the logistics operation. It's possible there were other moves being made behind the scenes to extract money from the company which would explain why Vitran US was sold below book value. Vitran US was closed by Central and since Central is a privately held company it is highly unlikely that the SEC will do any type of investigation or audit, especially since Vitran no longer exists. The bottom line is- it sucks. The list of companies that have closed under dubious circumstances is long and distinguished. Sometimes I think about where I would be had I gone to AF/FedEx, Con-Way, or UPS 20 years ago, but what do you do? You have to play the cards you are dealt or get out of the game.
 
Yep, If you would have started at Overnite 20 years ago you would be set today. As far as what went wrong I believe the truth lies somewhere in the middle of your theory. I always thought those numbers were incorrect but we will never know the truth. We will know exactly what they wanted us to know and nothing more.
 
I believe that for the most part, CK had no clue how bad it was. His purple buddies fudged the numbers about everything. I am not saying that CK was not at fault, but he was so far over his head, and his friends didn't want to let him down. Thats just my opinion. You add that with the amount of claims, the service issues, the TM's that had no clue how to handle simple PU's....not saying all TM were like that. Not to mention hurricane Sandy...which they never recovered from, the ATL terminal that was always 3-5 days behind, the DAL terminal that had full trailers of freight that they didnt know aboutm or if they did know, they hid it.

The moral at PIT Corp was so bad, that nobody cared anymore. Why shold anyone care when all they did was lie about everything. The company was being shopped around since last March. Canada was not going to ever give Vitran the money they got from selling the 3pl or the logistics side of the company.

Throw in the LG freight, that was 85% medical, the WAL-MART that no other carrier wanted, The automotive that was its own monster. I believe it all added up to the perfect storm. I'm not sure if it could have been fixed, and hind sight is 20/20, but I watched some proud, hard working employees just give up.
 
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