have good weather and a good turnout. In the past we have played with Ken Duke a couple times. Ken just won the Travel-ers Championship in Cromwell Connecticut. It was his first PGA win since joining the tour in 1994. He is a nice guy and deserves this victory unlike any other. This could be a lesson for all of us, hard work, resil-ience and never give up on your dream. I would like to congratulate all who are celebrating their Ser-vice Anniversaries in July. A couple notables, Martina Pi-zano, of Belvidere East cele-brates her 5th anniversary on July 14th and Derek Messink, Ripley celebrates his 5th anni-versary on July 28th.

Wow….it has been a wild 30 days. I went to ICP in Portland to meet with Jeff Knapp, Stu Hasman, Tony Chiodini and John Mullin. We had a couple days worth of meetings scheduled. The first day of meetings were followed by dinner meetings. Donna went with me on this trip and spent some time with my niece’s new baby. On the second day, we re-ceived a call and had to head back to Seattle to change our luggage and catch an 11:55 pm back to Chicago. We had to re-spond to a family emer-gency that turned out ok. We spent about ten days in Chicago before re-turning to Seattle. I know Dino McNabb and the Business Managers, Andy Oltremari and Tim

Charles have been traveling trying to secure some new business. There is a good chance that we will have an announcement very soon. Everyone has been busy traveling around meet-ing with prospective and current customers. On July 1st, Jeff and Cathy Knapp are retiring as some of you know. Jeff and Cathy owned Industrial Craters & Packers. They spent many years building this busi-ness. ICP has grown and prospered under their lead-ership. Jeff will continue with Pierce & ICP as a con-sultant. Enjoy your retire-ment; you will be missed by all. The Rockford Pro Am is next month. It is probably our biggest of charity events that we participate in every year. We hope to

Kevin Hogan Writes...

June 2013 P I E R C E D I S T R I B U T I O N S E R V I C E S C O M P A N Y

Jack’s Words

Of Wisdom

“It is not enough to have great qualities: we must also

have the management

of them.”

Kevin Hogan

Many Hats, Many Talents... Local authors Christine

Collins Cacciatore (Corporate Office) and her sister, Jennifer Collins Starkman, have recently completed and self pub-lished their first novel: Baylyn, Bewitched. It's the first in the Whitfield Witch Series. Baylyn, Bewitched is the whimsical tale of an unlucky-in-love, quirky li-brarian named Baylyn Travers. She falls hard for the sexy Declan Hughes, but is hiding a pretty big secret: she's a witch!

Their ebook, which is receiv-ing 5-star reviews, is avail-able at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Smashwords. They're currently working on the second novel in the se-ries: Cat, Charmed. They can also be found on the web via their author page on Facebook or their blog, Cac-ciatore and Starkman Au-thors. Chris and Jenny grew up in Plainfield, IL, where their love of reading grew into a love of writing, and any money they earn writing will probably be spent on books.

Our CFO Writes ... P A G E 2

Wellness & Prevention June 2012

Each month Williams-Manny provides The Wellness & Prevention Newsletter to you as a service for distribution to your employees. Please find the newsletter attached. The newsletter includes in-formation on health, well-

ness, nutrition and disease. This month's topics include: * Play It Safe – Put Down the Smartphone and Pay Attention * OUTER AISLE FRESH – Kids in the Kitchen * EATING WELL RECIPE – Chicken Salad in a Cone * GET MOVING – Up For an Adventure? * FISCAL FITNESS – Keys to Keeping the Lawn Green Without Going Broke * THE WHOLE YOU – Physical Health: 5 of the Germiest Things You may Not Be Cleaning * THE WHOLE YOU – Emotional Health: Defeat-ing Distractions * HEAD ONLINE FOR MORE RESOURCES: Jun.hopehealth.com * JUNE HEALTH OBSERVANCES – Men’s Health Month * OUR HEALTH MATTERS – Savor Summertime The Employee Resource Center brings together a collection of carefully selected, comprehensive health, wellness and financial websites that encour-ages employees to be more proactive about their health and lifestyle decisions. Employee Resource Center Key Features . . . * The Health Resources section features informa-tional links on fitness and nutrition, senior health, kids’ health, prescription drugs, emergency re-sources, health calculators, mental health, disease risk assessments, and health information from the world’s largest medical library, the National Library of Medicine. * The Financial Resources section presents arti-cles about budgeting and saving, college planning, kids and money, taxes, credit and debt, retirement planning, insurance, investing, leasing vs. buying a car, purchasing a home and getting a mortgage, and making a will. * The Other Resources section offers tips about local volunteer opportunities, charitable giving, mo-

tor vehicle safety, vital re-cords, and weather warnings. * The Employee Resource Center is designed for all age groups, and content is appro-priate for children and adults. To log into the Employee Re-source Center, enter <http://erc.ubabenefits.com/> click on the link and log in us-ing the following credentials: Username: wellness Password: erc

July Birthdays

Name Date Plant

Felicia Johnson Martina Pizano Warren Bouknight Timothy Haynie Rebecca Hickey Tom Hogan Wesley Hryszczuk Lamont Black Derek Messink Judy Spitson Linda Ross James Moore Terrance Dowell Kelvin Cole Jackie Freeman Cloudette Toomes Bobby Hollis Eric Jackson Cindy Donaldson

01 01 02 03 05 07 09 12 14 17 23 25 26 27 27 27 27 28 30

7 8 4 7 8 C 8 8 7 C 2 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7

Tony Chiodini

July Anniversaries Name Date Plant

Tabitha Chandler Brandy Lussier Priscilla Longoria Anne Jarnigan Maria Lewis Craig Mann Phillip Webster, Jr. Skye Isom Kevin Hogan Mark Tavarez Daniel Yates Martina Pizano Kathleen Dooley Bertha Gonzalez Jeremy Linder Derek Messink

7/02/07 7/05/11 7/05/11 7/05/11 7/05/11 7/05/11 7/05/11 7/05/11 7/09/79 7/12/10 7/12/04 7/14/08 7/16/12 7/19/01 7/25/11 7/28/08

7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 C 10 8 8 6 2 8 7

Communications How can you cut down on the number of time-wasting work emails you get? Try

these six basic rules for avoid-ing unnecessary chatter: - Use “FYI” in the subject line to specify that the message is solely informative. - Don't write statements phrased as questions. Your coworkers will answer them and you'll have more exchanges. - When you receive a CC mes-sage and must reply, send your response only to the sender instead of to everybody. - Sign off with "no reply needed" to avoid "great" and "wow" responses. - When making a request, fin-ish with "thanks in advance." - When answering a request, end with a conclusive statement like "hope this helped". (overcome email overload, from “Business Digest”)

Chris Cacciatore

P A G E 3

ICP just fin-ished a rush job packaging two “small” mobile drilling rigs for barge shipment to Alaska. The rigs are de-signed for

rapid redeployment. When in service, only two days are required to break a rig down and load it for transport (on 37 flatbed trailers). In ten days of tying, strapping, belay-ing, battening, etc, the ICP crew used:

- 378 lineal feet 1x4 lumber - 1,832 lineal feet 2x4 lumber - 86 sheets plywood - 1.77 miles of cord strap (834 cord strap buckles) - 2,112 fiber banding (Fiber band buckles) - 56 fifteen foot ratchet straps

Fast work by ICP’s crew rescued the customer from a potentially disastrous time crunch. Nice work guys!

I.C.P. (Portland) Writes...

Randy Cantonwine

ICP Celebrates Service Anniversaries

Linda Kennel 11 Year

Anniversary

Seung Chheung 9 Year

Anniversary

Manny Hernandez 6 Year

Anniversary

Iain Brown 2 Year

Anniversary

P A G E 4

Last month in Rockford was a time of celebra-tion for some of our associates. On June 2nd, Eric Cordoba celebrated his 5 year anniver-sary with Pierce. Eric started working

in the AxleTech account as a picker. When the Carraro account was added, Eric was promoted to the lead associate and has been doing an outstanding job. On June 17th, Raul Sanchez celebrated his 10 year anniversary with Pierce. Raul has always worked in the woodshop where he currently holds the lead position. Raul received a gas grill

Rockford Writes...

Larry Hickey

as a gift from Pierce and we en-joyed a lunch from Famous Dave’s. Also in June, Ken Holze was pro-moted to Operations Manager. Ken has held several positions for Pierce both here in Plant 2 as well as in Plant 8 in Belvidere. Ken played a critical role in our move from Belvidere to Rockford as well as heading up the Komatsu ac-count. Ken oversees the facility maintenance as well as the equip-ment and is the Safety Director for the facility. Ken is well deserving of this promotion. Please join me in congratulating all three on their accomplishments.

Raul Sanchez

10 Year Anniversary

5 Year Anniversary

Eric Cordoba

Promotion

Ken Holze, Operations Manager

Jacob Hickey, son of Larry and Jody Hickey, graduated from Winnebago High School. Jacob enjoyed many sporting activities including football, basketball, wrestling, track and played French horn in the band. Jacob will attend Rock Valley College in the fall and then transfer to a four year university. Jacob is umpiring girls/boys softball/baseball games for the local community center this sum-mer and is also working part time at the Rock-ford Pierce facility.

Are we pre-pared to handle Near Misses? What Is a Near Miss? A near miss is an inci-dent in which property dam-age and injury could have

happened---- but didn’t. Although, if there was a slight shift in time or posi-tion, damage and / or injury could easily have occurred. It is a red flag that some-thing is wrong and needs to be cor-rected. Many accidents are preceded by one or in some case several near misses. The difference between a near miss and an accident could be a fraction of an inch or a split second in time…i.e. an associate misses being struck by a fork-lift by a few inches or an associate steps away from a rack of shelves just sec-onds before a heavy object falls and lands right where they were standing. If the hazards that cause near misses are not corrected, eventually there will

P A G E 5

Tracy Schmitt

be an accident, and someone could be seriously injured. Near misses are caused by the same types of workplace hazards that cause actual accidents.

Unsafe conditions and / or Unsafe Acts

Unsafe acts cause many near misses and accidents; mistakes peo-ple make and risks people take are often the cause of safety problems. This means we all have the power to prevent near misses and accidents. Even haz-ards that seem minimal, like a spill on the floor or a small shock from electrical equipment, could result in an accident or serious injury. Do not ignore these hazards, bring them to someone’s attention to be corrected. What Should Be Done if There Is a Near Miss? Heed the warning

Safety Writes ...

Congratulations, Mr. and Mrs. Gabriel A. White

of a near miss and take every near miss as seriously as if it were an actual accident. Report all near misses to your supervisor immediately and never be afraid of being penalized or blamed for the incident. By reporting near misses you are doing a positive and safe thing; you will likely be preventing an accident that could seriously harm yourself or a co-associate. The sooner you report a safety hazard, the sooner it may be corrected. Way too often after a near miss we think, “Thank goodness! This must be my lucky day”, and just go on working. This is a serious mistake; the next time, if not corrected, could be a disaster. Let’s all do our part in making our workplace a safer place to be, re-port all near misses and any safety hazard. No matter how small it may seem, it could make a huge difference.

Gabe White, General Manager of the Pierce Distribution facility in Columbia, South Carolina, and his lovely wife, Threase were married on Saturday, May 11, 2013. Your PDSC family sends our best wishes to the both of you for a life-time of joy and happiness together. Again, congratulations Gabe and Threase on your wedding.

Ripley Writes ... P A G E 6

"Thank God For The Ring"

Ms. Doris Ramsey of Plant 7's Ser-vice Parts (1st Shift) is our Asso-ciate of the Month. She was nomi-nated by her Line

Lead, Rachel Brewer. Rachel states Doris is always so much fun to work with each day. If you ask her to help with anything, she is always quick and ready to do her part. Doris has been at Pierce since 2010 and became a full time associate in 2011. Doris tells us: "If you want to learn a new respon-sibility, you have to ask the right ques-tions - the more understanding you have, the better job you will do. Doris has a keen eye for detail and examines each ticket she handles with confidence and pride. Doris recently became en-gaged to fellow Pierce associate, John Puente, of our woodshop depart-ment. Doris was beaming with pride as she proudly showed off her new en-gagement ring; that ring saved her fin-ger from being crushed when she acci-dently dropped a part on her hand. The ring, however, was bent, but can be re-paired. From a previous relationship she has two sons, Joseph and Anthony, and three wonderful grandchildren (two granddaughters and one grand-son). Doris loves to cook - in fact, she brags that her cooking is how she snagged John. His favorite meal is any-thing that Doris cooks, but she says her spaghetti, green beans, corn, mashed potatoes, homemade rolls, and of course, her famous sweet tea was what instigated his proposal. A spring wed-ding, probably in April 2014, is being planned for the lovely couple. Both are dedicated associates, as evidenced by the fact that they travel one hour and 15 minutes one way each day to get to work. Thanks for sharing all your work secrets with us and congratulations on being selected our Associate of the Month.

Associate of the Month Doris Ramsey

L to R - Tabitha Chandler, Supervisor; Doris Ramsey, and Rachel Brewer, Line Lead

Mike Moore

Title: Donna Oliver - Celebrating her 29th Birthday, AGAIN! Fellow associates honored Line Lead, Donna Oliver, on her 29th birthday on May 29th. Donna was surprised with a birthday cake decorated with red roses and a few candles (the fire department was contacted). Donna has been a member of the Pierce family since 2001. Although she has had handled sev-eral job responsibilities, she is currently our Lead in 1st shifts Label Only de-partment. Supervisor, Tabitha Chandler, hosted a pizza luncheon for several members of her department as well as other line leads in attendance. A good time of conversation, fellowship, entertainment and work memories were en-joyed by the group.

Ripley Continues ... P A G E 7

On 5/24/13 I had a surprise 40th service anniversary party. We had a vegetable tray, chips and dip and cake. I also received a beautiful flower arrangement. Thanks to all for a much ap-preciated and enjoyable party. Thanks to

Kevin Hogan for the $2,000 in gift certificates from Sears. This will be used for a much needed refrigerator and freezer. Jay Hogan took Larry and me out for a special 40th anniversary dinner at the Outback Steakhouse. We had a great time. Thank you, Jay! I can’t believe it has been 40 years with Pierce. WOW!!! I began my em-ployment with Pierce on 5/24/72 in Rockford, Illinois at the Broadway plant where Dealer Return only con-sisted of two tables. I also worked at the Loves Park and Blackhawk plant locations handling Dealer Returns. The returns I was involved with were White Farm, Allis Chalmers, Interna-tional Hough, International Har-vester, J.I. Case, and now Komatsu Returns. I also helped in the Tele-dyne and government departments. Larry and I came to Jackson, TN in 1994 to help start the new Pierce plant on Hollywood Drive, then on to the Humboldt facility, and then to our present location in Ripley. I still keep in touch with my Rockford friends. The growth of this company has truly been amazing and I am sure there is plenty more to come with new changes ahead. I want to say a Thank You to the Dealer Return associates for all of your hard work! Great Job!!

Thank You, Pierce Associates

Judy Borgmann

Plant 7 Enjoys Appreciation Luncheon On April 25th Pierce hosted an Appreciation Lunch-eon for all three shifts. Associates were honored for their hard work and dedication with a meal consisting of grilled hamburgers, hot dogs (with all the trim-mings), chips, beverages and homemade cookies (compliments of PPL Temporary Agency). It was a great day for all associates. Thanks, Pierce, for mak-ing us feel special. Pictured above enjoying lunch during first shift is Tracy Schmitt, Safety Director / QC Supervisor.

Linda Taylor, 1st Shift Service Parts, Plant 7, announces the graduation of her 17 year old daugh-ter, Kenyatta Kitchens, from Ripley High School on May 16, 2013. Ken-yatta plans to attend Mid-dle Tennessee State Uni-versity and major in Physi-cal Therapy. We are proud of you!

Graduate

Our family at the Ripley Pierce facility would like to send our condolences to Mike Moore, HR Manager, for the passing of his mother, Carolyn Moore. “Carolyn Moore, “Meme”, was a lifetime member of Concord United Methodist Church. Carolyn was every bit as much of a farmer as ‘Daddy’. She ran after parts, picked up workers before daylight to haul hay, pulled cotton trailers to the gin, managed the books, and at the same time worked dili-gently each day to put to-gether lunch for her tractor drivers that might be scat-tered on three different farms in two counties. Meme’s children and grand-children thought that Meme’s lunch on the tail-

gate was better than sitting down in a restaurant any day. Every year after the crops were laid, Meme and Granddaddy would plan a trip to the Smoky Mountains. The parents would try to get Meme to let them get a sitter for the week but Meme al-ways stated compellingly that they had just as soon stay home if the kids weren’t going! Meme was very proud of her children, grand-children and great grandchil-dren. The most important thing she did for her family was to share her faith with them. In her children’s youth, they were always spit-shined and taken to church at every opportunity. She loved the Lord and her church. She will be greatly missed.”

Belvidere Writes... P A G E 8

The summer heat and humidity has finally ar-rived. We have also had so many days of rain which is good and healthy for the crops, however it played a role in a late planting season so the corn, beans, etc.,

are not at the stage of growth they should be. These delays have also caused the business climate to change. We normally experience a service parts activity spike in May but we remained stable during the month. The switch turned on after Memo-rial Day with a strong line/receipt activity and continues to surge. We have been averaging 500 daily pick lists and 2000 daily lines so far in June which is up 17% compared to month of June in 2012. Our receipts average on a given day from 86 up to 535! We receive two Manitou air shipments per week and one sea con-tainer from France per month which has

also increased the activity in the business. We have also hired on more people into the Pierce Com-pany, giving the opportunity of com-pany benefits such as vacation, medical, safety incentives and the opportunity to grow within the com-pany for future endeavors. We also hope with a goal to stabilize the workforce. Pierce is the most sin-cere company I have worked for in my distribution career and it has been a wonderful experience for me personally. I also hope that the new hires that come aboard have the same experience. With that said, we welcome the new! Steve Eisman hired in February, Lamont Toney and Marcus Jackson in May and Curtis Perry in June! We also have two hard working, intelligent college students working with us this sum-mer. We welcome Michael Chiodini and Rebecca Hickey. Michael Joshua Moorehead

worked with us on our inventory Team last year and we are glad to have him back! Rebecca has her hands on the customer parts orders in the packaging department and is quite a worker. We welcome both of you and hope your time with us is super. We will also be having a pot luck on Wednesday July 3rd organ-ized by Cindy Mena. So bring your appetites, Plant 8 people! And our last piece of news is the nomination of Lamont Toney for Associate of the Month. Toney is a great person; a retired military veteran and has done very well adapting and growing in the Receiving department. We appreci-ate who you are and what you do in the Pierce Belvidere operation!

Now that the weather is calming down from all the rain, we can start mowing the yards and breaking out

the barbecue grills. It is also time for those of you that like State Fairs and festivals, too. I can’t wait myself for the ele-phant ears, funnel cakes, brats and buttered corn on the cob. Going to the Wisconsin Dells is what my family likes to do best every summer. Water slides, wave pools, roller coasters and go cart rides. No matter how old the kids or I get, having FUN and spending quality time to-gether never grows old. We love taking lots of pictures to share with family and friends. I enjoy making happy memories on our family trips and adven-tures. Receiving is off to a great start on their LPH for the month of June. Thank you, Receiving

Team, for giving it your all every day and being mindful and understanding when er-rors rise up. Your cooperation and hard work is what makes the Receiving Department a great place to work. The Asso-ciate of the Month award goes to Receiving’s very own, La-mont Toney!! Lamont is cur-rently in charge of the Receiv-ing dock. Lamont does an awesome job at pushing the hot arrivals through to the pre-pack stations. Keeping his dock moving is essential to the success of the Receiving De-partment. Without Lamont’s great attitude and a strong work ethic, we wouldn’t be able to get our daily dock re-ceipts pushed out for hot or-ders. Lamont has also been cross-trained on binning, cycle counts, and order picking. Thank you for all you do. Con-gratulations Lamont Toney, on Associate of the Month.

Cynthia Mena

Associate of the Month Lamont Toney

Belvidere’s Associate of the Month, Lamont Toney is

congratulated by Supervisor, Cynthia Mena.

Hi! My name is Lamont Toney. I served in the United States Army for 8 years. I was on board the USS Pe-leliu LHA5 for 4 years and also

stationed in Kingsville, Texas for 4 years. I have 6 children, 4 daughters and 2 sons. I also have 3 grandchildren. My old-est son plays football in college. My wife and I enjoy taking trips and enjoy family outings to-gether. Family is very important to me. We also love traveling on the rare occasions when we can get away. I have enjoyed working at Pierce and have learned many different jobs. I am currently in charge of the receiving dock. I take pride in my work and hope to be associ-ated with Pierce for a long time.

Belvidere Continues ... P A G E 9

My name is Nathan Ste-phenson and I am 28 years old. I work at Pierce Distri-bution in Belvidere, IL. We are a third party logistics

warehouse that specializes in the safe keeping of agricultural and construction equipment parts that are manufactured by different companies such as Mani-tou, Gehl, and Mustang. Some of my responsibilities involve packaging and shipping particular or-ders known as material requisitions or “short ships.” I am also responsible for solving problems with any misplaced parts, which couldn’t happen without my management and team support, I might add! At Pierce, we don’t make ex-cuses…we do whatever it takes! “One who makes excuses is seldom good for anything else.” (Benjamin Franklin) Yesterday, I was asked to write an edi-torial about some of my job duties and why I enjoy working at Pierce. I chose this job by random job seeking, however I choose to stay because the people I work with have a passion for what they do and they inspire me. Pierce Distribu-tion has literally increased the quality of my life. My home that I recently moved into is factual evidence of this increase. My transition would not have been pos-sible without Pierce. The inspiration is much more complex and intense be-cause that is within me. The guidance I feel and the leadership relieves my pain and puts joy in my heart every single day. Thank you is an understatement and my hope is that I do the same for others. I know it is a strong possibility that some people will read this and be skeptical as to whether or not it is the truth. My ad-vice…listen to life with your heart and not your ears and you will find the truth. Thanks again Pierce, may we succeed 100 years and beyond.

Nathan Stephenson

Hello from Plant 8! My name is Ashley Kettner and I have shifted from working in the returns dept. to learning and training the inventory dept. I have mainly been working with cycle counts and shop or-ders, but I am excited to

learn as much as I can. We started the spring out pretty slow but are starting to pick up as the number of cycle counts that are needed to be done daily slowly rise. We have two awe-some counters - Nick Grenlund and Michael Chiodini. Michael worked for us last summer cycle counting and we are happy to have him back again this year! Between the two of them, our counts are done and adjusted quite quickly. My husband and I are pretty excited for this coming fall. We found out at the beginning of the year that we are expecting our first baby! And we recently found out that we are having a girl! She is due October 5th, and we have decided to name her Bridget Grace. I came home the other day and found a small pink fishing pole and a tackle box. My husband looked at me and said “now I’m ready!” When I explained that she probably would not use it for a few years, he went on to explain that he wanted to be prepared…and it tickles me! We are quite excited for the new experiences and fun the fall will bring this year.

Lamont Toney Ashley Kettner

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

TO YOU! Celebrating Anniversaries

Belvidere’s June Birthday Celebrations include: L-R

Esmeralda Guerra, Tina Blunt, Don Manns, and Carol Hebel.

In June, for Service Anniversa-ries, we honor: Tom Monson,

Brittany Thompson, and Brandon Spitson