In This Issue GARY’S STRAIGHT TALK Gary Carlson President, CEO Select 1 Group FEBRUARY, 2015 The new year is off to a major roll and I hope you all feel it as much as I do. If not, you haven’t been showing up for work! Select One Group is changing, growing and becoming even more of a major player in our chosen areas than ever before. The key words are GROWTH and CHANGE. We’re growing in long leaps, all of which are landing on very well-prepared ground. Exciting new plans are afoot for Automotive Transport, which has greatly expanded its tour and show business under the leadership of Pat Evo. New business this year may include add- ing more personal owned vehicle (POV) moves as well as motorcycles to the list of high-end luxury vehicles we transport. Over at Mobile X Events, business had doubled. Rick Johnson is now being assisted by VPs Traci Hynes and Johan Thompson and clients are electrified at the new ideas and technology we’re making available for everything from mobile surgical units to large group training environments, high-end tech displays to drive-and-ride presentations. Logistical Solutions continues to be a recognized worldwide leader in, as we like to say, moving things “From Point A To Point B – And Everything In Between”. That’s a signifi- cant growth area for us in 2015, too. Because of all this exciting growth, I’m excited to grow our executive team. New Chief Operating Officer, Bruce Read is a longtime friend and colleague with whom I’m established a firm bond of friendship and trust over many years. His oversight of all our divisions comes at just the right time as we spread our wings and really fly to exciting new destinations. An important change involves our company slogan. As of now, the “1” in S1G takes on some major horsepower. It stands for One Vision…One Team…One Company. Please keep that in mind in everything you do. Every one of our valued employees is deeply involved in his or her own division on a daily basis. But all our efforts are directed to- ward the overall success of the company. Have a fantastic 2015 and remember: S1G means One Team…One Vision…One Goal...One Company! Gary’s Straight Talk Success & Strategy On the Driver’s Side Industry News Tech Talk Division Updates New Uniform Information Employee Spotlight Reminders & Memos Dollars & Cents CSA Watch & Safety The HR Guy Calendar & Fun Stuff
Transcript
In This Issue
GARY’S STRAIGHT TALK
Gary Carlson
President, CEO
Select 1 Group
FEBRUARY, 2015
The new year is off to a major roll and
I hope you all feel it as much as I do. If not, you
haven’t been showing up for work! Select One
Group is changing, growing and becoming even
more of a major player in our chosen areas than
ever before. The key words are GROWTH and
CHANGE.
We’re growing in long leaps, all of
which are landing on very well-prepared ground.
Exciting new plans are afoot for Automotive
Transport, which has greatly expanded its tour
and show business under the leadership of Pat
Evo. New business this year may include add-
ing more personal owned vehicle (POV) moves
as well as motorcycles to the list of high-end
luxury vehicles we transport.
Over at Mobile X Events, business
had doubled. Rick Johnson is now being
assisted by VPs Traci Hynes and Johan
Thompson and clients are electrified at the
new ideas and technology we’re making
available for everything from mobile surgical
units to large group training environments,
high-end tech displays to drive-and-ride
presentations.
Logistical Solutions continues to
be a recognized worldwide leader in, as we like
to say, moving things “From Point A To Point B
– And Everything In Between”. That’s a signifi-
cant growth area for us in 2015, too.
Because of all this exciting growth, I’m
excited to grow our executive team. New Chief
Operating Officer, Bruce Read is a longtime
friend and colleague with whom I’m established
a firm bond of friendship and trust over many
years. His oversight of all our divisions comes at
Mobile X Events Division Update—Jeep Renegade Tour prepares for launch
The Mobile X crew is working around the clock to get the final finishes on the Chrysler Jeep Renegade Tour. The T3
training runs March 4-5 at our warehouse in Auburn Hills, MI. The T3 involves a complete set up of all the learning
stations inside the warehouse along with a drive course set up in the parking lot of Great Lakes Crossing. EX1 (one of
our double expandable trailers) will be set up in the lot next to the drive course to allow spectators to watch the pro-
ceedings from heated comfort. We will have all of our members from both teams present for training along with
150 Jeep trainers from across the country for two days of learning about the new Jeep Renegade. After T3, we will
tear everything down, pack it into trailers and start rolling for the first stops on the tour schedule.
The tour kicks off the second week in March in Dallas for the West Team, and in Orlando for the East team. The
Tour is scheduled to continue until the middle of June 2015.
Above is a layout of how the site will look when set up. Great job by Jonah and his team!
Rick Johnson
Division President—Mobile X Events
They say a picture is worth a thousand words… well this picture says:
Bob Bruckert (Driver Extraordi-naire) provided us with this snap shot of his truck in Tay-lor, MI on February 2nd. To say that Taylor, MI experi-
enced snowy weather conditions would be an under-statement. Taylor experienced a low of 5 degrees and 17 mile per hour winds, with a high of only 19 degrees that day.
On the Driver’s Side
The Delo Truck Tour is in full force and the Select 1
Group is present to help make it happen. Steve Baker
(Tour Driver) is dazzling our client with Excellence in
Motion. “The Delo Truck is an 80-foot, eye-catching
rolling education center. The truck offers informational
displays to help visitors understand the importance of
A: I have two great kids. A daughter (18 yrs. old and a son 13 yrs. old)
Q: What year did you start at S1G?
A: I started in 2013
Q: Any other family members work for S1G?
A: No
Q: Why did you decide to work for S1G?
A: Well, I always wanted to haul cars and had been trying to do so for 6
years. I thought it would be a good fit for me and Select 1 Group gave
me my first opportunity to do just that.
Q: What do you do for fun?
A: I drive my Harley and I like to fish whenever I get an opportunity.
Q: What are some of the proudest accomplishments of your life?
A: The proudest accomplishments of my life would be the day my kids
were born and serving in the military. I proudly served in the United
States Navy (9 years, 6 months, 23 days).
Q: What motivates you?
A: Doing what I need to do to provide for my family… they are my moti-
vation and the most important thing to me.
Q: What are your favorite hobbies or activities?
A: It would definitely have to be riding my Harley! To get on my bike and
ride wherever my bike wants to go is where I like to go. Anywhere that
there is wind and I can ride… I am truly happy.
Q: How would you describe yourself?
A: I am an easy going guy and nothing really bothers me. I don’t like
conflict and I am allergic to stupidity.
Q: Describe your most rewarding experience?
A: The day my son was born, the day I met my daughter, and the day I
met and married my wife.
Q: What do you see yourself doing five or ten years from now?
A: Probably the same thing I am doing now, and doing it for the same
company.
“On a personal note, I wanted to take this opportunity to say thank you
to everyone who helped me when I got hurt and tore both of my Achilles
tendons. Without all of you it would have been a really difficult time for
me and my family and from the bottom of my heart…thank you.
A special thanks goes out to: Mike Hubler, Tom Fischer, Tony McCoy,
Craig Schneider, Larry Wiedenhoeft , Bob Bruckert, Eric Stewart, Justin
Conrad, Mr. Bob Allen, & Mr. Bob Neckes. I will never forget your kind-
ness.”
James Givens - Driver
I am very excited to be joining Mobile X Events and the Select 1 Group team at such an exciting time.
After moving around a lot as a child and as an adult, I fi-nally decided to make Michigan my home. I graduated from Eastern Michigan with a Bachelor of Science degree in Urban and Regional Planning and Construction Man-agement, which lent a hand to my diverse professional experiences. Some of my interesting past experiences include; managing corporate and collegiate accounts for Fathead; running a snowboard shop in Ann Arbor; work-ing in the film industry in Oregon on the sets of movies like Youth In Revolt and Extraordinary Measures with Mi-chael Cera and Harrison Ford (look for me in the credits!); and interning on the construction site of a skyscraper in Battery Park City, New York.
I am the second oldest of 5 brothers and we are all sports nuts. Aside from playing lacrosse in college, I’m an avid snowboarder, fisherman, and golfer. I even ran in the New York City Mar-athon! My latest achievements were winning first place in the 3 on 3 Motor City Hoops Clas-sic with two of my brothers in Detroit this past summer and finishing first in a 10k on my 31st birthday in September. I usually play basketball every week in the Come Play Detroit basketball
league but I welcomed my first child, Sloan Kaufman, with my fiancé, Tara this November, so I spend as much of my free time with her as I can!
I couldn’t have dreamt of a better career opportunity for myself, or a better team to work with. My first assignment as project manager with Mobile X Events is the 2015 Jeep Renegade Tour. I will be coordinating event loca-tions, purchasing equipment, and leading our event pro-mo staff, drivers, and presenters. I’m very much looking forward to making this Jeep Renegade tour come to life! I am 100% ON BOARD and I can’t wait to grow with the S1G/MXE team and to meet and exceed all 2015 and future goals!
Basic tax questions
Money's guide to taxes has answers to your basic tax ques-tions.
1. If you get a big refund each year, you're having too much withheld from your paycheck.
In effect, you're giving the government an interest-free loan.
2. If you have too little withheld, you may be charged an under-payment penalty.
You must pay 90% of what you owe for the tax year by the end of that year or an amount equal to 100% of your tax liability for the previous tax year, whichever is smaller.
3. Not every dollar of your taxable income is taxed at the same rate.
That's because portions of your earned income fall into dif-ferent brackets, which are assigned different tax rates. Gen-erally speaking, the first dollar you make will be taxed at a lower rate than your last dollar. Your marginal tax rate is the tax bracket at which the highest (or last) portion of your in-come is taxed.
4. Your combined tax bracket determines how much tax you'll owe on income from investments such as CDs and money market funds.
Your combined bracket is the sum of your top (or marginal) federal tax rate and your top state income tax rate. It may be less if you itemize deductions since you will be able to deduct your state income tax on your federal return.
5. If you file your return by April 15, but don't pay the tax you owe, you may receive a late payment penalty.
The same goes if you file for an extension. An extension only allows you to file your return after the due date. But full pay-ment is still required by April 15. If you make a partial payment by then, you may be charged interest on the amount outstand-ing.
6. You can reduce your chances of being audited.
One of the best ways is to fill out your return completely, cor-rectly, and on time every year.
7. You should pay estimated taxes if you're self-employed; ex-pect hefty investment income or profits from a property sale; or if you don't have enough taxes withheld to cover the taxes you'll owe on non-wage-related income.
Retirees should also consider paying them if they haven't opted for voluntary withholding on their pension or IRA payments. Estimated taxes are due four times a year (April 15, June 15, Sept. 15, and Jan. 15).
8. Your adjusted gross income (AGI) is your total income minus certain "above the line" deductions such as deductible IRA con-tributions, alimony payments, or health savings account contri-butions.
Your AGI primarily determines whether or not you're eligible for tax breaks. Almost every break, be it a deduction, exemption, or a credit, has its own AGI limit.
9. Your taxable income is your AGI minus exemptions and de-ductions.
The less your taxable income, the less in taxes you'll owe. That's why it's in your best interest to take advantage of tax breaks where you can.
10. A credit is better than a deduction.
A credit is a dol-lar-for-dollar re-duction of the taxes you owe. A $100 credit means you pay $100 less in tax-es. A deduction reduces the tax-es you owe by a percent of every dollar you're al-lowed to deduct.
You calculate the worth of your
deduction by multiplying your marginal (or top) tax rate by the amount of the deduction. If you're in the 25% tax bracket, a $100 deduction means you'll pay $25 less in taxes (0.25 times $100).
Many of our truck down time issues over the past few
years can be attributed to the new pollution control systems in-
stalled on today’s diesel tractors. The compliance timeline that the
government mandated to engine and truck manufactures was ex-
tremely short and in some cases unrealistic. Automobile manufac-
tures were given close to 30 years compared to 10 or so years
given to the trucking industry. Manufactures were not given the
proper time to thoroughly test and fully understands these sys-
tems. Admittedly the manufactures use the analogy of the cars of
the seventies and early eighties and the issues we had with them.
Basically the trucking industry is in the early eighties when it
comes to understanding.
Our trucks of today are basically a chemistry lab rolling
down the road. There are two stages in an after treatment system.
In the first stage exhaust form the engine travels through the Die-
sel Oxidation Catalyst (DOC) and Diesel Particulate Filter (DPF).
This system collects and oxidizes carbon to remove particulate
matter turning soot into ash. This ash is trapped in the DPF and is
burned at extremely high temperature in excess of 500 degree
Fahrenheit. This is known as regeneration. The most efficient time
for a regeneration to take place is when the truck is running down
the road when the engine is at optimal operating temperature. This
is referred to as passive regeneration and occurs during highway
operation and is seamless to the driver. In this process hot gasses
already being produced are used.
The second re-gen term is Active Regeneration. This
process occurs when exhaust gasses are too cool for passive re-
generation to take place. The Electronic Control Module (ECM)
takes action to increase the exhaust temperature by injecting at-
omized fuel from a dosing injector. The dashboard will display the
indicator when this is taking place.
The third re-gen term is Stationary Regeneration. This
takes place after a truck has idled for many hours. The system
recognizes that a burn needs to take place. In this process driver
interaction is required. The system will not automatically initiate the
re-gen process until it is told by the driver that it is safe to do so as
the exhaust temperatures could be hazardous in some cases such
as fuel delivery or inside a convention center in our case. In most
all cases such as parking lots it is safe for the driver to allow the
truck to complete the Stationary Re-gen.
This Regeneration system was first introduced and re-
quired in all engines 2008 or newer. For us as well as the manu-
factures this was a learning process. Service schedules such as
DPF filter, sensor lead and injector cleanings were increased as it
was discovered that manufacture suggested service schedules
were not sufficient. By increasing the service schedule we have
drastically reduced emergency on road repairs thus reducing ser-
vice failures and costs.
In 2012 the second stage Selective Catalytic Reduction
(SCR) was introduced. The simple explanation of SCR is the pro-
cess that uses ammonia in a urea based substance called Diesel
Exhaust Fluid (DEF) to chemically change harmful oxides of nitro-
gen to harmless nitrogen gas and water vapor. Injected DEF de-
composes in heat end exhaust pressure. The diffuser ensures the
ammonia is thoroughly mixed with exhaust gasses before it reach-
es the SCR catalyst. The SCR has four major components which
are the DEF Tank, DEF Doser, SCR Catalyst and Ammonia Cata-
lyst.
As with the DPF truck and engine manufactures are be-
ginning to have a full understanding of what is needed to insure the
systems operate efficiently and trouble free. With improved
knowledge of these systems by both our vendors and us we are
seeing down time and emergency repair drastically reduced. The
fleet department is in constant communication with our vendors
such as PACCAR and Cummins to insure added services and ser-
vice schedules are updated and preformed.
The good news is there is a light at the end of the tunnel
and at the end of the day we will have much cleaner air especially
the smog we see in cities such as Phoenix.
Bob Allen
Vice President, Fleet & Driver Services
.
Important HR Reminder #1:
Please use the document pictured below to report any em-ployee injuries. Please attach pictures of where the acci-dent occurred as well. Please DO NOT take pictures of someone's injury. ONLY where it occurred so we can see what might have caused it.
Important HR Reminder #2
The Select 1 Group is in the process of OPEN ENROLLMENT. Enrollment ends February 20, 2015
S1G will offer medical cover-age through Cigna for the 2015 plan year. You will have the opportunity to enroll in one of the two plans being of-fered.
Both plans are PPO plans and utilize the same network of providers. A brief summary of the plans being of-fered are listed below. A more detailed description of your plan can be found in Cigna summary of benefits and cover-age.
Additional Highlights to S1G’s compre-hensive Insurance offerings:
2 Medical PPO options
Telemedicine
Dental
Vision
Short Term Disability
Long Term Disability
Life and AD& D
Accident and Critical Ill-
ness Coverage
Section 125 (Pretax Ben-
efits)
New Benefits (should you choose to enroll) will be effec-tive 03/01/2015. Benefits are deducted per 52 pay periods.
The largest and most important annual showcase for US car-
makers, took place on January 12—25 at the COBO Center in
Detroit, MI. This was the 27th anniversary of this show in De-
troit and it did not disappoint. While you and I were at home
snug as a bug in our beds, TEAM AWESOME (A.K.A. The
Select 1 Group) definitely represented and in great form. A
huge thank you goes to those S1G employees that were pre-
sent to ensure that our client’s met their marketing objectives.
1. Christine Garret 2. Bob Allen 3. Andy Regish 4. Mark Giroux 5. John Collins IV 6. Floyd Bunker 7. Lou Jaquin 8. Tim and Christine Gabik 9. Tom Fischer 10. Michael G Carlson 11. Kurt Dewitt, Mike Hubler 12. Cliff Rayl 13. Larry Wiedenhoeft 14. Mike Parks 15. Bob Quantz 16. John Newton 17. John Seilhan 18. Harold and Debra Watson 19. Bruce Read 20. Joe Criste
Here are a few pictures taken by Andrea Mousseau and Tom
Fischer at the S1G command post. It was apparently so cold
that the camera froze and was unable to take proper pictures,
but we included even the grainy pictures so you could get see
our crew in action. WELL DONE SIG!
A. Select 1 Group Staging Area at COBO Hall. Looking
good!
B. Andy Regish sitting on the golf cart waiting to shuttle
drivers to and from the convention center, and Chris-
tine Garrett & Mark Giroux standing outside next to
Andy.
C. Joe Criste made his “Sloppy Operational Geniuses”
(aka sloppy joes). Sources say they were fantastic!!!
We captured Joe tasting his masterpiece.
D. Mike G. Carlson was also caught savoring the “Sloppy
Joe Geniuses”.
E. Cars awaiting S1G drivers to haul to their next desti-
nation at the end of the show.
The Fleet Maintenance Team would like to make your mainte-
nance shop experience better. We want all drivers to be able to
come in and get all of his or her maintenance needs taken care
of as quickly as possible. The best way to accomplish this is if
we have a clear understanding of what needs to be done to
repair your truck and/ or trailer.
Each repair request should start with an email or phone call to
the shop you are heading towards. This prior notice will give
the Shop Manager (Mark or Justin) a chance to know what is
coming in and when.
This allows us to prioritize and plan so your maintenance
needs can be addressed in a timelier manner. Whether calling
or emailing, be prepared! We will be looking for the time and
date when you will be in and what is going on with the equip-
ment. Please be patient with us. As the company has become
busier so have we. Email is a good way to let us know when
and what needs to be done. However, if you are more comfort-
able calling and we do not answer, please leave a detailed
voicemail message. When emailing, please include me on the
email so that I can assist in understanding what needs to be
accomplished.
Once you arrive in the shop, we would like you to write up your
truck or trailer and speak to the Shop Manager to explain what
repairs are needed to avoid any miscommunication. At this
point we will do an inspection of the truck and trailer and to go
over what repairs are needed. On the Repair Request Form,
please note the date and time you will need your equipment
back. We understand that your schedule may change. If so,
you need to relay the new date and time to the Shop Manager
so that your repair can be expedited. We will also be in touch
with dispatch for any changes. We can supply you with Repair
Request Forms to carry with you so that you can write things
down as you notice them.
Before you pick up your truck we would like you to speak with
the Shop Manager to go over what was done to the equipment
and what needs to be done in the near future. As an example,
when the next PM is due or if there is anything that we had to
order parts for and will fix the next time you are in the shop.
If you know that you are picking the truck up when no one is at
the shop we would like you to call in so we can explain what
was done to the equipment before you pick it up. We believe
that with more communication, your repairs will be handled
more timely and efficiently.
Andrew Regish
Fleet Maintenance Manager
Maintenance Shop Operations
corporate values 1. The operating philosophies or principles that guide an organi-zation's internal conduct as well as its relationship with its cus-tomers, partners, and shareholders. Core values are usually summarized in the mission statement or in the company’s state-ment of core values
