Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/328668
History of adaptation According to Gibbons, the company has been built on a history of adapting to change. His father, Rusty, started the company in 1930 delivering manure for local lawns, but began filling a need for aggregate haul and by 1950, when the first concrete manufacturer in Arizona was established, the senior Gibbons had the only equipment — and permit — to haul it. The company began to flourish, even when a tariff was imposed on the concrete-hauling business before deregulation. And after deregulation in the early 1980s killed the tariff but brought a glut of competition, the company continued to grow, establishing terminals in southern California and New Mexico in addi- tion to 10 terminals in Arizona. And as building in the south- west boomed, startup concrete haulers appeared almost as quickly as new homes. But when the bubble burst in the new millennium, those competi- tors often burst with it. CTI, meanwhile, simply found other means of putting as many of their assets as they could to work. "Two things have kept us afloat, or basically cash-neutral, through this downturn," says Gibbons. "Hauling sulfuric acid for the mines, and delivering copper concentrate." Fleet changes While that diversification required CTI to add bottom dump and moving-bottom trailers to its fleet, it did not require much change in the fleet of power units, most of which are day cabs, including about 60 Peterbilt Model 384 and 386s, as well as some older models. The entire fleet of tractors has dwindled from 365 to about 320 tractors at present. Gibbons says trucks that had reached the end of their life-cycle, which varies greatly at CTI but often runs more than 1 million miles, simply weren't replaced. While Gibbons says his existing fleet is still running short of full capacity, he recently took delivery on three Peterbilt Model 384s nonetheless. "It was time," says Gibbons. "You always have to be looking at new technology, learning about what's coming up and testing it. Even though we have older equipment we could be running, we've got to be thinking about the future of the fleet." Gibbons and Copening had an eye on the future and new technology when they tested PACCAR's new MX engine in 16 trucks over the past year. The results have been positive, according to Gibbons. "The drivers love them," he says. "They love all our equip- ment. It's very easy to drive." Meanwhile, Copening foresees a continued forward-look- ing stance as it applies to the fleet. "It's in the best interest of the company to maintain a youth- ful fleet made up of premium equipment," Copening says. "Even though the driver market has changed — we no longer even adver- tise to attract drivers — there are fewer and fewer qualified drivers available. And we'll be in a driver crunch again soon enough. When it does occur, we'll be in a position to attract the best of them." Adds Gibbons, "We've had some older trucks of other makes. You keep them around and you're not making pay- ments, but you're paying for maintenance. So it comes down to, what do you want to pay for — a shop full of people working on trucks, or trucks on the road? We choose trucks on the road, so we stay with the Peterbilt product." "The drivers love our new PACCAR MX test engines... They love all our equipment..." FIRST CLASS 11