Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/655335
FIRST CLASS l 11 FIRST CLASS l 11 director of maintenance and part of the third generation of Vander Pol leadership at the fam- ily-owned firm. "It's that simple. That's what we hang our hat on — being better." A century of growth The standard of being better dates back to the 1916 founding of the firm out on Whidbey Island at the north end of Puget Sound, and to 1936, when John and Gus Vander Pol bought the company and its two trucks for $600. A year later brother Henry — Dan's grandfather — joined his older siblings in running the fledgling company, which grew modestly and steadily until 1974, when Henry bought the business outright. Deregulation in 1980 marked another key growth point for the company and put new horizons on their vision for expansion. Soon the firm was crossing state lines and putting up new terminals. Today, Oak Harbor Freight Lines employs more than 1,300 people and operates 35 terminals for a widely diverse base of customers, none of which comprise more than 1 percent of Oak Harbor's busi- ness. Not surprisingly, the still family- owned-and-operated business — Dan's brother and two cousins also work at the firm — has been the target of larger, nationally branded suitors in the past. But with an eye toward max- imizing profitability and minimizing operating costs to ensure future independence, Vander Pol has sharpened his eye for practical innova- tions such as the MX-11. "When my Peterbilt representative first started calling me, I basically told him this is Peterbilt Model 579s paired with PACCAR MX-11 Engines have outperformed the entire fleet in fuel economy at Oak Harbor Freight Lines.