Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/591462
1 2 | BULLDOG | 2 0 1 5 V 3 COVER STORY History: The company was established in 1978 by brothers Wayne and David Perrault and In 1984 it became a sole-proprietorship owned by Wayne. Using eight Mack trucks, Perrault's hauls dirt, river silt, sand and lime- stone within a 50-mile radius of Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Perrault's has purchased 30 Mack trucks since its inception. The company typi- cally employs 14 to 15 people. Ron Perrault, operations manger, started working in the business when he was 15 years old, helping with payroll, fueling and minor repairs. Over the years he has worked in every aspect of the business. "There is nothing I haven't done." In fact, he says, "I will not ask my employees to do anything I haven't done. You will see me welding, changing parts, running to get parts, moving equipment, helping the finance people get the paperwork right, et cetera." Business transition: The transition of lead- ership from Wayne to his son, Ron, began in 2006 when Ron says he started "running 75 percent of the daily operations." Asked how the transition began, Ron says, "We don't have an 'ask for it and get it' relationship. It is more like, 'show me what you can do.' My dad has to be shown that someone can han- dle something." One of the first decisions Ron made was to purchase five tri-axle Mack trucks to replace the tandems the fleet had been running. One reason Ron got more involved in run- ning the operation was the growing use of technology both in trucks and to run a busi- ness. He says he is much more comfortable with technology than his dad is. Growth: Under Ron's leadership, the busi- ness has expanded and has moved from being located at home to an office — even adding a shop and doing its own repairs. "We had huge growth when we built an office and added personnel in 2009," he says. Ron says he is more of a risk taker than his parents. His mom, Ronda, is president of the company. "I do take risks, but most of the time they are educated and calculated." This can be seen in his decision to acquire six new trucks — the single largest one-time pur- chase in the company's history — in 2014. "I started digging through the numbers and found it is not 'cheaper to keep her.' Once I saw what the older trucks were costing us in maintenance and downtime it just didn't make sense to keep them." For the first time in the company's history not all the trucks were purchased outright. While the trucks have identical specs, three were purchased and three were leased. While Ron is handling the day-to-day oper- ations, Wayne is still involved in the business. "He is more of an employee now," Ron says. "He likes to get in a truck whenever I have one free so he can drive and haul. When he feels like hunting and fishing, he just does that. He calls it semi-retirement, but it is pretty much full retirement during hunting season." The leadership transition is not 100 percent complete, but Ron says he makes about 99 percent of the decisions. For bigger deci- sions, like the one to acquire six trucks at once, he gathers the facts and makes a recommendation to his parents. Advice: Ron says it is difficult to separate business from family but he and his parents try to handle business issues during business hours. "If something comes up when I am at their house swimming or at a birthday party I suggest to them that I take care of it on Monday," Ron says. "A lot of times there is nothing we talk about outside of work that can be actually fixed outside of work. I think it eases their minds when I tell them I will take care of it." Ron says he has benefitted by learning from his father's mistakes. He listens to his father tell talk about the past. "He will tell me 'I did it this way and this is what I messed up.' You have got to learn lessons and you can learn them by listening to what happened in the past." Looking to the future: At 36 years old, Ron has already given some thought to the future leadership of the business. He has two sons, Kaden and Liam, and in Ron's words "obsession is an understatement" to describe his younger son's interest in trucks, dirt and equipment. "He is only 4, so if he does not get burned out by time he is 15 I see him coming into the business." "[Wayne] will tell me 'I did it this way and this is what I messed up.' You have got to learn lessons and you can learn them by listening to what happened in the past." Ron Perrault (standing) is taking over the reins of Perrault's Trucking from his dad, Wayne, who started the company in 1978. Ron runs the day-to-day operations but still consults with his dad on major decisions like new equipment purchases. Case study: Perrault's Trucking Ron Perrault