Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/764523
2 2 | B U L L D O G | 2 0 1 6 V 3 KR Trucking's Mack fl eet is the talk of Tennessee, and it's easy to see why. Owner Keith Radford's 16 Mack ® Granite ® dump trucks are some of the cleanest — and most colorful — trucks on the road. Every truck is a different color, prompting frequent comparisons to Skittles candy. But beneath the sweet exteri- ors, it's all business, providing the strength Radford needs for clay mining and the dura- bility he has come to expect from the Mack brand. He shakes his head in amazement when he thinks of how his company has grown. He started out in 1988 with a $600 single axle dump truck, later adding a $1,000 loader and a $300 trailer. He initially planned to sell dirt and gravel to homeowners in Gleason, Tennessee, and then expanded into working with his father in the ready-mix concrete busi- ness. But God had bigger plans, Radford says. In 1992, the father and son left the concrete business and turned to mining the rich deposits of kaolin and ball clay in Weakley, Henry and Carroll counties. Today, KR Trucking has 29 trucks and 38 employees, and though Radford attributes his success to God, he considers Mack to be a crucial part- ner in the success equation. It took him a while to make the switch. He visited the sales department at his local Mack dealership, Tri-State Truck Center in Jackson, but was undecided. The decision was made when a brand new truck, from another manu- facturer, was unable to handle the rigors of daily operations in the clay mines. He called Tri- State and, with the help of Mack Financial Services, he began building a new, more reli- able fl eet. KR Trucking uses a mixture of axle forward Granites with the 11-liter MP ® 7 405 hp engine and 13-liter MP8 445 hp engine, mDRIVE™ transmissions and mRIDE suspensions. Radford favors a 20-foot dump body over the AT WORK A rainbow of Granite powers KR Trucking Story and photos by Carmen K. Sisson Rugged trucks come in many colors