Long road to YRC helm

Akron Beacon Journal - Akron,OH,USA
Changes in business have driven companies to take a different approach to
inventory management, according to Smid. ``Companies used to keep massive

Ask Mike Smid about his various jobs with YRC National Transportation and he jokingly replies that he has had a hard time keeping any one job.

But the truth is, he literally worked his way up the ranks.

Now president and chief executive of the largest U.S. trucking company, Smid, 51, is responsible for the direction and executive management of Yellow Transportation, Roadway and Reimer Express Lines. They are the major business units of YRC Worldwide Inc., based in Overland Park, Kan.

Those subsidiaries are the leading transportation for industrial, commercial and retail goods.

The company, founded in 1924, was known as Yellow Roadway Corp. before changing its name to YRC Worldwide Inc. in 2006.

Smid, who works out of Akron, was hired after high school with Yellow Transportation in 1977. While getting his education, he worked summers as a dock worker, driver and supervisor. He also worked five years for McLean Trucking, based in Detroit, before rejoining Yellow.

``I had the opportunity to do most of the operational jobs, in facility management and the distribution center before moving into corporate management,'' Smid said.

One of the reasons he's respected is that he knows what it's like to be in most jobs.

Smid's jobs in management have included senior vice president of operations; branch management; sales; the distribution center; regional management; and group vice president.

In June 2000, he was named executive vice president and chief administrative officer for Yellow Transportation, heading the North America service facilities network and international transportation system.

He was also president of YRC Worldwide Enterprise Services and chief integration officer for YRC Worldwide.

In 2005, he was named president and CEO of Roadway Express, then was asked to head the entire company in January this year.

``I thoroughly enjoy what I do. I enjoy people and the relationship aspect of the business,'' Smid said. ``It's a very dynamic business and a dynamic industry.''

Between Roadway and Yellow, about 5,000 employees work in Ohio. More than 3,000 work in the Akron-Cleveland area, so a big part of the company's base is here.

Roadway has a regional distribution center in Copley Township. Yellow has a distribution terminal in Richfield. YRC employs 66,000 worldwide.

``We are actually part of what companies do. We are the supply chain,'' he said. ``We become the connection between that business and the customer. At one time or another, goods move by truck.''

He said Roadway serves more than 400,000 customers and at any given time, YRC is handling more than 300,000 shipments, picked up or delivered by 7,000 drivers.

``The industry has changed dramatically in the past 20 years. People in today's world expect everything to be available today, right now, as opposed to not too many years ago,'' Smid said. ``It sometimes took a month to wait for a catalog order. We've become an immediate satisfaction type of society.''

Changes in business have driven companies to take a different approach to inventory management, according to Smid.

``Companies used to keep massive inventory of goods, which tied up a lot of capital. Now they substitute different forms of transportation to supplement just-in-time inventory to offset the costs of maintaining warehousing,'' he said. ``More truck transportation is used to move goods on a more immediate basis.

``The expectation is when you order it, you want it the next day or in the next couple of days.''

A native of Missouri, Smid graduated from the University of Missouri-Columbia with a degree in business logistics.

Smid and his wife, Kathy, have three children. He said he is a fan of American-made sports cars, especially the Corvette. He is also active in the Boy Scouts with his son.

Smid said he enjoys company functions and mingling with employees. ``I travel a lot, but if I'm in town, I make it a point to eat in the cafeteria,'' he said.

With 1,100 employees in the Roadway building on Gorge Boulevard in North Akron, Smid also makes it a point to learn a new face every day. ``With so many people working here, it seems like if you work in the same place, you should know everybody,'' he said.

He uses the employee entrance door when coming to work, which can be as early as 5 a.m. or as late as 9:30 p.m. He said that because the facility is a 24/7 operation, he can come into the building any time of the day and meet someone new. The computer room and dispatch areas are always open.

After a slow first quarter of the year, Smid said, the company can make a difference with its performance in the rest of 2007.

YRC Worldwide reported a 97 percent decline in its first-quarter profits. Net income fell to $1.3 million from $42.1 million a year earlier. Bad weather, reorganization costs and a reduced demand for freight carriers were blamed for the decline.

Reorganization costs stemmed from Yellow Corp's $1.07 billion purchase of bigger rival Roadway Corp. in 2003. The combined company also bought USF Corp, then the second-largest regional trucking company, for $1.37 billion in 2005.

``The new organization is moving forward on a different approach to the market and new cost and efficiency opportunities,'' Smid said. ``We can grow the business. Better differentiation of the services we offer will allow Yellow and Roadway to compete better side by side, instead of on an overlapping basis.''

Smid holds what are called town hall meetings to allow workers the opportunity to share concerns and ask questions.

``I give both the bad news and good news of what's going on. I'm pretty open to taking questions and they're pretty frank. They ask what they want to know,'' he said.