I need a reply to my classmate below:
Hello Professor Santamaria and Classmates,
My name is Brent Lippy, I currently reside in a small-town southeast of Baton Rouge, Louisiana with my wife of 15 years (Holly) and my two children Kaiden (8) and Brynn (5). We have lived in the area for 4 years when I relocated here for a promotion as a Senior Rental Manager in the Gulf Coast Business Unit for Ryder Transportation Services. From Charlotte, North Carolina. During COVID I was promoted again to the Manager of Rental Assets for North America. I currently handle the entire rental fleet of trucks which is approximately 45,000 units ($3.3 Billion in assets). In my daily role I maintain the operations around inventory management by the field managers whether it be redeployment of rental units to other product lines within Ryder to the process of accident claims by the field.
I would describe my knowledge of Operations Management as a Practitioner in the rental product line and Knowledgeable in other product lines within Ryder as I have a hand in other “silos” of Ryder and interact with their operations daily. Enough knowledge to be dangerous as they say. I would not consider myself an Expert in Operations Management as I do not hold a certification in Lean Six Sigma, but I am working toward that.
Two of the top operational challenges in the Transportation industry are “Vehicle Roll Time” (This is what Ryder has coined) and time to process an accident claim and handle a totaled unit. Vehicle Roll Time is the time it takes to get a customer’s unit back on the road or in a substitute vehicle until theirs can be repaired after a mechanical breakdown. Vehicle Roll Time has a huge impact on the customer and their satisfaction with Ryder as a Transportation partner. Having a fast turnaround time impacts their finances and customer by their need for them to make timely deliveries of goods transported. Timely accident processing impacts Ryder financially, having a unit sit while in an internal process drags on costs monthly depreciation and wears on the assigned business unit’s financials.
While I have not seen external numbers on either of these measurables I would say that the differentiating factor between a competitive organization and a laggard is the focus of the organization to their customers, both external and internal. Maintaining this focus and eliminating delays at every transition in each process from one department to another is key for success. Both of these challenges are handled by several departments within an organization and the ability to flow from one department to another timely is vital.
My hope in this course is to gain further understanding and knowledge of operations management and the concepts to overcome many of the challenges faced when improving a struggling operational process. This would not only benefit me in my career path but also help me improve the operational processes I impact.
A few fun facts about me in my spare time (which seems to be less and less these days) I enjoy researching different recipes and brewing Mead or as some call it honey wine and I also have an interest in horology. I also am a second-degree black belt in Okinawan Kenpo Karate.