Knight Transportation, from its conception to its widely hailed success as one of the fastest-growing truckers in the United States, was led, and majority-owned, by four members of the Knight family.
The central figures in the family-run business that drew excited praise from the business press were brothers Randy Knight and Gary Knight and their cousins, also brothers, Keith Knight and Kevin Knight. The four Knights cemented their kinship early in their lives, choosing the same profession and the same employer. After completing high school, Randy, Gary, Keith, and Kevin joined a trucking company named Swift Transportation Co., a firm that factored as a major player in the industry during Knight Transportation's celebrated rise.
All of the four Knight family members were groomed as future executives of Swift Transportation, a company managed by the Moyes family. Randy Knight, who figured as the impetus for Knight Transportation's formation, rose to the rank of vice-president at Swift Transportation, spending 16 years at the company before leaving in 1985. Randy Knight's departure was prompted by his perception that his professional progression at Swift Transportation was limited. He was not a member of the Moyes family, which, according to his thinking, barred his advancement beyond the position of vice-president. Randy Knight left Swift Transportation in 1985 and started a company named Total Warehousing Inc., but his entrepreneurial talents would find their greatest expression with the formation of Knight Transportation. Randy Knight was forced to wait for his destiny, however. The eldest member of the founding Knight Transportation contingent, Randy Knight was bound by a five-year noncompete agreement he signed with Swift Transportation. When he left in 1985, the clock started ticking toward the end of his noncompete agreement, when he was legally able to start his own trucking enterprise.
Randy Knight acted as swiftly as he could after he left the Moyes-run company. He incorporated Knight Transportation in 1989, an event that served as a prelude to the actual operation of the company as a commercial enterprise. With him at the inception of the company were Gary Knight, appointed Knight Transportation's president, Kevin Knight, named chief executive officer, and Keith Knight, an executive vice-president who managed the company's sales operation in Los Angeles. Each of the four Knights contributed $50,000 to get the company up and running, an investment that was coupled with a $10 million line of credit from Mercedes-Benz of North America. On July 19, 1990, Knight Transportation officially became operational, hauling its first three loads from Phoenix, Arizona, to Los Angeles and back. By the end of its first week in business, Knight Transportation had hauled 15 loads.
Combined, the four Knight family members had more than 80 years of experience in the trucking industry when they started Knight Transportation. They intended to use their experience to make the company one of the major competitors in the industry. The Knights cast their company as a regional trucking concern focused on offering short- to medium-length hauls, the largest segment of the trucking market; approximately 75 percent of all truckload freight moved less than 500 miles. To succeed, the Knights emphasized fostering driver loyalty and they placed a premium on the efficient execution of coordinating the movement of their customers' freight. Every trucking operator claimed to strive for efficient operation, but the Knights made good on their claim, excelling at managing the movement of freight. "Face it," an analyst remarked in a March 26, 2001 interview with Investor's Business Daily, "these are asset-intensive businesses, so the key to success or failure is asset utilization. Knight [Transportation] doesn't let a tractor sit under a trailer to be loaded or unloaded for any period of time."
The four Knight family members gradually expanded their business during the early 1990s. The company was able to recruit drivers by paying them well and by offering what few other trucking employers offered their drivers: frequent opportunities to spend time with family. Thanks to the company's ability to neatly choreograph the complex web of routes that sustained its operations, its drivers typically spent three nights a week at home, .
trucker brown j cannell and ike stephens drive prostar
If you have liked this video subscribe and ring the 🔔 to get updated when we release our next video.
▶https://goo.gl/bnDKZc
Join the conversation
📱Give us a call - 1-888-456-4448
▶ DriveKnight - https://goo.gl/pR7rok
▶Instagram -https://goo.gl/iCKEui
▶Twitter - https://goo.gl/ODNYW5
▶FaceBook - https://goo.gl/W6Wfc4
▶ Pinterest - https://goo.gl/fkN33X
▶ Linkedin - https://goo.gl/DveJAG
Информация по комментариям в разработке