Behind the scenes with some of SMC³’s longest-tenured employees
Authored by SMC³ on May 20, 2020
SMC³ is a freight transportation technology company built on rich expertise, operational excellence and neutrality across the supply chain. The company, which is headquartered near Atlanta, is also admired due to the longevity of its staff. Employees spend long spans of their careers at the company, serving a diverse mix of customers and meeting an array of challenges for decades of their working lives.
Many employees have had a front-row seat to witness SMC³’s proven ability to evolve with advances in freight transportation technology and the shifting demands of supply chain users. It’s no accident SMC³ has stood the test of time, contributing to supply chain success since 1935.
Randy Allen, a senior data analyst in the data services department, came into the transportation industry as a teenager, and he has stayed involved ever since.
“I was just out of high school, and my father was in management at a major trucking company,” Allen, one of SMC³’s longest-tenured employees, remembered. “He introduced me to the industry as a young child. It has been a part of my entire life as long as I can remember.”
During the 1970s, the Southern Motor Carriers Rate Conference (SMCRC), which is now SMC³, was one of the myriad domestic rate bureaus that existed to help motor carriers decipher and navigate the regulatory world of less-than-truckload transportation. Allen came into this environment in 1972. The company was still dedicated to compiling, printing and publishing volumes of tariffs and price lists for its LTL carrier members in the region. These early decades of publishing tariffs set the stage for the company’s long-term dedication to customer service and its unwavering focus on accuracy and reliability. By the end of the decade, SMCRC was serving the needs of more than 1,250 motor carriers in a nine-state region.
Allen first joined a company where the technology SMC³ customers know today was far off in the future.
“When I started working here, computers weren’t around,” Allen said. “Over the years, I have been a substantial part of all the changes. When we acquired new equipment, I always wanted to learn how things worked and how they best fit our needs.”
Amid all the shifts in technology, SMC³ has remained a knowledge leader in LTL and truckload freight transportation, all the while developing new transportation tools to address tomorrow’s challenges. As SMC³ grew, it remains committed to its founding principles, motivated not by profit but by developing dependable products that fill an industry need. But for Allen, the close friendships he’s established with the rest of SMC³’s longtime employees are one of the reasons why he enjoys working at the company.
When asked why he’s spent so long at the company, he mentioned, “the people I’ve met, friends I’ve made and am still making.”
“I learn something new or a new and better way to accomplish my job almost every day,” he continued. “It makes me think I am contributing to our success.”
Cindy Alexander joined SMC³’s Louisville office, which the company opened in 1989 with the acquisition of the Central and Southern Motor Freight Association, in the summer of 2000.
“As a customer support specialist, I enjoy contact with our customers and have made phone friendships over the years,” she said. “I enjoy helping to maintain accuracy in our customer database.”
Alexander decided to spend two decades with SMC³ partly due to the company culture. She said that at SMC³, everyone plays a role in the final product and all employees are dedicated to the ultimate goal of providing customers with unrivaled technology solutions that solve pressing business issues. She said that SMC³ routinely recognizes employees, and that simple act has contributed to the familial, and fun, atmosphere.
“I like the type of work I’m doing and enjoy the people and positive work environment,” Alexander said. “I believe all my coworkers feel good about the work that they do and that they have similar work values and ethics.”
Alexander said she takes pride in knowing she’s part of a company that has succeeded and played an important role in the freight transportation industry for more than eight decades.
“It’s amazing,” she said of SMC³’s longevity. “It’s wonderful to help our customers be successful in their businesses, which reinforces the strength and value of SMC³ for years to come.”
Customers rely on SMC³’s technology solutions to support the entire supply chain, meeting the needs of its customers with industry-leading speed, reliability and performance. For a look at the company’s entire storied history, watch the “Long-haul Legacy” video here.