2000-2001 EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE PRESIDENT Terry R. Head VOLUME XXXIII CONTAINER 1 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2001 CHAIRMAN Jeffrey F. Coleman Covan International, Inc. VICE CHAIRMAN TABLE OF CONTENTS Randall Groger Air Land Forwarders, Inc. FEATURES MEMBERS AT LARGE 3 The Future Is Now! / Peter Williams Jackie Agner Denali International, Inc. 5 Web-based Tools Grow as a Resource for Training / Jason Greer Rick W. Nordquist 6 Cultural Knowledge is Key to Global Training Manuals / Missy Turner Rainier Overseas Inc. 7 Training and Education: What Works for HHGFAA Members Tom L. Olson American Vanpac Carrier Inc. 19 TechNotes: Using E-mail to Manage People: Some Common Mistakes to Avoid Mario Rizzo 19 Aviation Developments Allied Freight Forwarding, Inc. 20 Maritime/Ocean Shipping AMMB REPRESENTATIVE FMC Cites 81 Firms for Noncompliance • Forwarders Seek FMC Action Donald L. Collins 24 Military/Government Update The Viking Corporation MTMC’s Small Business Chief Meets with Industry • MTMC Adopts Automatic Fuel ASSOCIATE MEMBERS’ Surcharge Policy • European Workshop Focuses on Readiness, Efficiency REPRESENTATIVE AT LARGE 27 Inflated Claims Cost Industry $$$ / John Black Charles L. White Executive Moving Systems Inc. 28 Trucking News Mineta Named DOT Secretary GENERAL COUNSEL Alan F. Wohlstetter Denning & Wohlstetter COMMENTARY ASSOCIATE MEMBERS 2 President’s Message / Terry R. Head MANAGEMENT BOARD “The 3 Rs and the Education Years” Donald L. Collins The Viking Corporation 41 Washington Update / Jim Wise, PACE-CAPSTONE “The New Year, the New Administration, the New Congress” Dick Chia Helu-Trans (S) Pte Ltd Douglas Finke DEPARTMENTS Sterling International Inc. 30 Industry News 46 Link Up with HHGFAA William Gross 37 Price List for Selected HHGFAA Publications 47 Forging Strong Links Premiere International 38 Welcome New Members 49 Industry Calendar Art Heath 40 Requests for Associate Membership 50 Portal Advertising American Movers 44 Websites to See 51 Advertisers’ Index Robin Hood Arrowpak International About our cover: Security Storage Company of Washington, DC, has moved Presidents Brij Mithal and other dignitaries for over a century. Training has helped Security earn a reputation for B.M. International (P) Ltd. quality. See page 26. Marc Smet Gosselin World Wide Moving NV THE PORTAL is published bimonthly by the Gunther Tesch Household Goods Forwarders Association of President: Terry R. Head Tamex, S.A. America, Inc. (HHGFAA), 2320 Mill Road, Suite 102, Alexandria, VA 22314. Phone: (703) 684-3780; General Manager: Cliff Williamson fax: (703) 684-3784. E-mail: [email protected]. Belvian W. Carrington, Sr. Transpack Argentina, S.R.L. Web site: www.HHGFAA.org. Send subscriptions, Manager of Administrative Services: advertising and editorial material, and changes of Shirley U. Jagdeo address to: Household Goods Forwarders Associa- Membership/Circulation Manager: tion of America, Inc. (HHGFAA), 2320 Mill Rd., Jean Mathis Suite 102, Alexandria, VA 22314. Layout/Design: Joyce McDowell PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE The 3 Rs and the Education Years n my early “education years” everyone was constantly impressing upon me the importance of learning “the three Rs”: Reading, Writing and Arithmetic. Of course, I this was a source of confusion from the very start, since only one of those words begins with the letter R. Nevertheless, my elders were right, and these three fundamental areas of learning proved to be the basis for my education. Now that I have spent over 30 years employed in the business world, both as an employee and as an executive, I have come to recognize the importance of another “three Rs”: Recruitment, Retention, and Retraining. Any business owner who does not acknowl- edge and appreciate the importance of these factors in successfully running and growing a business is doing both himself and his employees a disservice. Today’s progressive moving, forwarding, and relocation companies, most of which are members of HHGFAA, would all express a commitment to growing their businesses. But to remain progressive and meet the challenges of the next millennium, they also need to make another commitment: to the education and training of their greatest asset, their employees. By Terry R. Head These are the front-line workers who execute the day-to-day business tasks that HHGFAA President produce the bottom-line results that keep our businesses growing in pace with the expectations of our customers. And the demands we place on our employees have never been greater. In today’s marketplace, we must constantly adjust to the rapidly changing world. Our customers are becoming more demanding, profit margins are eroding, and it is becoming increasingly difficult to recruit and retain highly skilled employees. I am increasingly convinced that education and training of the employee base may well be the most critical factors in our industry’s survival. Without focused, motivated, and well-trained employ- ees, HHGFAA members won’t be able to remain on the cutting edge in tomorrow’s business world. In addition to the physical and historically recognized operational aspects of running a moving, forwarding, or relocation company, we are all now collecting, managing, and distributing information and data that relate to the shipments we handle. Speed is the supreme driving force behind the information explosion. Technology makes it possible for us to harness enormous amounts of information and share it, almost on a “real time” basis, with our customers. Our employees must be armed with skills and knowledge in order to assist and properly respond to the informational and technological requirements increasingly placed on modern day movers. The employers who own these business have a responsibility to constantly recruit and train their employees, as well as themselves, to meet the needs and demands of business. In today’s modern world we need to think of the “education years” as extending from birth to death rather than from kindergarten to college. What are you doing to extend those education years within your company? I EDUCATION AND TRAINING The Future Is Now! By Peter Williams Hunting and gathering Millions of years ago, when our ancestors first stood upright and began living in caves, they survived by hunting and gathering. Survival of the species depended on the skills they acquired and developed in the daily quest for food. These skills were taught to their young by example. And they must have done a pretty good job of it, or Homo Sapiens would be extinct by now. Basic training This was training, in its very crudest and most rudimentary form. Without it our race would never have survived and evolved to the high level of sophisticated, intelligent beings we are today. You can say that the rest of the animal kingdom has enjoyed similar success in terms of survival, but what sets us apart is our ability to speak and communicate with each other. Communication, verbal and written, has enhanced the training process from generation to generation. Training is no longer instinctive as it was in the caves. The instinct to train has expanded into all walks of life, and will continue to do so. Some of our training is so basic that we take it for granted. Having acquired many of our skills as children, we do not need to consciously practice and re-train to maintain them. But as life has become more complex, we have had to learn new skills, through either the example of our parents and peers or lessons taught by our teachers. These skills are maintained at a useful level by repetition but sometimes, for a variety of reasons, we need to be re-trained. Skills must be honed and refined in order to maintain maximum benefit and efficiency. Service with a smile In a service industry, the customer remembers who supplied the service as much as the quality — it’s all we have to sell. With a smile? Ideally so. Let’s face it, moving is a negative experience, associated with domestic upheaval and turmoil. For children it means changing schools, breaking off friendships, and the anxiety of the unknown. Moving is right up (or down) there with death and divorce as one of the most stressful experiences known to man. So a calm, knowledgeable, competent coordinator, or a careful, pleasant, highly skilled packer, for example, can be the best thing about a move, from the customer’s perspective. What if everyone handling the move—packers, drivers, estimator, coordinator, and accounting assistant, not to forget the manager—turns out to be collectively the best thing the customer remembers? Everyone firing on all cylinders, delivering their service with a smile and quiet confidence - isn’t that the ideal we aim for? But it will not just happen, unless we are very lucky. Training plays a paramount role. It should have a prominent place in our business plan and budget every year. Old-fashioned training Historically, training in our industry has been very much “on the job” and “learning by mistakes.” What better way to learn how to pack china and glass than watch an experienced packer, who will pass on tips that are time- tested and will achieve the best result? It is to be hoped that the lessons will be well learned, because many companies have instituted a quality control measure that penalizes poor packing financially — damage caused by careless packing is paid by the careless packer! In what has always been considered a “semi-skilled” industry, this method of training has been considered adequate and effective. Why spend our hard-earned money on developing “semi-skills” when we have in-house experts for free? In the office most of our staff have received their training in business and office skills elsewhere. We actually state in the job qualifications that we are seeking people with certain skills. There’s nothing wrong with that at all — this means we can get maximum production from the very first day.