Instinct. It’s something we don’t usually think about, because that’s the exact definition of instinct. It’s reacting to something without having to think about it. It’s doing something, it’s knowing something, and it’s acting on it. Peter Parker has his ‘Spider Sense,’ but we all, to some degrees, have something similar. When a situation occurs, and we’re forced to act, we do so without even thinking about it. Instinct comes in handy a lot of the time, especially when it comes to keeping ourselves or others safe.

At Transportation Partners & Logistics, we take our safety training courses seriously. You just never know when you may need to utilize techniques that could, quite literally, save somebody’s life. Whether they’re in the field or not, our technicians are trained in a variety of safety techniques to ensure that if and when trouble arises, our guys and gals can respond quickly, safely, and efficiently.

Such was the case recently when one of our technicians saved the life of a woman who was hit by a car.
It’s one of those stories that has to be seen, or read, to be believed.

Jarrett Terry was in Fort Worth, Texas. Just a day previously, he was in a safety training class for TP&L. He didn’t know how soon he would be utilizing the things he had just learned.

“I went over to Fort Worth just because I’ve never been there,” Terry stated. “So I was just going to explore for the weekend before I went to work on Monday. A friend was just showing me around town and on the way back to my hotel, we were getting in my car and there was this lady that was walking across the street. We didn’t really think anything about it, but then we heard a ‘BOOM!’”

That ‘BOOM!’ was a woman getting hit by a car.

“I turned around, looked real fast and saw that a truck had its headline hanging out,” Terry remembered. “The lady was just on the ground and I was like, ‘Oh my god.’ So I ran over there.”

Terry stated that there were a bunch of cones near the area, presumably from a construction site. So he decided to take a few of the cones and set them around the scene, to avert cars from getting close.

“I threw the cones out in the lane to get the traffic to go the other way,” he said. “That way I didn’t have to worry about them. Then, I had some people stop and I had them call 911. Then I got her in the recovery position, just so she wouldn’t move. And then we just sat there and waited for the ambulance to show up. I was like, ‘I know everything’s gotta be hurting.’ I can’t really move her around. So I got her in the recovery position to rest and just calm down, and told her the ambulance was on the way.”

Terry had just learned about the recovery position, and the steps to which you should assist somebody, the prior day. Never did he think he’d have to apply his knowledge so quickly.

“Luckily, I didn’t have to perform CPR or anything (though he knew how), because she was still communicating,” he said. “I just got her in the position and had her stay there. She kept trying to get up and move around and I just said, ‘No, stay there.’”

When somebody is the recipient of a traumatic event such as getting hit by a car, they tend to go into shock. This means they may try to move around while not thinking clearly. Their adrenaline is running high but they’re not making good decisions. Especially in the middle of busy traffic, this woman could have been even more seriously injured had she kept moving around. Luckily, Terry kept her still and, even more importantly, he kept her calm.

Not only did he save the woman, he also made sure that the driver of the vehicle didn’t get away.

“[The driver] pulled into this parking lot while I was trying to get somebody’s attention,” Terry said. “But then I saw him, like, start to back out and try to leave, so I ran over there real fast and said ‘Nope!’ and got the driver’s license plate number. Then he pulled back into another parking spot. I think he was thinking about leaving, but he didn’t.”

That’s not something TP&L teaches in its safety courses. They teach first aid, CPR, the recovery position and more, but they don’t teach a course on making sure criminals don’t perform hit and runs.

Everything else, however, was information that he had just been given.

“We went over all that in the training,” Terry said. “I’ve kind of heard it before, but since we just went over it, I just knew what to do. And that helped a lot. Because if it wasn’t for that, then I would’ve just been like ‘Uh, what do I do?’”

But Terry knew what to do. At least, he knew what steps to perform. TP&L can teach the technique. What they can’t teach is integrity. Terry could have just easily gotten back in his car and driven off. But that’s not the type of person he is. TP&L taught him the techniques. The integrity? That was something he was born with.

“Everything just clicked,” he said. “Like, I don’t really know how to explain it. It just clicked. And that’s the first time that’s ever happened. It kind of took me a second to realize what happened. But then once I realized that, everything else just kicked in.”

Call it intuition. Call it integrity. Call it instinct. Whatever you call it, it all means the same thing, which is this: The technicians at Transportation Partners & Logistics aren’t just good at their jobs. They’re good, period. If integrity is doing the right thing even when nobody is looking, then our technicians, as evidenced by Jarrett Terry, are second-to-none. They have integrity in spades and they are exactly what is good, and what is right, about Transportation Partners & Logistics.

Transportation Partners & Logistics is proud to announce that Clint Murray has been promoted to the position of Regional Manager.

The news shouldn’t come as a shock to anyone who knows him. Clint has been with TP&L since its inception, coming on in 2015 and serving as the Site Manager for TP&L’s Pueblo site for the last 6 years. In fact, Clint’s history with Jim Orr, TP&L’s Founder, dates back more than 20 years. 

“I started working for Jim when I was 18 years old,” Clint said. “We worked at another company in Casper for 20-some years. Eventually, we weren’t happy there with the way things were going and we all decided to leave. Everybody went their separate directions, Jim started TP&L, and I had other business ventures in Casper.”

Clint said that he’s always loved the work that he does. He’s worked as a broker, a truck driver, he’s worked in craning and rigging, and more. His love for all of those different aspects eventually brought him back to Jim and the company that he started. 

“In 2015, I decided to come start working here,” Clint said. “And then Jim asked me to start managing the Pueblo yard and taking things here. And it’s been a good ride. I’ve been here in Pueblo, Colorado for almost six years now, running this facility here at the Vestas factory, and that’s what led us to where we are today.”

And where he is today is not only managing the Pueblo yard, but also the entire Rocky Mountain region. The job is a little different, a little…more. But it’s a job that he has absolutely proven himself to be the right man for. 

“As Site Manager, I just managed the day-to-day operations here in Pueblo,” Clint said. “I took care of everything here, took care of the Vestas customer, and it was basically just this one site. As Regional Manager, I’m going to be spread out everywhere. We’ve got jobs all around the country in different locations, so I’ll be taking over several yards.”

Clint said that there’s an upcoming Vestas project in Snowflake, Arizona that he will be in charge of. There are also jobs coming up in Minnesota and Wisconsin that he’ll be managing; all while remaining the Site Manager for the Pueblo location. 

It’s an exciting time to be a part of the TP&L team, and Clint, especially, is excited for the challenges that come with his new role. 

“What excites me the most is the direction that this company is going in, and how fast they’re moving,” he stated. “But we’re growing while still maintaining the quality of work that we’re known for. We’re still very heavily driven into safety, but we also know what portion of the business we want to be in. And that’s one thing I’ve always liked about Jim; if he wants something, he goes and gets it.”

That’s not the only thing Clint likes about Jim, however. The two have a friendship that goes back 20 years, and it’s a friendship built on mutual respect and admiration. 

“Jim is one of the smartest people I know,” Clint said. “He’s just a great person, and he’s very intelligent. He makes a plan and he goes after it and it just works out. It works out because of the time and the amount of dedication that he puts into it. Jim always has a plan. He’s never been a fly-by-the-seat guy. When he makes a plan, he’s very informed and he talks to people that help him progress that plan. So it’s just really easy to jump in there and follow him because he knows what he wants and you know what he wants. And he always brings in other people to hear their opinions. He’s always asking people, ‘What can we do to better this company and to better our employees?’ And that just makes it really easy to work here.” 

Jim isn’t the only reason for the company’s success, however. The TP&L team is made up of incredibly talented, intelligent, and driven people. Including Clint. 

“The people that we have working here are the finest in the industry,” he beamed. “Everybody that works in senior management is a top-level person, and the technicians are top-level employees as well. There are no slackers here. And that’s what makes it great to work here. It’s great to work with people like that. It’s great to work with people that have your back. And it’s great to work with people that have that amount of knowledge in a lot of different fields.”

Clint Murray is proud to be a part of Transportation Partners & Logistics. He was proud when he first started working for the company back in 2015, and he’s even more proud now, as one of the company’s Regional Managers. 

But, even more than that, Clint says he is proud to be Jim Orr’s friend. 

“It’s just a privilege to work for him,” Clint said. “I always tell Jim that I wouldn’t be where I’m at in my life if it wasn’t for him. Period. No questions asked. That’s how much respect I have for him and his entire family; his dad, his brother, his sisters, and the boys. I enjoy working here. I enjoy being a part of what these guys are doing and I’m very thankful to have this opportunity to move this company forward in the direction that we all want to be in.” 

Transportation Partners and Logistics is proud to announce that Deedee Pietzsch, the Director of Rail Logistics, is celebrating 10 years of service! 

Deedee said she’s “been here since the beginning” and that she got the job after being hired by one of TP&L’s original partners. A coincidental text message led her to be employee number five.

A current employee at the time stated to Deedee, “You have the operational skills, the organizational skills, and the work ethic, I can teach you the railroad piece.” So, she did, and immediately it was very interesting to Deedee. “You don’t ever really think about how things get from one place to another until you’re actually doing it. And when it comes to moving these wind turbines, it’s just fascinating.” Deedee noted.

“My background is not in transportation or logistics at all,” Deedee laughed. “I was in hospitality for years, but a lot of those operational skills and duties transferred over to this industry.” 

Deedee said that right before she began working for TP&L, she was running an appraisal management company, which seems unrelated, but that job gave her tools to effectively manage others. 

Deedee first began working as a rail analyst, focusing on day-to-day operations of implementing the rail schedule for a customer of TP&L. The tasks included waybilling, tracking and tracing trains, ordering train symbols, and notifying the customer and yards of train movement. She also worked as the inventory manager for TP&L’s yards, as well as all other yards the customer had product in.

“Now that we’ve grown and have so many yards with so many components on them, our Rail Team has grown to four. I have a dedicated Inventory Manager,” she stated, “a Rail Analyst and a Fixture and Rigging Manager now, too.” 

In her new role, she is now managing the overall rail schedule and equipment allocation/storage for the customer’s wind business.

“There are dedicated train sets that just carry the blades for the turbines, dedicated train sets just for the tower sections, the nacelles and the hubs, etc. Every one of those trains that are running; I manage the entire schedule for our customers.” 

It’s not just logistics that Deedee manages, though; it’s also people. 

“Stepping into this role, I also began managing people, which I never had to do before,” she revealed. “So that is a whole other set of skills and mindset to do that. And we all work from home, so we’re not together in an office. We’re not able to be together every day, so it’s important for me to keep that engagement up with them. Luckily, two of my three guys live within about 30 or 45 minutes of me. We all live close together, so once a month, at least, we’ll try to get together for lunch. Sometimes it’s a working lunch and sometimes it’s just a regular lunch, just so we can get together.” 

Deedee cares deeply about her employees and about her customers. 

“It’s like a family,” she said. “We take care of each other. We look out for each other. We help support each other.”

Congratulations to Deedee for 10 years of excellence. Here’s to another 10 years! 

When Jim Orr co-founded Transportation Partners & Logistics, he needed somebody to work with the numbers. He needed somebody with intelligence and integrity; someone who could multitask various projects and solve countless problems that would undoubtedly arise from a company with such lofty undertakings. He needed somebody who could manage the finances of the company who manages the transportations, logistics, equipment, and cargo of countless windfarm and oil & gas projects throughout the United States.

He found that person in Shana Anderson.

Anderson is celebrating her 10th year at TP&L and, in those ten years, she has proven herself to be pivotal to its growth. As the Vice President of Finance and Administration, Anderson does it all.

“Obviously [the work I’ve done] has progressed over the years,” she said. “It started out as me just ‘doing the books,’ and then as we’ve grown as a team, I’ve been able to delegate some of the work. But it’s making sure the books have accurate and precise data. Our operations side is making all the magic, and it’s up to us to organize here on the accounting end so it all makes sense. I handle the tax side, too. With every endeavor that we take on, there’s a new line of taxes; whether it’s county, city, state, payroll-wise, sales tax, property tax, personal property tax, and more. We’re just making sure that, from a business side, we are absolutely taking care of everything and that we have no holes.”

Anderson also manages multiple insurance claims. She organizes the company’s health benefits and is the
liaison for the Human Resources Department to the employees and the top-level executives. She’s not just in charge of finance and administration for TP&L, either; she also handles those same duties for some of its sister companies and side-entities. She wouldn’t take on this responsibility if she didn’t love the job, however. And she wouldn’t work as hard as she does if she didn’t respect and admire the people with whom she works.

“I align with the characteristics of integrity that TP&L has,” Anderson said. “Jim [Orr] honors everything that is right and just; that’s the way he does business and I can align with that. It’s very easy to team up with someone or something that has the same characteristics and beliefs that you have. This business started on a handshake and that’s really unheard of in this age, even ten years ago. And I think that speaks volumes to Jim’s character and the belief that somebody else has in his integrity. There’s been a lot of growth throughout these ten years and I believe that never saying no is the reason for our ten years of success. We never say no. We say yes and then, on the backend, we figure out how to make it happen.”

Shana Anderson took a chance when she said ‘Yes’ to Jim Orr all those years ago. But it’s a chance that paid off in spades and it has made her a vital component of Transportation Partner & Logistics and all of its subsidiaries. Congratulations on ten years, Shana. Here’s to ten more.

TP&L Breaks Ground on Expanding Rail Services Pensacola, Florida

Rail System Expansion Keeps up With Clean Energy Demand

October 29, 2018 – Casper, Wyoming – Transportation Partners and Logistics, LLC (TP&L) announced today that it began a $4.1 million dollar construction project in Pensacola, Florida that will allow a major wind OEM to double its capability to rail machine heads and hubs at its Pensacola factory.  By reengineering its current rail system, the expansion will allow the company to load up to twenty rail cars per shift, up from its current limit of ten.  Construction began this week and completion is scheduled the first week of February, 2019. 

“In addition to maintaining our own storage and distribution facilities, TP&L specializes in managing other sites as well as consulting on construction for large projects such as this one,” said Jim Orr, president and a co-founder of TP&L.  “We are proud to have the opportunity to provide wind OEMs with distribution solutions to move large quantities of wind components quickly and efficiently.”

TP&L owns and operates distribution centers across North America including Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Texas and Wyoming, serving multiple industries including wind power with rail, port and trucking logistics support and management.

To stay connected to TP&L please visit: www.tpandl.com

About TP&L

Currently serving a variety of OEMs, project developers and supply companies, TP&L provides logistics and transportation management for a variety of industries across the entire supply chain.  Since 2012, TP&L’s unique one-stop-shop for logistics and management solutions has assisted more than 75 wind farms, multiple oil/gas drilling projects and agriculture throughout the United States, Canada and Mexico.  

TP&L’s team of in-house engineers are top-load certified and ready to take the lead when it comes to any logistical needs. From port to pad we deliver – economically, safely and on time.

# # #

Media Contacts:

Ashton Maxfield

Ashton@masterplancommunications.com

(949) 289-6493 

or

Kirsten Woodard

Kirsten@masterplancommunications.com

(714) 366-6003