The Private Motor Truck Council of Canada (PMTC) honored Ernie Streicher of Home Hardware Stores with the Rick Austin Memorial Dispatcher of the Year award.

Jason Mooney of Coca Cola Canada Bottling and Wayne Burnett of Home Hardware Stores were also inducted into the Hall of Fame for Professional Drivers during PMTC’s annual conference in Niagara Falls, Ont.

Streicher started in the industry as a driver in the late 1980s, hauling flatbed across Canada and the U.S., then joining Home Hardware as a driver in 1990.

He won several regional truck championships and was collision-free until he transitioned to the dispatch team in 2010.

Streicher, who recently retired, was accountable for more than 60 drivers and 300 assets. He was instrumental in various initiatives, including migrating the fleet over to digital ELD platforms.

A caring attitude

He also supported optimizing routes for Home Hardware’s battery-electric fleet transition, and expanded backhaul performance to optimize the fleet’s inbound spend. His balancing of volumes and working with drivers to optimize routes led to a greater than 95% on time arrival to the dealers. His previous flatbed experience was also instrumental in helping Home Hardware start up its flatbed division in Kitchener.

Driver testimonials highlighted his caring attitude, calm demeanor and his willingness to have frank, honest and fair discussions, regardless of the issue, even during times of peak volumes and demands.

Hall of Fame inductees

Together, Mooney and Burnett have more than 65 years of experience and 6.6 million km of accident-free driving, according to the PMTC.

Mooney joined Coca Cola Canada Bottling at its Brampton, Ont., facility in 1997 in the warehouse. After working there for almost a year, he accepted an offer to obtain his A/Z licence through the company’s licence upgrade program.

He is an active member of the joint health and safety committee. Mooney also coaches drivers as part of remedial training, post-incident training as well as mentoring newly licensed drivers.

Safety and efficiency projects

He has led safety and efficiency projects, including route and equipment optimization, hazard reporting processes, and job and physical hazard analysis.

He is a membership leader for Unifor 973 and actively participates in driver incident reviews with internal departments.

In 27 years, he has amassed more than 2.1 million kilometers that are incident and violation-free.

Burnett’s journey in trucking began in 1986 with Maple Leaf Foods, where he drove tankers, flatbeds, dump trailers as well as A- and B-train combinations. He joined Home Hardware in 2012 where he is a member of the supply chain team fulfilling deliveries and backhauls throughout the St Jacob’s, Ont., network.

Truck rodeo success

He also participates on the collision review committee and the driver committee, with the purpose of developing operational improvements, feedback on loading conditions, on-road improvement as well as vehicle specification improvements. 

He has participated in truck rodeos, consistently placing first and second in both the train and single classes at regional, provincial and national levels since 1999.

Burnett achieved first place at the regional competition five years in a row. In his 38 years of driving, he has amassed more than 4.5 million km of accident- and violation-free driving.