September 14, 2021
In Charlotte, N.C., Dal-Tile Sales Representative Kirk Beckwith and Dal-Tile Sales Service Center Manager Joshua Beckham had successfully helped one of our largest contractor customers in the area with a major order — but now there was a major problem: how to get a full truckload of product to the customer on time.
“After the order, delivery had been pushed back several times because of multiple shades, but we were able to get those approved and ready with the help of Dal-Tile Planning Manager Brett Mullikin and Resource Planner Natalie Johnson in Dallas,” Beckwith said. He and Beckham had determined that Thursday morning they needed to find a way to get the product delivered in the next 48 hours or less, so that the customer could move forward on the scheduled installation — 6,000 sq. ft. of tile within a commercial skyscraper in Uptown Charlotte.
They connected with Dal-Tile Senior Transportation Analyst Ken Smith in Dallas and Mohawk Transportation Director of Regional Operations Kevin Frazier in Charlotte, who reached out to Mohawk Transportation Line Haul Operations Specialist Aaron Bradshaw in Calhoun, Ga., to see if a Mohawk driver could help with picking up product at Dal-Tile’s Dickson, Tenn., plant distribution center (PDC). Bradshaw found a driver who could arrive at 2 a.m. Friday morning in Dickson, so long as the product was ready to load at that time.
In Dickson, PDC Superintendent Keith Vinson asked Customer Service Representative Chara Gentile and Distribution Support Representative Amanda Mayo to coordinate making it happen. They got the product picked, staged and loaded in time for Mohawk Team Drivers Dane and Rhonda Hammond, who took the tile on the early-morning 450-mile trip as promised, arriving with time to spare.
“Less than 24 hours from our urgent request to ship the tile, it was being unloaded at the Charlotte SSC, where the customer picked it up 15 minutes after Dane and Rhonda arrived and was able to beat their deadline for installation,” Beckwith said. “It was really nothing short of amazing.”
“We know we asked for the impossible — and we have to thank our Mohawk colleagues and our teammates in Dickson and Dallas so very much for coming through for this customer,” said Regional Vice President of Sales (Mid-Atlantic region) Christine Phillips. “This customer of 30-plus years has come to regularly count on us and given the circumstances with this order, it was a great joint effort that they very much appreciated.”
Across different locations and time zones, Brett Mullikin, Natalie Johnson, Aaron Bradshaw, Chara Gentile, Amanda Mayo, Dane and Rhonda Hammond, and others collaborated to make it happen for a major Dal-Tile customer in Charlotte.