The Logistics People - EP001 Chill Brisbane

Tony: Hi guys. Tony here from CartonCloud. I'm here with Jay Dalton who is the Operations Manager of Chill. And I just wanted to have a bit of a chat with Jay just in regards to the industry, where it's going, and even sort of how Jay got into the industry and bits and pieces. So Jay, tell us a bit about how you got into transport.

‍Jay Dalton: Sure. So I spent 15 years in the military. Started from the bottom driving trucks and then moved my way through to the operations side of the logistics organizations within the military. And then about 12 months ago I saw this opportunity pop up and threw my hat in the ring, and now I'm sitting here, mate.

‍Tony: Thank you. So did you know Chill beforehand? Or you'd seen it?

‍Jay Dalton: No, no I didn't. I was pretty in that sort of [inaudible] industry. That's defense and yeah. The wider commercial space doesn't touch it that much.

‍Jay Dalton: It does on the maybe the bigger picture side of things, but not where I was. So no, I hadn't.

‍Tony: So was it a lot different than what you thought coming in? Compared to what you're used to being in the military where everything is very regimented, then you come into into Australia's transport industry and everything is sort of-

‍Jay Dalton: A little bit different.

‍Tony: All over the place, it can be.

‍Jay Dalton: Look, to be honest, it has a lot of similarities to what I was doing between the storage side, the transport side, and just a conglomerate of an end to end solution if you will. So there was a lot of that, but on the flip side there was the commercial part that obviously being in defense you didn't have. So learning that commercial aspect and all that sort of stuff was probably the biggest challenge for me, and the most exciting part at the same time.

‍Tony: Yeah, okay. So you found it challenging but exciting.

‍Jay Dalton: Yeah, exactly. Yeah, especially with what Chill does and the aspects of the business and being the five things that we can do and provide that full scale solution. It's much more exciting.

‍Tony: Because Chill are a bit more diverse than a lot of other companies, the stuff you guys do. Not only the cold storage and the distribution and stuff like that, but also the vehicles. You guys do the trailers, the chill boxes, and all that sort of stuff. And it's a lot different than your average sort of transport company.

‍Jay Dalton: It is, it is. We are geared up to provide, like I said, that end to end solution. From bespoke builds to mobile cool rooms to activations and promotional sampling and things like that. So we do provide that and it's exciting.

‍Tony: Yeah, okay. Okay. And so who in Chill has been the teacher I suppose, or who's directing the ship? How are you going with all of that?

‍Jay Dalton: Yeah, so I came in and I was pretty green. And Andrew Wade, the Managing Director and his sister Lauren, they've been a massive influence over my learning.

‍Jay Dalton: Well in the last 12 months, and just being able to balance things and learn things on the why of people that have been in the industry for 20 years now and came up with this epic idea, and to be a part of that is really good.

‍Tony: Yeah. See and my background is likewise, and the reason I ask this is there's been so many really good operations guys, especially old school guys over the years who I've learnt so much from. And in this industry it always seems to be that those people who are there to help you along the way really guide you in who you end up becoming and what sort of manager you are, and how you run operations and different bits and pieces like that.

‍Jay Dalton: Yeah, exactly. And we have a fantastic culture here at Chill, and everybody's really valued and some of the best ideas that we've come up with and gone forward with have come from drivers, have come from storemen, have come from any level of the business. And I think that's a credit to the directors by just having that, embracing that sort of culture, and making sure that everybody can contribute and their voices are heard.

‍Tony: Because realistically, unless you are constantly evolving your processes, you just sort of go stale. And I think running operations, it's constantly changing, and you're right, you get ideas from here, there and everywhere. And unless you're prepared to move forward. And that's what I've found with a lot of companies who aren't prepared to move forward with what they do, they get stuck in the rut. They do the same thing. They don't expand or they don't ... But when you've got the good outlook, the good people behind you, and that's the other thing is that the people. What sort of changes have you seen in the industry over the years you've been in it?

‍Jay Dalton: Well, I think everything is sort of becoming, or the necessity to become more traceable and more visible about what's going on and what's happening, especially in the third party sense is massive. The ability to show where bits and pieces of product or the client's stock, et cetera is at any one time, whether that's collateral, whether that's anything really is really pivotal. More and more people are getting on board with automated PODs and photos and trackable things, and soon those who aren't will get left behind and be behind the bell curve. And it's about staying in front.

‍Tony: Because it does come down to the customer's demands these days.

‍Jay Dalton: It does.

‍Tony: And they seem a lot more demanding than what they used to be-

‍Jay Dalton: Especially in a third party sense. I mean, it's a full solution, and they're paying, and we're just executing. And they want to know that it's being executed properly, and they want to be able to see it every step of the way so-

‍Tony: Long gone are the days when you'd get a phone call and they'd say, "I'm looking for it." You'd say, "Give me the contact number, and I'll ring you back in two hours."

‍Jay Dalton: That's right.

‍Tony: You just can't do it anymore.

‍Jay Dalton: You just can't do it anymore, no. That's right. You fall too far behind, and there's too many opportunities with other businesses out there that can facilitate that sort of stuff. So for us it's really important to be completely traceable.

‍Tony: Yeah. What's the biggest impact CartonCloud has done for your organization do you think?

‍Jay Dalton: Well, I think part of the thing we just discussed is that that visibility. There's a lot of warehouse management systems and transport management systems out there that the clients don't have visibility of, and if you're a third party logistics provider, it's really important for them to be able to jump in. With CartonCloud they can jump in, they can download their own stock reports, they can retrieve PODs, they can track consignments and statuses and all this other stuff that they probably never had been able to do before. And I think it's a selling point. It's a selling point that complements our business and the way we go about doing our thing. And I think from that perspective it's really changed some of the way we can do things.

‍Tony: Yeah, okay. Do you think it's been a benefit to have Chill all over Australia on the same platform, having CartonCloud in the different states?

‍Jay Dalton: Yeah, for sure. We obviously are in four states, and we do a lot of work for each other. So the exchange of information that we can easily put from [tendency to tendency 00:00:07:26] is really powerful for us. And when we can automate it, it will be even better. It's really important for the way we operate as a conglomerate so it definitely has its benefits there.

‍Tony: What is it that you're most proud of when you come to work here at Chill?

‍Jay Dalton: Yeah. Right. So when I joined the business 12 months ago, we had literally just moved into this site now. And we were still going through all those little things of getting it up to scratch and whatnot. I think we've almost doubled in size, Chill Queensland, since I came on board, and the business as a whole has almost doubled in size. I think we grew 47% last year. So to have a team that can execute even when I'm not here is one of the proudest things that for me. I've spent quite a little bit of time away, especially in the last two weeks, and we've had a lot going on here. Some new clients onboarding, it's the new things coming in and whatnot. And for me to have a team that's that good, that can do everything without me having to be in the office, and I can go and focus on other things in other parts of the business is really powerful.

‍Tony: Yeah, which is a really hard thing in the transport industry, isn't it? Being able to walk away from somewhere. And we get a lot of new customers come on board, and one of the biggest things is they can't go on holidays. They can't walk away from their business. They can't not have the fleet controller come in for the day because unless you've got the right people there and the right process underneath you, it's really hard to be able to walk away.

‍Jay Dalton: Yeah, exactly. And it's about empowering those people to be able to do the things that they do without breathing down their neck all the time. And I think that stems from the directors as well. They have that same sort of approach where they give you the flexibility to do what you do and be as good as you can be.

‍Tony: Well, just walking around the warehouse and having you give us a bit of a guided tour ... But also about the fact that when you're ready to get racking, you'll get racking. You'll source it out, you'll organize it, you'll do all that. I can actually see the pride in your position here with what you do and the fact that you have been given a lot of leeway to do exactly what you want.

‍Jay Dalton: Yeah, exactly.

‍Tony: To make sure it's the the right place, you know?

‍Jay Dalton: Exactly. So we don't need to rush things. I'd rather get things there efficiently and in the best way possible. And when the timing is right, we'll get things fitted out where it needs to be, and we'll get to that 100%.

‍Jay Dalton: But it's a marathon, not a race.

‍Tony: Because the amount of times people rush into it, put down their racking, and then six months later move all their racking over six inches...

‍Jay Dalton: Yeah.

‍Tony: Or rearrange the plan or things like that. So I think you're approaching it definitely the right way.

‍Jay Dalton: Yeah.

‍Tony: That's for sure.

‍Jay Dalton: Exactly.

‍Tony: Yeah, that's for sure. That's for sure. Scariest things in the industry, the stuff you see in the industry which is a bit scary. What have you come across?

‍Jay Dalton: I suppose the WHS sort of stuff in the industry is massive. We play around with a lot of plan, a lot of machinery, and a lot of things. And you do see the odd bit of stock come in that hasn't been looked after correctly, and things go haywire a few times. But that's all part and parcel really, and it's about putting things in place. So there are some of the scarier moments that has to do with forklifts and whatnot. So yeah, that's probably the scariest thing.

‍Tony: And likewise the funny things. The funniest thing. And I mean for me it's drivers over the years. You get some characters and bits and pieces. You would've come across those sorts of-

‍Jay Dalton: Yeah, we do actually. We've got a couple of guys that pick up stock from us in the warehouse regularly from third parties, and there's some really good characters that flow through the door. One that should probably go into a life of comedy. He's pretty entertaining, so it's one of the good things.

‍Tony: Yeah, nice. Nice. And I suppose the memorable things in your time here.

‍Jay Dalton: Yeah, right. So I guess the memorable things for us, we do a lot of experiential marketing and promotion of new products. It really tests all facets of the business from storage and transport and then executing the activity and the activation. And I guess that's one of the times when it all works, and it all puts everything together and it all happens and we get this great activation. It builds the brand, et cetera, et cetera. That's probably one of those moments that you stand back and go, wow. This is pretty good.

‍Tony: Because it is pretty good. We come into the yard and we see the vans out there, and they're all labeled up with different people's brandings, and the fridge downstairs as we walk on in. So you do a lot of promotional sort of stuff.

‍Jay Dalton: Yeah.

‍Tony: Even having a look at the little carts with the pull behind on the bikes and things like that, which is something. It actually takes me back to the Adelaide Oval, being on the hill in the Adelaide Oval and having somebody walk along with the little freezer box-

‍Jay Dalton: Yeah, exactly.

‍Tony: We're riding behind on the pushbike and calling out, and you would go over there and buy whatever it was they were trying to ... So them sorts of things are ...

‍Jay Dalton: Look, we have some pretty creative minds in the business, and that stems from the managing director. We have a promotional team headed up by Scott Dunn, and he's got a lot of experience in the industry and comes up with a lot of creative ideas. We've done everything from carts to bikes to full decked out vehicles to you name it, we've been there. We invite people to challenge us. Challenge us in that space to create moments that matter.

‍Tony: Because I think the promoting of your customers and their goods can only be a good thing.

‍Jay Dalton: Exactly. Exactly.

‍Tony: And the more they grow, the more you guys grow.

‍Jay Dalton: The more we grow. It's about getting that relationship, and that's what we build our client base on is maintaining those relationships. Not just not just a solution of any kind. It's building the relationship and building their brand, which builds our brand as well. So that's the objective.

‍Tony: Yeah. Okay. All right, mate. Well, thank you very much for your time today.

‍Jay Dalton: You're welcome.

‍Tony: It was greatly appreciated.

‍Jay Dalton: Anytime.

‍Tony: Cheers guys.

Transcribed from video 

Visit their Website - https://www.chill.com.au/