16 SPRING 20 Suit-Kote and New York State Team up to Solve Longitudinal Joint Problem Suit-Quotes Spring 2016 1 President’s Perspective FRANK SUITS, Jr. Welcome Back! This year’s offseason was rather mild as far as winters in our part of the country go, and it has yielded a tremendous opportunity for Suit-Kote an early start! 2016 has all of the makings to be something truly special. The early start coupled with increased financial resources, lower than usual priced asphalt and a well executed bidding strategy has put SuitKote in a great position to have possibly the best year in Company history - weather permitting of course! As exciting as all of these developments are they also bring with them challenges that demand our absolute focus. As the season heats up and work is in abundance we cannot lose sight of the most important part of our jobs - getting home safely to our families each and every day. Safety is the most important gift we can give to our children and spouses because without it nothing else really matters. This edition of Suit-Quotes focuses on our recent advances in our safety and training programs and will attempt to give each of us a chance to evaluate and learn more about how we can be successful at work without compromising our well being. This off season Suit-Kote employees completed more than 10,000 hours of safety training. The program has grown and improved in recent years and this year’s hands on training was implemented to coincide with the tradition classroom instruction. Through the efforts of our safety and operations departments they did a terrific job of creating a curriculum designed specifically for Suit-Kote to provide everyone with the tools to avoid accidents and make it through the season injury free. This training will be especially important this year more than any other in recent history because we are likely to see dramatic increases in work. You will likely get an understanding of just how much work is on the books and how far that schedule will reach geographically. This is not a time to cut corners and take unnecessary chances with your safety. In addition to safety training, we also conducted a comprehensive management training program this winter. Each and every supervisor in the entire company was trained on managing a workforce, how to enforce company policy as well as a concrete understanding of the many laws and regulations that can have a serious impact on Suit-Kote and its employees. This will be a new year of adherence to company policy and involving our Human Resources Department to assist in many facets of Suit-Kote life. It is our intention to improve communication among the many locations of our company and provide the necessary resources and support to continue to allow our Company to adapt to the ever changing world we live in. Rounding out this edition of Suit-Quotes will be insightful articles addressing health insurance, government funding programs, capital investments and the state of our human resources information technology capabilities. The road ahead is going to be busy. We have done our best to prepare you for what lies ahead and we are confident you are ready to rise to this challenge. You are the best at what you do and we are pleased to give everyone an opportunity to showcase that talent on an even larger scale than in previous years. Let’s have a safe and great season! 2 Suit-Kote Corporation table of contents 4. Suit-Kote Mangers Go to School 5. Employee Intracompany Transfer Program 6. News From Around the Company 9. Equipment Manufacturers Visit Suit-Kote to Train New management training program instituted First year program provides employees with opportunity What’s new(s) in the Suit-Kote family Equipment operators undergo training from experts 10. Longitudinal Joint Repair Solution Public/private cooperation allows for introduction of new product 11. Suit-Kote Healthcare Costs Headed in Right Direction Health insurance spending declines thanks to education 12. A Simple T-Shirt or Profound Safety Tool Crew shirt giving people a reason to think safety all the time 13. Travelling on a Hope and a Prayer Tips of tire maintenance and care 14. Safety Spotlight Fall protection program and national safety month update 16. Suit-Kote Health Insurance Update Falcone Associates provide important information about healthcare 19. Employees Get Serious About Their Retirement 401K is seeing record investment 20. New York State Provide Record Funding CHIPs funding reached historic high 21. 2016 Work Season Could be a Record Breaker Funding and asphalt prices work together to make 2016 special 22. Capital Expenditure Investments Key to Future Success Suit-Kote invested millions to prepare us for this season 23. Human Resources Gets a Tech Boost Digital automation makes paperwork much easier Suit-Quotes Spring 2016 3 Suit-Kote Managers Training Leaders Wanted On February 23, 2016 nearly all Suit-Kote managers attended a comprehensive management training seminar. To many, this was a valuable experience and it taught them how to be better managers and clearly explained what is expected of them on a daily basis. Suit-Kote has been growing consistently for more than a decade and this type of expansion brings with it great opportunity, but also increased risk. As the Company continues to add locations and employees there are higher expectation for professionalism and sophistication of the workforce. As more and more trucks get out on the road the visibility of the Company grows and the public spotlight focuses on those men and women who are out on the road representing Suit-Kote every day. This type of exposure coupled with today’s ever tightening laws has required the company to invest in our managers to help them lead our employees and set the proper example of what it means to wear Suit-Kote green. What is a leader? A person who guides or inspires others. It involves the exercise of influence by one person over others. An organization has the greatest chance of being successful when all of the employees work toward achieving its goals. The quality of leadership exhibited by supervisors is a critical determinant of organizational success. There are eight traits of a leader: vision, trust, participation, learning, diversity, creative, integrity and community. It is our hope our managers at all levels will continue to develop and enhance these traits because it will only make this Company better and stronger and it will also improve the lives of everyone 4 Suit-Kote Corporation who works here. Leadership has a strong impact on the company’s reputation, and the effects ripple down through the organization, specifically affecting employee morale and, of course, financial performance and continued growth. In year’s past Suit-Kote has operated like a moderately sized family business, but we have grown into a large corporation and because of this we must replace the thought of, “this is the way we have always done things,” with “this is the way we must do things now.” Breaking old habits is difficult, but it can be achieved through strong leadership and teamwork. We live in an ever changing world and we must either change with the times or be devoured by them. One of the main focuses of the meeting was on leadership and understanding what it means to be a leader and not a boss. It is important for our managers and employees to know this Company will stand behind its employees when they are faced with difficult situations and when they feel the need to point out issues that can impact the corporation in a negative way. The summer work season is tough enough and not following company polices or safety procedure will not be tolerated. The Suit-Kote Board of Directors (BOD) has made the commitment to managers and employees to be there to support and follow through on adhering to our policies and procedures fairly and across the Company. We must be vigilant in making sure how we communicate and act in the workplace is professional and we must completely stamp out behavior that is unbecoming. It is up to all employees and managers to make sure our employees treat each other with respect and support. It is equally Suit-Kote Intracompany Transfer Program Provides Opportunity This off season was the first year of a new initiative at Suit-Kote. The Company has created a program allowing current employees to apply and interview for open positions throughout the Company. Overall this program was a tremendous success. There were several open positions on road crews and nearly all of the openings were filled with current employees. Most importantly, all employees who applied for intracompany openings were given an interview with the exception of those who applied for construction laborer positions and certain flagger positions because those jobs were not set to be filled until after the May 1, 2016 transfer deadline. important for those same people to have the courage to stand up and report to their supervisor or human resources when they see behavior or actions that are wrong or in violation of Company policy. It is important to the health of the Company to identify and correct unwanted behavior immediately . Your supervisors and managers have been taught to identify a great many liability issues and how to correct them. This season is likely to be different than recent years. Breaking of the rules and violation of Company policies will be met with proper disciplinary action. In addition, all managers and supervisors have been cautioned to understand SuitKote policies apply to each employee equally and fairly and uneven discipline or favoritism will not be tolerated. It is the intention of the BOD to make sure all of our employees feel the rules are being applied fairly and across the Company, with no exceptions. It is important for all employees to understand as we continue to enter this new world of lawsuit driven justice, we must be aware people looking to sue will often seek out the biggest target available. And the target on the back of Suit-Kote is getting bigger and bigger every day. The Company has seen a spike in frivolous lawsuits and the frequency of suits filed has been growing at a rapid pace. There are no signs this reality is going to subside any time soon, and that is why is so important for all Suit-Kote employees to understand this and act as ambassadors of the company every day. Our polices and procedures have been put in place to not only ensure your safety, but to protect the company from unwanted avoidable liability. Due to the nature of our business and the need to prepare for the season, we instituted a May 1st transfer deadline because in order to have all of our workforce needs met we have to limit the time frame for personnel changes. This program will resume at the end of this season and will remain open until May 1, 2017. We encourage all employees who are looking to advance or seek a position they are passionate about next year. Please understand any employee who is interested in seeking another position with Suit-Kote will be looked at as a positive step to bettering their career and it will not be viewed in any other way. This will in NO WAY have a negative effect on your current position or standing within the Company if you are not selected to fill an open position. Suit-Kote values all employees and will continue to make programs such as this available because we are dedicated to providing everyone with the opportunity to better their careers right here at Suit-Kote. How the Program works: • When a position become available, the hiring managers contact Human Resources and they draft a job description and then post it to our Corporate website www.suit-kote.com under the tab of Job Openings. • Interested employees complete the online application and submit it to Human Resources. • Employees are then contacted to set up an interview. Suit-Quotes Spring 2016 5 News from around the company In Memoriam Steven L. Bishop, Sr., 63 of Locke NY passed away suddenly at Cortland Regional Medical Center on February 13, 2016. He was born May 28, 1952 in Tupper Lake, NY. He was the son of the late Leonard Bishop and Theresa Norman Bishop. for being there in the wee hours or the late nights. If it needed to be done they were always there. Thank You Dick Thorington, Don Deiss, Harold (Butch) Quaile, and thank you to one we lost this year Steve Bishop (Bish). Steve fit right in with these three men and was always there when someone needed anything. Dick Thorington Steven was employed by Suit-Kote, as a Specialty Truck Driver, he was previously employed by Cornell University as a Tradesman. Steven loved cutting wood for all his family to stay warm and will be remembered as a very hard worker. Steve is sorely missed, but we have taken advantage of the opportunity to add Steve’s grandson, Tyler Bishop to the L.A. division. Tyler has taken over the calcium truck for his grandfather, and is proving to be a great addition. It can already be seen that he has the same drive as Steve. Left to cherish his memory are his wife; Judy Bishop, two sons; Michael Bishop (Deborah) Groton, Steven Bishop Jr. (Tammy) Truxton, one daughter; Rae Marie Bishop (Cliff Hall) Statesville, NC, three brothers; Richard Bishop (Judy) Augusta, GA, Randall Bishop (Marilyn) Cortland, Timothy Bishop (Carla) McLean, one sister; Susan Cornell (David) Statesville, NC, nine grandchildren; three great grandchildren; several nieces, nephews, and cousins. Starting his employment at Suit-Kote May, 25 1987 Robert Daugherty spent nearly 30 years dedicated to Suit-Kote as a pugmill operator. After many years working long hours and spending a lot of nights in a hotel, Bob has decided to retire. Although he will be missed, we hope that he enjoys his retirement doing the things that he loves to do. If you should see him out, probably on a golf course, wish him all the best with his retirement. Memorial contributions in Steven’s name can be made to Caring Community Hospice of Cortland, 11 Kennedy Parkway, Cortland, NY 13045. Cortland LA It’s nice to have someone you can count on when you need a job done, and done right, at any time of the day or night. The work ethic instilled in our longest tenured employees is unmatched in this day and age of Google this and e-mail that, Snapchat, Facebook,Twitter and the like. There are three new faces in the lab this year, so please welcome Connor Campbell (Aggregate Lab Tech), and Jacob Harder (Aggregate Lab Tech). Preble Harold “Butch” Quaile You cannot replace the “get it done attitude” of a our senior employees who grew up without all the luxuries of today. So when you pass these gentlemen in your daily travels shake their hands and thank them for their years of service to this company and 6 Suit-Kote Corporation Cortland Lab Congratulations to Kelly (Hollister) Henninge (Cortland Lab) on her marriage to Mark Henninge on May 29th at ceremony at their home. Mark, welcome to the Suit-Kote family. Mike Murphy is now responsible for the sales management of Fosterdale, Oneonta as well as Broome, Tioga and Chenango Counties. Congratulations to Zeke and Linda Quinlan. They became grandparents on May 8th when Blake Brendan Quinlan was born weighing 7 pounds 8 ounces and measuring 20 inches long. Al Paquin was recently contacted by the Village of Minoa (East Syracuse) and Erie Village Homeowners Association to praise our surface treatment crew on doing an excellent job. A special thank you to Brian Davis, Earl, Alex and Don for doing such a great job and representing the Company! Watkins Glen/Belmont Kevin Smith has been promoted to the position of General Manager of our Watkins Glen and Belmont facilites. Kevin will focus on the sales and administration management of the Watkins and Belmont offices. Western New York Gary Risley is now taking the lead for western NY with the sales and administration management roles for the Buffalo and Jamestown office’s. Jamestown would like to thank everyone for their great efforts on getting ready for what looks like a very busy season. With the extensive training, hard work setting up jobs, and getting all the equipment ready it was a challenging spring but as always everything came together. It has been an abnormally busy start to our season. Please remember with a busy season on our hands that safety does not take a back seat. If anyone sees a safety issue please report it. Don’t be afraid to say something. The Jamestown Employees would like to thank Tony Brown, John Irving, Jim Halstrom, Dayton Brown, Brad Potter and John Beckwith from our own Suit-Kote Construction Division for their hard work in preparing our building site for our new garage/office facility. They have worked through some difficult soil and weather conditions to make the site suitable for our new building. Their hard work, professionalism and their experience in this type of work has proven invaluable. We would also like to announce the addition of a new SuitKote family member in Jamestown. He is the son of Josh & Mindy Henderson. His name is Walker Martin, born on May 12th, 8 pounds 11 ounces 21 inches long. Congratulations Josh & Mindy. A new construction season is upon us and it shows great promise. Please make safety you first priority every day and in the end we will celebrate the fruits of our labors together. Congratulations on a job well done to Eric Hill. Recently while working on a project in Pennsylvania Eric received an exemplary evaluation from PENNDOT. In the report he received high grades across the board and the evaluator even added in the comment section “Eric Hill’s professionalism and cooperation was above reproach.” Excellent job representing your crew and you company Eric! Just like everywhere else our Buffalo facility is busy growing as well. In just two years they have added 27 new employees to meet the growing demand for liquid asphalt, emulsion mill and hot haulers. Oriskany Expands Territory Steve Gloo, who served with Herkimer County for more than three decades, before retiring, has decided to take on the challenge of developing a market presence in Fulton, Montgomery and Schoharie counties. This is Steve’s second season of being focused on this effort and is making great strides with developing this new market area. He has been successful with introducing dense graded coldmix paving to hot mix market area that has strong hot mix industry presence. Oriskany has expanded its technical presence at their facility by installing a state-of-the-art laboratory to conduct product formulations and field testing. Longtime Suit-Kote employee Jonathan “JC” Curtis has been tapped to lead this new venture Suit-Quotes Spring 2016 7 Polkville William “Willy” Olands started working at Suit-Kote in 1979. He started out with the construction division doing various jobs which included driving truck. He later began driving fa lowboy hauling blacktop for many years. When Ed’s Batch plant moved from Homer to Polkville in 2003, Willy became Ed’s loader man. He decided to retire this year. His last day was May 27, 2016. He was a great guy to work with and will be missed. We would like to also recognize Candi Benek who has been working hand in hand with our IT Department bringing to life a new computer program for the sales department. This will funnel several spread sheets and maps into one program, making it more efficient and user friendly. This program will be up and running very shortly and we are looking forward to it. Thanks for all the hard work! Willy Olands Oneonta Gerald “Jake” Wikoff has stepped into Larry Preston’s sales representative role. Jake has been part of S-K for 15 years,. He has come off of the paver to fill our need in the sales role. Jake’s sales responsibilities are Otsego and Delaware Counties. Washington, PA Kelly Puskarich has filled our sales void in the Pittsburgh Washington PA area. She was a sales rep for the pharmaceutical industry for 10 years prior to joining SuitKote. Kelly now handles our sales in Somerset, Fayette, Westmoreland, Cambria and Indiana Counties. Meadville, PA As Meadville continues to develop, it proved time for a new management structure to meet their current and future needs. Greg McCartney is now the Facilities Manager, Dave Conroe has been tapped as Operations manger and Candice Benek is now the Office Manager. Bentleyville, PA Bentleyville is a new location in Pennsylvania that the company has recently secured. This location is actually an old farmstead with the house as an office and the old barns converted into very nice shop space. We are currently in the process of installing 2 new 20,000 gallon emulsion tanks and a scale. This will open the door for Suit-Kote to grow in the South West Pa region. The farm is located on interstate 70 about 15 miles East of interstate 79. Greg McCartney will be hiring a full time yard employee to tend to the tanks and cold patch in the yard. Lori Mead will be relocating the Washington office to this location. Kelly Puskarich with Sales, and Ryan Smith Southern Operations Manager will also call this home. Did you Know? Charles Smeal has been taken off the road and is now working in the dispatch office. Steve Cooper who has spent over a decade as a crew foreman with Suit-Kote has moved to a new dual role working with sales and operations. Steve will be able to ease into a sales role without compromising his valuable insight he has to give to the work crews in the field. Jared Jack has been named to replace Steve as crew foreman. New York State Department of Transportation Region 6 contracts more cold-in-place recycling (CIPR) projects than any other region. But did you know out of the 206 miles they have contracted in the last five years, Suit-Kote’s CIPR train has completed 170 miles of it? In addition to the management changes, Medville has also added a several new faces: Terminal - Jay Morris, Chris Hopkins, Danny William JR.; Lab - Joshua Smith; Operations - Kevin Reece (dump truck driver), Doug Walker (dump truck driver) Kevin Grinnell (lowboy driver/crew), Kevin Bishoff (lowboy driver/crew), Alejandro Cuellar (mainline lowboy driver), Dan Fox and Nate Harrah (crew members); Administration - DeLaynne Taylor and Lori Mead. According to representatives from Etnyre, the United States premier distributor manufacturer, Suit-Kote Corporation’s fleet of 100 distributors is the largest privately held fleet in the world? 8 Suit-Kote Corporation Operators Learn From the Experts Many of our operators and supervisors had a chance to learn all about their machines right from the people who made them. In recent years Suit-Kote has made tremendous investments into updating and improving our equipment and machinery. These additions have been welcomed by all who use them, but figuring out how best to use all of their attributes usually takes a lot of trial and error. However, this year a training program was initiated where Suit-Kote employees who use this equipment every day had a chance to speak with representatives from Etnyre, BergKamp and Roadtec to learn more about these machines. In conjunction with safety training many Suit-Kote operators were visited by Etnyre factory personnel to learn about their chippers and distributors. They learned useful tips on how to operate this equipment and also offered a few of their own in hopes they might address some of these needs in future editions. At the conclusion of the Etnyre training Suit-Kote logged more than 1,200 man hours learning and exchanging ideas. Next up was a visit from BergKamp, who travelled to our Preble facility to explain the advances they have made with regard to our micro/metro operations. They have improved their technologies to benefit our crews making them more efficient and productive. Over three days, 810 man hours were devoted to BergKamp training. Roadtec was the final manufacturer to present. Over the two days of instruction and 560 man hours, our milling and recycling divisions learned quite a bit about using the right procedures to keep these machines moving and also opened up a dialogue that will likely lead to future advancements. We are dedicated to giving our work force the very best, cutting edge training available and this year was proof of that commitment. We will continue to invest in whatever it takes to keep Suit-Kote’s workforce on top of the industry where it is and belongs. Suit-Kote Heads East It is easy to see by anyone in the transportation infrastructure industry that Suit-Kote has been growing steadily for the better part of a decade. It has slowly added tremendous asphalt storage capacity as well new and improved rail sidings and has even purchased a barge accessible facility in Tonawanda, NY. These improvements have provided the necessary infrastructure to sustain our territory expansion. Suit-Kote’s foot print now reaches from the Canadian border all the way south to Pittsburgh, Pa. As far west as Ohio and now it is time to expand the map once again - this time we are headed east! In recent years we have made significant upgrades to our most eastern facility Oriskany. This year we added a new laboratory which is one of the final pieces to the puzzle in our move towards Albany. Although we already sell asphalt to customers as far as Massachusetts and Connecticut we have not yet begun to market our road maintenance processes like we do in the rest of Upstate New York. This will no longer be the case, as we are committed to bringing our “best in industry” workforce and superior processes to the municipal governments in Eastern New York. Steve Gloo is our new salesman who has been chosen to lead our sales efforts in this new area and Jonathan “JC” Curtis will head up the laboratory operations. These two individuals have the right mix of knowledge, talent and experience to make this expansion a great success. This is an exciting time to be a part of the Suit-Kote family and we are proud to make strategic maneuvers to ensure the long term prospects for this company and all of its employees. Suit-Quotes Spring 2016 9 Longitudinal Joint Repair Public Private Cooperation In 2015 Suit-Kote Corporation, with the cooperation of New York DOT Region 6 embarked on the creation of a new process. For decades regular wear and tear on high volume roads created wide cracks at the centerline and along the side of the road. This issue creates a dangerous driving condition for motorcycles and small vehicles. In the past these problems were remediated by the use of crackfill material or if they were too wide they were filled with hot mix asphalt. The previous methods for addressing longitudinal cracks either proved to be a danger to motorcyclists or proved to be too time consuming and costly. NYSDOT official Jonathan Engels brainstormed with Steve Rebman to find a better, less costly solution for this problem. Soon, Suit-Kote’s micro paving process was called to action in a pilot project commissioned by the Friendship Residency of NYSDOT Region 6. Mr. Engles was instrumental in allowing for this process to be tested to repair these cracks in the road. The pilot project was completed using sixty tons of material in a micro paving process in the Spring of 2015. The finished product exceeded all expectations by providing a durable skid resistant driving surface with no drop off at a much more reasonable cost. Later in the summer of 2015, Engles and Suit-Kote partnered again for 105 ton project. Mr. Engles observed 10 Suit-Kote Corporation that on the first day (which was a shortened day), Suit-Kote’s micropaving crew was able to apply 60 tons of material in place. This was radically different than the 7 tons of hot mix asphalt his crew was able to apply in a full day. As SuitKote’s crews became more familiar with process and the calibration of equipment, they have been averaging 80 tons per day. Word of this process and its successful use in repairing joints and roads edges began to spread. By the end of 2015 Suit-Kote completed two more projects one in NYSDOT Region 5 and one for the New York State Thruway near the Pennsylvania line. This product is gaining steam in 2016. Region 6 already let two emergency repair contracts calling specifically for this micro paving solution and to date Suit-Kote has already applied 500 tons on Route 390, 75 tons on Route 75 and 133 tons on Route 86 and that is just through the month of May. Soon this process will be introduced to the rest of the New York State DOT Residencies offering them a cost effective, skid resistent, quick fix to a long standing problem. Suit-Kote is proud to work with transportation officials to help them solve problems that have plagued this industry for a long time and this is just the most recent example of public and private sector cooperation. Suit-Kote Healthcare Costs Headed in the Right Direction Since the creation of Obamacare, we have used this publication to provide Suit-Kote employees with information about the impact this law has had on health insurance plans across the company. We have done our best to prepare and make the necessary changes to our plan to give it the best chance to withstand the damage caused by Washington. cost decrease in healthcare claims. Even though it was a nominal decrease, it was still decrease. When compared to the rest of the nation any decrease at all is as rare as finding a mythical unicorn in your backyard. This is great news and we are sure there are many who are envious of our success in containing our costs in this environment. And SuitKote has its employees to thank! In recent years, due to increasing costs, we were forced to increase the cost to employees for dependant care coverage and last year we instituted a lower health savings account contribution. These measures were necessary to keep our plan viable and affordable without compromising services. Back in 2012 when our education process began and we switched to a high deductible health care plan (HDHP) our immediate focus was trained on prescription drug usage. In 2010 a mere 53% of all prescription drugs purchased were generic. Today that number has risen to an astounding 89%. This dramatic shift benefits the company and the employee. The less money spent on name brand prescription drugs, the more money each employee saves in their health savings account (H.S.A) and the overall plan saves as well. This is a good thing for everyone - except of course the pharmaceutical companies. In addition to the cost adjustments, we also embarked on an mission to educate all employees and their families on how to become a health care bargain hunter instead of an uninformed consumer. Those efforts are beginning to pay off and we are starting to contain the costs of our health insurance - and it could not have come at a better time. In the last few years, it has been typical for corporations much like ours to see 20-30% health cost increases. It has created a crippling environment for employers across the country. The Obamacare Exchanges that were set up to take the place of employers who were dropping coverages are now collapsing in state after state. With all of the horrible news being communicated in the media every day, we thought it was time to share good news with regard to our plan. In the last year we have seen an actual There are many different areas we could highlight to illustrate success last year because it was nearly universal. Most categories saw a decrease overall and it has given us a clear picture on where we still have the most room for improvement. The emergency room is a important piece of the heath care process, but it is also the most unnecessarily overused as well. Too many people use the emergency room for ailments that would otherwise be treated by a family doctor or an immediate medical care center. Last year our total emergency room visits were down, but our avoidable visits were 6% higher than market averages. What does this mean? Put simply, many of the visits to the emergency room could have been avoided and instead the patient could have been taken to their family doctor or to an immediate care center. There is an extreme cost differential for an emergency room visit when compared to a physician or immediate care center. The average Emergency Room visits costs about $1,600, the average immediate care visit costs $500 and the average physician visits costs about $109. By simply choosing an alternate option for non-serious injuries and ailments an individual can save anywhere between $1,000 to $1,491 in their H.S.A. to be used or saved for the future. We would encourage everyone to use the resources we have provided to determine when it is time to go to the emergency room instead of the other options. If you are unsure and need guidance, pick up the phone and call a doctor at ALLY HEALTH and get the advice you need. This program is of no cost to you and can be a great help in times when you are not sure what is best. We are proud of everyone for their efforts in helping us get our costs curve under control. It has been a team effort and it must continue. Because of the recent success, The Board of Directors has officially decided to not make any changes to our corporate H.S.A contribution or to our the cost for dependent care coverage for next year. Suit-Quotes Spring 2016 11 A Simple Tee Shirt or a Profound Safety Tool? By Ryan DuBois As I looked back in some old 1970s photographs of SuitKote projects I couldn’t help but notice employee attire. It ranged from field technicians wearing flannels to operators wearing traditional green Suit-Kote uniforms to even some laborers wearing no shirts at all. When I look at these photos my mind immediately begins to think about the evolution of the Suit-Kote tee shirt and more specifically the potential impacts recent design changes may have on our company and just maybe our future. For decades now, Suit-Kote has produced uniforms for crews to wear while working their tails off throughout the summer months. Although I am uncertain of the origin of Suit-Kote uniforms, at some point Suit-Kote realized employee uniforms could serve as a tool to provide a safer work environment for their employees. This is clearly evident by the brightly colored orange, yellow and green tee shirts of the past. The brighter the shirt, the more likely our employees could be seen and therefore the less likely they would be hit by a passing motorist. Fast forward a few decades and Suit-Kote employees can still be seen wearing neon yellow Suit-Kote tee shirts. The only difference nowadays is the new messages on the back of the tee shirts. A couple of years ago the Safety Dept. decided to utilize the back of our tee shirts as a platform to display a constant safety message to anyone reading the backs of our shirts. The first year’s message was “Safety Paves My Way Home” with the idea that working safely will result in our safe arrival home. The second year’s message was “Suit-Kote Rooted In Safety” with a picture of a tree and the various divisions of Suit-Kote representing the branches of that tree. This past year we came up with the design pictured below. The goal was to identify whom in your life you choose to work safely for and check off the boxes accordingly. Additionally, we wanted to take the opportunity to remember former SuitKote employees who had lost their lives while working for our company. Suit-Kote took the liberty to check the boxes beside their names, thus taking the stance that all current Suit-Kote employees should work safely in their memory. We may never know if these messages on the back of Suit-Kote tee shirts have changed someone’s behavior, prevented an accident, or saved a life, but we are certain this year’s tee shirt had an impact on at least one person’s life. Her name is Michaela Pratt and her email below will explain the impact our recent tee shirt design had on her. “Hello, my name is Michaela Pratt my father, Michael Pratt, worked for your company many years ago and was killed in an [workplace] accident. When my family saw the uniform shirts your company now has we were delighted. We are happy to see you have not forgotten him or the others. I would just like to say thank you for myself, my mother, my grandmother and my family. Thank you for remembering!” A simple tee shirt…I think not! SAFETY...WHAT’S YOUR REASON? P P P P 12 Suit-Kote Corporation MYSELF PARENTS SPOUSE CHILDREN GRAND CHILDREN CO WORKERS GENERAL PUBLIC JAMES GILLETTE CHARLIE STREETER MIKE PRATT Travelling On Hope and A Prayer By Robert “Bubba” Cobb It is pretty safe to say that almost anybody reading this article travels in a vehicle on a daily basis. We zip down highways at 65mph, trusting our vehicle to get us from point A to point B safely. Sadly, many of us are not so proactive in maintaining our vehicle and checking for safety issues. We travel on hope and a prayer that nothing breaks, leaving us stranded on a highway, or worse yet, in an accident. Here are two quick tire-related tips that take little time and no money, but keep you safe on the road: Check the air pressure in your tires and air up to recommended PSI. Every vehicle has their own recommended PSI specification, and this information can be found right on the inside of the driver’s side door frame. Many vehicles today have TPMS (Tire Pressure Monitoring Systems) built right in which will alert you when air is low, and tell you which tire is low. When driving on an under inflated tire, not only are you risking damaging the tire, you are also risking a tire failure, which may cost you more than just a new tire. Don’t ignore these indicators Air is free, so this is an easy fix! ALWAYS Re-Torque After Your Wheels Have Been Off Your Car Whenever you install new tires on your vehicle – or have service work which requires removing the wheel(s) – it is recommended that the lug nuts be re-torqued around 50 miles after the install. Years ago, it seemed that the biggest issue with lug nuts was it was difficult to get them OFF. Nowadays, with aluminum wheels and different materials used, the issue is keeping the lug nuts ON the wheel. If one lug nut loosens, it will allow movement that may soon loosen other lug nuts. A wheel coming off a car at a high rate of speed is never a pleasant experience. Most reputable tire shops will check and torque your lug nuts quickly and at no charge if you just stop in and ask. There are also steps you can take to preserve the overall life of your vehicle. Heck, with vehicles costing in the tens of thousands of dollars, it pays to make them last. Here are some quick and inexpensive measures you can take which more than pay for themselves in the end: Check and Change Oil Regularly Refer to your Owner’s Manual to determine how often you should be changing your engine oil. Also consider the type of oil you use and type of filter, as these also affect how many miles you can go between oil changes. While some vehicles must be changed every 3,000 miles, others are designed to go much longer. If getting your vehicle into a shop regularly is difficult, consider using premium filters and synthetic oil to buy you more time between changes. Nothing will destroy an engine faster than neglecting oil levels or neglecting the quality of the oil that is passing through the engine. Regular and consistent oil changes are a must! Change Brake Fluid Annually Most of us don’t really think about our brakes until they stop working. Before you face replacing costly items such as calipers, hoses and sensors, consider replacing brake fluid annually as a measure to maximize the life of your braking components. Brake fluid is hygroscopic, which means it is prone to attracting moisture, and this moisture causes components to corrode and fail. This deterioration can deposit rust and other particles into your brake fluid. Flushing and replacing your brake system with clean fluid gives your braking system new life blood for better stopping power and a longer life. Flush and Fill Coolant System Here again, refer to your Owner’s Manual on the recommended intervals, but as a rule of thumb, flushing the coolant system annually will keep the coolant system in good shape and prevent corrosion and deposits from building up. This will help you avoid costly radiator and engine repairs that come from neglect in this area. Up to 65% of all engine failures are caused by coolant system issues! Think for a minute about the measures you may take to ensure your personal health: eating healthy, avoiding tobacco, hitting the gym, using SPF, getting annual checkups, etc. You do those things because you want to live longer and enjoy a good quality of life. Maintaining your vehicle is no different – there are many simple and affordable measures you can take now to help protect not only the life and performance of your vehicle, but your safety as well! Suit-Quotes Spring 2016 13 Safety Spotlight Suit-Kote Fall Protection Program By Josh Lynn Earlier in the season, a Suit-Kote employee was injured while performing work on a ladder. A twenty foot section of one inch metal piping was being installed along the rail for air lines. The threads at the end of the pipe were not lining up properly. It was decided to lower the pipe to the ground using the man lift. Once on the ground; the employees would replace it with another section. The employee in the man lift placed the piping on the support beam. The man lift was being relocated to the middle of the pipe so it could be gently lowered. The employee on the ladder was holding the other end. He decided to try to lift the twenty foot section before the man lift was in place. This caused the other end to fall to the ground. When this happened, the piping spun him around 180 degrees and caused the employee to lose his balance and fall 4 to 5 feet to the ground. His left knee made contact with the bolt on the concrete support pad. This resulted in a fractured knee. To date, this employee has been off work for two months. As you can see by the story above; falls from heights can result in the most serious types of injuries. Because of this, we wanted to take a more proactive approach and prevent falls from occurring. The Safety Department reached out to all facilities who perform work from heights through a questionnaire to see what types of fall protection we are purchasing as a company and what projects we are using fall protection for. A Personal Fall Arrest System is comprised of three key components: anchorage connector, harness, and connecting device. While a lot of attention has been given to anchorage connectors and harnesses when discussing fall protection, the connecting device (a shock-absorbing 14 Suit-Kote Corporation lanyard or self retracting lifeline) between these two components actually bears the greatest fall forces during a fall. Self retracting lanyards act almost like a seat belt. Once the force or weight of a person is detected, the self retracting lanyard will lock into place. Most of the work our employees perform at heights is usually at 15 feet or less For this reason, we believe purchasing self retracting lanyards will suit all job tasks from heights better than a shock-absorbing lanyard. Besides our daily visual inspections of our harnesses, lanyards and shock absorbers; we are required by OSHA to have our fall protection inspected by a competent person every six months. This can be very difficult when we have such a variety of fall arrest systems. In addition to purchasing uniform Fall Arrest Systems throughout Suit-Kote; a Work from Heights Permit has been created. The permit will include the following items: • Description of the Work to be Completed; • Risk Assessment of Associated Hazards; • How to Control Identified Hazards; • Equipment to be Used (Scaffolding, Manlift, Ladder); • Types of Fall Protection / PPE to be worn; • Weather and other Misc. Items The objective of the permit is to get the employee to take the extra step and plan out everything before working with heights. Managers/ Supervisors will need to ensure that employees comply with the permit. They will also be responsible for ensuring that delegated safety responsibilities are fulfilled and that the appropriate supervision is provided. Suit-Quotes Spring 2016 15 Understanding and Maximizing your Comprehensive Benefit Plans By: Bernard Gleeson As the landscape of healthcare changes there has been a shift in how healthcare is delivered. This shift has not reduced the cost of healthcare, in fact the cost of services continues to rise at a steady pace nationally. To keep pace with these changes Suit-Kote has implemented a series of progressive benefit programs over the last several years to help employees and their families better manage their health care dollars. These programs include an HSA (Health Savings Account) and a telemed program through ALLYHEALTH. However even with these valuable programs we are still seeing employees and insured family members not fully using these programs effectively. We are still seeing members seeking care at the Emergency Room and Urgent Care Centers for avoidable services. This means members are going to the Emergency Room or Urgent Care center for issues that could be treated at their doctor’s office or 16 Suit-Kote Corporation through ALLYHEALTH. The ALLYHEATH program was implemented in 2015 in an effort to provide employees with a vehicle to quickly access quality health care services at no charge. This means you do not have to meet your deductible for care provided through ALLYHEALTH. What’s even better is you won’t have to use your HSA card for those services. Preserving your dollars. Available 24 hours a day 365 days a year. Suit-Kote and Falcone Associates, Inc. carefully evaluated this telemed plan. It is offered to the workforce at no charge. Please familiarize yourself with this valuable program. You may be spending your HSA dollars without need. Share this information with your family members. ALLYHEALTH applies to all your immediate family members whether or not they are insured through the Suit-Kote Excellus plan. If you would like to better understand this telemed program please call our office, we are happy to assist you and explain how ALLY HEALTH works and how you can maximize this valuable program. Falcone Associates Inc. Toll Free 1-800-590-1987 or email [email protected] ALLY (Success) Health In recent newsletters and postcard mailings, Suit-Kote has done its best to inform all employees of the importance of the Ally Health benefit. It seems this message is starting get through to many employees and family members who are enrolled in the health insurance program. As of this writing, 226 of the 671 primary health insurance members have enrolled in this program. This represents 33.7% of our work force has taken a moment to sign up for the Ally Health benefit. Although this is significantly higher percentage than most companies there is still quite a bit of room for improvement because this service is offered free of charge when most plans charge members directly for this benefit. Now let’s look at some of the results from this first quarter of this year. In just three months, Suit-Kote health insurance plan members contacted Ally Health fifty four times to seek medical advice. In those encounters nine people who planned to visit the emergency room were treated by phone saving them an average of $1,572 in their health savings account. Twenty-two individuals were redirected away from seeking help at an urgent care center saving an average of $163 and nineteen saved $142 by not needing to see their family physician. In all, SuitKote family members were able to save $20,507 and keep it in their health savings account instead of paying for unneeded health care services. This is real savings to each of the members and if fully utilized could be ten to twenty times higher. When using the Ally Health service, money is not the only thing you will save. You will also save time out of your busy schedule and will not have to use the valuable paid time off to go to the doctor. Using average productivity calculations we can estimate members saved approximately two hundred and sixteen hours by using Ally Health instead of waiting in the emergency, immediate care or doctor’s waiting rooms. Ally Health is a tool in your health care management toolbox that is under utilized, but has the potential to be a game changer in care for your family. This program is easy to use and 64% have rated their experience using this service as excellent while another 27% rated it as being very good or good. ASK YOUR DOCTOR An initiative by the American Board of Internal Medicine Foundation launched an initiative that focuses on conversation to ensure the right care is being provided at the right time and at the most appropriate setting. Consumer Reports supports this initiative. Excellus Blue Cross Blue Shield has joined this initiative and encourages members and their medical providers to engage in these conversations. Studies have shown that up to a third of health care services are either duplicative or unnecessary. The waste in healthcare leads to increased costs and we all have a Responsibility to help control costs. Choosing Wisely is an education program to assist you with sparking conversations with your medical providers. Be informed for it is YOUR health. PRESCRIPTION MEDICATIONS USE OF GENERIC MEDICATIONS The cost of Brand Name medications is expensive. Talk to your prescribing physician about the use of Generic Medications. This less costly alternative often provides the same desired results. MAIL ORDER PRESCRIPTIONS THROUGH EXPRESS SCRIPTS OR WEGMANS PHARMACY Do you or any of your covered family members take maintenance medications each day? Once you have met your deductible consider using the Mail Prescription Plan through Express Scripts. This is a separate mail order plan through Excellus where you can obtain a 90 day supply of your maintenance medications for just two co-payments. By using this program you will pay a co-pay for 2 months and receive the 3rd month at no cost! The medications are mailed directly to your home providing convenience, a time saver and cost saver. Contact our office to learn more about this program or for assistance in enrolling. Suit-Quotes Spring 2016 17 Understanding and Maximizing your Comprehensive Benefit Plans Continued... YOUR HSA (Health Saving Account) Suit-Kote provides a generous contribution to your HSA account annually. For Individual Coverage $1000.00 and for Family Coverage $2600. Your HSA dollars can be used for qualified medical, dental and vision expenses. One question we frequently get is “I have spent all my HSA dollars what options are available to me?” You have the option to contribute to your HSA with your own dollars. Contributions will come out of your pay pre-tax. You may start the process by contacting the Suit-Kote Human Resources Department. If you are unable to financial contribute to your HSA and you have exhausted your HSA dollars and still have outstanding medical bills you can contact the providers office and request to be put on a payment plan. IRS Contributions Limits for 2016 Individual $3,350 Family $6,750 *Contributions limits are combined employer and employee contributions. Catch Up Contribution for employees age 55 or older, an additional $1,000 DENTAL Your Suit-Kote Dental Plan through LifeTime Benefit Solutions provides for 2 dental cleanings and 2 oral examinations per calendar year. Studies continue to show the link between oral health and overall physical health. We encourage you and your insured family members to receive your oral exams cleanings from your dental provider. These services are covered under your Suit-Kote dental plan. No deductible and covered at 100% of the allowable charge. MET LIFE GROUP LIFE INSURANCE PLAN Do You Have The Correct Beneficiary Listed on your SuitKote Group Life Plan? Have you had any changes in your life that may lead to a change in the beneficiary information on your Group Life Insurance? Have you recently become married, divorced, or had a new child. You may change your beneficiary at anytime. Just call Falcone Associates, Inc. and we can 18 Suit-Kote Corporation assist you with making a change. Are You Enrolled in the Met Life Additional Optional Life Insurance Plan? If you are enrolled in the Optional Life Insurance Plan you are eligible for a free Will Preparation through Hyatt Legal Services. Call our office for more information on this valuable benefit. E-NEWSLETTER FROM FALCONE ASSOCIATES, INC. Are you receiving the monthly Suit-Kote E-Newsletter from Falcone Associates? Our monthly E-Newsletter contains valuable information and helpful hints about your Suit-Kote Employee Benefits Plans. This monthly newsletter is sent electronically to your work and/or home email address. If you are not receiving the E-Newsletter and would like to be added please call our office or email any of our team members with your email address(es) and we will be happy to include you. You may also add your spouse’s or dependent’s email addresses as well. Thank you for your years of service. Cortland Liquid Asphalt Division: Richard Thorington – July 1968 Donald Deiss – June 3, 1971 Thomas Burk SR – June 21, 1983 Harold “Butch” Quaile – June 4, 1984 Steven Moffitt – July 30, 1984 Randy Oaks SR – June 3, 1987 Louis Morgan – May 5, 1988 Daniel Bassett – August 19, 1989 Michael Hutson – June 11, 1992 Steven Schoonover – June 1, 1993 Richard Green – June 19, 1995 Hot Asphalt Division: Richard “Lobby” White – June 1, 1976 Gerald Tracy – August 10, 1987 Arden Burhans – June 1, 1992 Suit-Kote Employees Continue to Get Serious About Retirement Our 401k advisor, Eric Schneider, reports interesting progress in the retirement outlook of Suit-Kote employees. He shares the numbers and provides color on what it all means. The safety meetings continue to affect Suit-Kote employees’ future. As a result of the meetings 257 participants increased their deferrals going into the 401(k). Of those 257, 80 participants were NOT previously deferring into the plan. For these people, the average increase was 3.29%. Around half also set up for an annual increase. The plain fact is 257 Suit-Kote employees dramatically altered the future of their retirement for themselves and their families Company wide, the average deferral percent (including those still not participating) before safety meetings was 6.35%. After, it increased to 7.58%. The national average stands between 6-7%. The best news is the average deferral rate of participating employees now stands at 10.1% beating the national average of 9.75%. Sadly, a portion of Suit-Kote fits exactly into the national average. Twenty percent of Suit-Kote employees do not participate in the 401(k). According to the Census and Bureau of Labor Statistics, of working-age Americans with an employer-sponsored retirement plan available to them, twenty percent did not participate. The disparity of those doing it right and those doing it wrong is more evident nationally. Thirty percent of U.S. households at or near retirement age have less than $10,000 in assets. Twenty-four percent have only between $10,000 and $99,999. That means 54% of American have too little saved to produce an income stream in retirement. Your statement matters. Our advisors explain paying attention to your account balance is vital. www. empower-retirement.com is a valuable resource. Seeing what your account balance translates to can be tricky. For example, people feel wealthy with 100k in savings. But should they? When looking only at liquid assets that can be easily converted to an annualized income stream (and excluding home equity since it is unrealistic to expect homeowners to sell their homes upon retirement), annualizing $100,000 for a single male turning 65 in the present interest rate environment produces roughly $140 a week. A married couple in which both members turn 65 would receive only about $116 per week. The website can show you what your account balance looks like after your career at Suit-Kote. You can incorporate social security and other assets held outside the 401(k) for a clear picture of your personal retirement income. There is no time like today to look forward to tomorrow. Login to www. empower-retirement.com or simply call Eric (607 592-4692) to get started. Suit-Quotes Spring 2016 19 NYS Budget Provides Record Level of Highway Funding For the first time since 2009, Governor Cuomo as part of his Executive Budget proposed a five-year highway program which was agreed to by the Legislature and enacted into law. This long-term planning mechanism is essential for public agencies as well as private contractors and gives us a funding framework to build onto during the upcoming years of the program. It is important to note that this fiveyear program has been enacted into statute. The 16-17 Executive Budget proposed a $20.1B DOT FiveYear (2015-19) Capital Program; this was a $2B increase from the 15-16 Executive Proposal ($18.1B). After extensive negotiation between the Governor and the Legislature, this amount was increased to a record funding level of $21.1B. In addition, the leaders agreed to a 6th year commitment of $4B, bringing the total to $25.1B for 2015-2020. The Five-Year Plan provides critical monies dedicated to local government through the new PAVE NY and BRIDGE NY programs. While the CHIPS base remains flat at $438M, the PAVE NY monies are being distributed through a very similar program and will be providing an additional $100M annually over the next 4 years in support of local pavement the next four years (2016-19) the DOT capital program will grow by over $2B as compared to the previous four years. This year (2016-17) the DOT’s $4.4B program is over $1B larger than what was spent in the same year of the last five-year program. Parity was the buzzword of this year’s budget season. Our ask, along with many others, was for equal funding between the Department of Transportation and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s(MTA) Core FiveYear Capital Plans. The Enacted Budget allocates $26.6B to the MTA’s 2015-19 Capital Program with an additional $1.5B in the sixth year (2020) for the Second Avenue Subway and various other projects. While the projected six-year program totals for the MTA and DOT do not reflect true parity, the difference is much less than originally proposed by the Governor. Suit-Kote and its employees worked hard to get the message out that it was time for New York State to increase funding for transportation and once again achieve parity between the MTA and the DOT Capital programs. reconstruction and rehabilitation. PAVE NY monies cannot be used by municipalities to purchase equipment or traffic signals. BRIDGE NY will also provide an additional $100M annually for municipalities. An important component of the Bridge NY program is its strong emphasis on culvert replacement. This will allow some communities to use more of their core highway budgets for needed pavement repair. This program will be run by the DOT with the funding splits based on the 4 MOU Regions. The new five-year capital program also provides significant increases in funding for the state’s roads and bridges. Over 20 Suit-Kote Corporation CHIPS Fund $578 Million Reaches Record Level 2016 Season Could Be Record Breaker The 2016 work season is positioned to possibly be one of the best in modern history. It is hard to remember a year when so many positive factors lined up in our industry. Success in the road building/road maintenance industry is dependent on several issues out of our control, but this year it seems many of the perennial roadblocks are falling into place. Price of Asphalt infrastructure. This year has proved to be much different. The United States Congress and the New York State Legislature approved budgets this year containing five-year programs designed to address our needs. When these two programs are coupled, they provide a clear picture of what lies ahead. Municipal governments can now prepare long range programs without fear of not having the resources to complete the work. In turn, companies like Suit-Kote can also plan accordingly. In particular, the New York State Consolidated Highway Improvement Program (CHIPs) added a record increase of $100 million and it will be sustained at least at that level until March 31, 2020. This unprecedented level of funding for road maintenance processes gives Suit-Kote a bright outlook as to what the future holds. In anticipation of this large infusion of available money to local governments, all divisions at Suit-Kote began to prepare as early as January. A new focus was placed on getting everybody back to work as soon as possible. The months of May and June were targeted to be as successful as a typical July or August. This effort has already paid dividends as evidenced by the extremely successful May. Last year was one of the first times the price of asphalt peaked early in the season and continued to fall well into the summer and fall. This was an unusual occurrence because during the summer months the demand for asphalt grows and supply typically tightens, however this was not the case last year. Getting Started Early Heading into the 2016 season, the current asphalt pricing has dropped significantly when compared to past years giving municipal customers a huge purchasing power advantage when compared to previous years. This additional power will allow more roads to be maintained and reconstructed with much less resources. The month of June is looking like it might break all previous records just like May. We have virtually all of our work crews at capacity and have even added a few to meet this new market demand. There are no holes in our schedule and, “cross your fingers” the only force out there who can slow us down is Mother Nature. Financial Resources It is our hope the 2016 work season will be picture perfect. It has all of the ingredients to be just that, and we are prepared to meet each and every challenge ahead. For much of the last decade, Suit-Kote has invested in equipment, training, and infrastructure to have the capacity to continue to grow and take advantage of situations such as this and we look forward to very busy work season. The money available to the states, counties, towns and villages is the most important factor in how well our industry succeeds year to year. In the last decade, New York and the rest of the nation has had to deal with uncertainty when it comes to budgeting and funding levels. This unclear funding picture has lead to conservative planning and overly frugal approach to maintaining the transportation In the month of May, we increased emulsion production at every facility. When totaled, it proved to be the best production in the month of May in Suit-Kote history. This is a prime example of planning ahead and getting all divisions to work in concert to achieve more. Suit-Quotes Spring 2016 21 $50 Million Reason for Success By Tom Whipple Capital expenditures are investments made by Suit Kote to acquire or upgrade physical assets such as property, buildings or equipment. These investments are made to increase the scope of our operations, expand into new geographic regions, increase productivity to improve our competitiveness, and to address any safety concerns. Capital expenditure (Capex) decisions are among the most important financial decisions made, as their impact is felt over several years at a minimum. Small errors in assumptions can affect the financial health of the organization for a long period of time. As such, the Suit-Kote Board reviews the annual Budget Requests and determines which projects have the highest priority and offer the greatest opportunity for us to achieve our goals. Factors which impact the level of capital spending include forecasted business levels, projected growth, and available financial resources. At Suit-Kote, we have been anticipating a major business expansion for several years. The condition of the road systems in both New York and Pennsylvania are very poor, and a major overhaul is required to improve the drive-ability of these roads. Recently, New York State and Pennsylvania have passed multiyear 22 Suit-Kote Corporation highway budgets which provides the required funding to overhaul these roadways. Thanks to an aggressive Capital Plan over the past five years, Suit-Kote is poised to successfully address this expansion. What this means to everyone is more business, more jobs, and a greater share of the markets in which we serve. Over the past five years, Suit-Kote has invested over $50 million dollars in a variety of Capex projects impacting every location we have. These projects include the additions of new tanks, distributors, tractors, trailers, pavers, lowbeds, milling machines, new facilities, and the acquisition of the Marathon terminal facility in Western New York. All of these projects have added to our footprint and will enable us to compete more effectively for new and existing business. As a barometer, a company tries to match its capital spending level to the level of depreciation it is experiencing. During the past five years, Suit-Kote’s depreciation was just short of $40 million. As such, SK has invested $10 million or 25% more than average. This is a major commitment to the business, employees, and industry. Without this commitment, it would not be possible to partake in the industry growth over the next several years. In 2014, we acquired the terminal facilities from Marathon Petroleum in Tonawanda, New York. At the same time, we assumed their leasing facilities with NOCO. In 2015, we completed the addition of a new polymer facility on the Tonawanda site. These investments have provided us with barge capabilities in procuring asphalt, expanded our storage capacity, provided us with polymer capability, and will eliminate the costs of transporting polymer to western New York from Cortland. All these factors will help us protect our market share and lead to future growth. Over the past two years, we have acquired two new full lane Roadtec Milling Machines at over $2 million. These new machines used in our cold-in-place recycling process offer improved technology, improved quality, and are producing at 42% higher than our older vintage machines. In Jamestown, we have approved the construction of a new shop in 2016. The current facility was built prior to 1950, and has proven to be insufficient to support future growth. The current shop is about 4,500 square feet and originally housed 15 employees. The new shop will be about 15,000 square feet and will be the home for 85 employees. The growth being experienced in this region has demanded newer and more efficient facilities and we have responded as a company. In summary, a business must invest in its infrastructure to protect its market share and provide the avenue to grow. At Suit-Kote, we understand that need and have responded with an investment profile second to none. We have listened to the various requests over the years, and have provided our workforce with state of the art equipment which will enable us to remain Number 1 in our industry. Human Resources Gets a Tech Boost This year has been a milestone for so many aspects of SuitKote and our Human Resources Department is no exception. Throughout the last few years many efforts have been made to upgrade the technological resources in HR. The first phase of this process was to digitize all records in this department for better storing, access and security. Phase two was creating an online application process making it easier to apply for work and to get the right applications to the proper department in seconds. Phase three was an idea to use our new enterprise computer system to remove the time staking process of filling out dozens of “return to work” forms and move it to a quicker computerized task. This was completed last season and was a great success. This year is the second season employees have filled out their return to work forms electronically and so far a total of 488 employees have been approved to return and completed their forms in SK Enterprise. This season marked the fourth phase in the process and it was designed to streamline and organize our interview process for open positions throughout the company. We also took it a step further by integrating the interview with what is known as “on-boarding” those who were chosen from the interview process to begin employment at Suit-Kote. Interview Process 2016 is the first year the interview requests and new hire process was implemented through SK Enterprise. Although there were a few glitches at first, those were resolved quickly and the process is working smoothly now. For interview requests, hiring managers can input when and where they are interviewing applicants and the results of those interviews as well as the ability to see if other hiring managers have already interviewed that same applicant and what the result of their interview was. This new process has improved efficiency and communication tenfold. Instead of scrambling to notify, schedule and organize a prospective employee interview, it now runs smoothly and allows for the sharing of information ensuring the best applicants have the best opportunity to find the right fit with Suit-Kote. New Hire/Approve New Employee Prior to this season individuals chosen to fill open positions at Suit-Kote would spend quite a bit of time filling out form after form until they likely suffered from a cramp in their writing hand. This process lead to errors and omissions that could lead to issues with the many employee benefits SuitKote offers. With the implementation of this new streamlined approach we have been able to improve our record keeping and dramatically decrease the amount of errors and omissions in the final submitted forms. So far this season approximately 75 employees have been approved to hire and completed their new hire forms online. This has saved time and paper, where employees only need to type in their information once, and the many forms going over our benefits in detail can be emailed to the employee if they choose instead of printing out about 100 sheets of paper for that alone. For both of these processes HR would like to thank everyone involved for their patience and cooperation while working through some of these glitches and getting used to a completely new process. We’re all learning together and will continue to welcome any comments and suggestions for improving these processes. Suit-Quotes Spring 2016 23 1911 Lorings Crossing Cortland, New York 13045 (800) 622-5636 www.suit-kote.com 24 Suit-Kote Corporation
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