Dunn-Edwards: Painting a Picture of Efficiency
October 2, 2015
For the past 90 years, Dunn-Edwards Paints has been all about quality. And, that’s been driven by specifically formulating its paints to stand up to the diverse environments of the Southwest. Nowhere else in the world will you find such a range of challenging climates — from the harsh heat of the Mojave Desert, to the cold temperatures of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, to the salty air of the California coast. If Dunn-Edwards Paints can outperform here, they will outperform anywhere.
With 120 stores and growing, Dunn-Edwards is a favorite among contractors – which makes up about 85 percent of its business. The company bends over backwards in its work with contractors – delivering paint from stores to customers with a philosophy of no order is too small.
“ ‘Need a quart? We’ll bring it out,’ has been our motto,” said John Faulkner, Dunn-Edwards director of operations. “It showcases how much we value our customers.”
With a 336,000 square-foot manufacturing and distribution center located in Phoenix, Dunn-Edwards ships out 13 truckloads a day to distribution centers in Northern and Southern California. Then the paint is delivered to stores.
“And from there, to contractors, with Peterbilt Model 325s and pick-up trucks,” said Faulkner. “We’re on a full-service lease with PacLease at our stores dotting California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and Nevada. Depending upon volume, most stores will have between one and three Peterbilts and augment smaller deliveries with pick-up trucks.”
According to Faulkner, Dunn-Edwards has long been a fan of full-service leasing to free it from handling maintenance and disposal of equipment at the end of the lease. “We’re in the paint business, not the transportation business,” he said. “Even our drivers are paint professionals – most work behind the counter when they’re not making deliveries. With so many locations, it’s great to work with PacLease and its national account team, to handle our transportation and coordinate vehicles at all our different sites. And we have just one consolidated bill at the end of the month. What we have in place now is working exceptionally well.”
Prior to working with PacLease, Dunn-Edwards leased cabovers with stake beds, which had a carrying capacity of 300 gallons. “But we discovered we were always loading those trucks to the max and in some cases, making multiple trips to contractors since we were limited on carrying capacity,” said Faulkner. “And, all that weight, and extra miles put on for secondary loads, was impacting vehicle performance. We were experiencing breakdowns, which caused us to scramble to find trucks to handle deliveries. We weren’t efficient.”
When the lease was up, Dunn-Edwards decided to have an open mind on equipment and invited three leasing companies to learn about their business and then showcase the equipment they thought would work best in Dunn-Edwards application.
Roger Toman, sales manager for Rush Truck Leasing, a PacLease franchise group, and Jim Browning, a PacLease national account sales executive, presented a Class 6 (no CDL license required to operate) Peterbilt 325. “It was a unanimous decision to go with Rush and PacLease and the Peterbilt 325,” said Faulkner. “The combination of a premium truck, which could handle up to 500 gallons of paint, coupled with the durability of the Peterbilt, and the maintenance program PacLease offered, were a great match for our company.” The Peterbilt Model 325s were spec’d with the PACCAR PX-6 engine rated at 200 hp., and matched to an Allison 1000 HS automatic transmission. Morgan 14-foot flatbed stake bodies were selected with Maxon lift gates.
“It’s a bigger truck than we used before but it didn’t take long for our drivers to get adjusted,” said Faulkner. “The feedback has been very good and they’ve been pleasantly surprised by the sharp turning radius. We’re also getting great feedback from customers. These trucks are rolling billboards for us and are painted in Dunn-Edwards orange to match our corporate colors. The quality of the trucks really mirrors the quality of our paint. These trucks send the right message.”
The footprint of PacLease aligns nicely with Dunn-Edwards as it continues to grow. In addition to Rush, Dunn-Edwards is supported by Western Truck Leasing in Sacramento, Coast Counties PacLease in the Bay Area, and Golden State Peterbilt in California’s central valley.
“Since we’re adding more stores each year – along with adding more paint volume per location, the added capacity of the Peterbilts is giving the stores the efficiency they need, and capacity for future growth,” said Faulkner. “We’re now able to get paint, and paint supplies, to our contractors in a timelier manner.
Since each store has different delivery requirements, and thus mileage, PacLease works closely with Faulkner to move trucks around to average out mileage on vehicles. “All told, our fleet average is about 25,000 miles per truck per year,” said Faulkner. “But some stores might be averaging 12,000 miles per year on their Peterbilt, while another puts on 35,000 miles. So, we work with PacLease to identify which units should be moved to a different location to average out the miles.
“We have a very good relationship with PacLease and it just continues to get better,” concluded Faulkner. “I can’t see us being any more efficient.”
About PacLease and PACCAR
PACCAR Leasing Company (PacLease) is one of the fastest-growing commercial truck leasing companies in the transportation industry. PacLease has independent and company-owned full-service leasing locations throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, Europe and Australia. PacLease provides customized full-service lease, rental and contract maintenance programs designed to meet the specific needs of customers. A combination of reliable, custom-built trucks and complete service offerings allows customers to maximize the value of their transportation resources.
PACCAR Leasing is a part of the financial services group of PACCAR Inc, a global technology leader in the design, manufacture and customer support of high-quality light-, medium- and heavy-duty trucks under the Kenworth, Peterbilt and DAF nameplates. PACCAR shares are traded on the Nasdaq Stock Market, symbol PCAR, and its homepage can be found at www.paccar.com.