Strimbu creates truck repair shop

John Gato is charged with two tasks at Brookfield Truck and Trailer Repair Specialists: repairing and maintaining Nick Strimbu Inc.’s more than 200 pieces of equipment, and taking on outside work.
Forgive him if he has been working up to the second part slowly.
“We’ve kind of been holding off on that because we wanted to make sure … we had a lot of catching up to do in a short period of time,” said Dan Gleydura, purchasing manager.
The limited liability company was created by Strimbu after Strimbu officials decided they weren’t getting the service they needed by outsourcing the maintenance of their equipment.
“It’s a completely separate LLC. Obviously, Nick Strimbu’s the parent company,” Gato said. “All the employees work for BTT.”
Gato had worked for one of the other companies that had served Strimbu, but was working in Texas when Strimbu President Bill Strimbu called him “out of the blue” about heading the repair shop.
“I was excited,” Gato said. “I had a lot of respect for the Strimbu family, and I had kind of been wanting to do my own thing, anyway.”
Gleydura, a long-time Strimbu family acquaintance, was brought in to run the parts side of the operation.
“Danny and I just put our heads together about what we needed in order to run our own shop,” Gato said.
Once Gleydura was brought on board, Gato had been working for a month, and they had another month to meet the Strimbu deadline of getting open. That meant hiring employees; acquiring tools, equipment and parts; and setting up suppliers.
Ziegler Tire and Lyden Oil were two of the companies that understood the pressure Gato and Gleydura were under and helped smooth the startup, Gato said.
Brookfield Truck and Trailer “went live” March 28 in a four-bay building attached to the Strimbu office at 3500 Parkway Road. The building can hold eight full-sized truck tractors and trailers at one time.
“Day one, we started 24/7 operation,” Gato said.
Things did not initially go smoothly. Of the 10 initial hires, only three remain.
“I have to take ownership for that,” Gato said. “Was some bad hires, there. There was some desperation there just to get doors open.”
It’s not hard to find qualified technicians, he said. It is hard to find good employees, people who are disciplined, self-managed and have good work ethics.
“As we have gone through this second round of hiring, that has become a more important factor of whether or not we hire a person,” Gato said. “We’re much better today than we were on day one.”
Gato said he doesn’t mind if that turnover has given BTT a reputation as a tough place to work, because he wants to treat his employees well: paying them well, including paying shift differential for those who work the 12-hour overnight shift; providing a clean, well-lit shop; and sufficiently staffing the operation.
“People want to work with the best people,” he said. “They don’t want to go to a job where they know their colleagues suck, or they know they have to pick up the slack from their colleagues. I think, despite the fact that it looks like we’ve been unstable over the first four months because of all the turnover, I think that guys that are here have an appreciation for the fact that we’re trying to put the best people in there that we can.”
BTT currently has 12 technicians – there is an opening for one more – to go with two managers and an administrative person.
Handling the Strimbu fleet takes up most of the time, but Gato and Gleydura have had some success pulling in outside work.
“Our initial target audience is to be that emergency repair, in and out,” Gato said. “We have aspirations of growing into fleet maintenance contracts as well, as we really want to look into getting fabrication-type work. Welding and fabricating is a piece of the business that I really want to pursue.”
Drivers are looking for a place that will charge a fair rate, get the truck in and out in a reasonable time and own up to any mistakes, Gato said. “Those are fundamental things we’re gonna do.”
Keeping in mind that Strimbu is BTT’s primary customer, “Are we ready to go full blown? We’re testing those waters now,” Gato said.