OCTOBER 2013

www.inland-group.com

Message from the

ControllerHome Office

Ranjit Bul

T880Hits the Lower MainlandMarketThe first T880 we received didn’t last very long in our stock. It arrived to us onJune 3rd. We sent it off to Langfab for an aluminum transfer box right away andthen put the completed unit in the APNA trade show on June 15th and 16th whereMilena Bileck promptly sold it. Mr. Chahal took delivery of his new truck on June18th. The feedback at the show was extremely positive. We only wish we hadmore to sell at this time!

Truck specsISX 525 18speed, 20front 46 rears, Neway ADZ252.

We are now through our last fiscal quarter of 2013 andI can’t help but reflect on our accomplishments sincethe global financial crisis from 2008/2009. Our entirebusiness in BC and the US was affected by this crisisand we all had to roll up our sleeves to get through it.We closed two branches in BC and made many moredifficult decisions. When we look at ourselves today weshould be proud of the way that we have emerged fromthese challenges. We have since added two newlocations in California and most branches are nowexperiencing better results. I think that we all learned alot from the difficult times that will help us with futuredecisions. Although we are still facing an uncertaineconomy we are well positioned for future growth.

I have been with Inland for seven years and I have tosay that this Company provides many diversechallenges. We are a large private company thatoperates in two countries and if you break it down evenfurther we operate in 5 different jurisdictions - BC,Yukon, California, Arizona, and New Mexico. The goal atHome Office is to provide support to our 22 branchesand still ensure compliance within each jurisdiction inwhich we operate. I have to give full credit to our entireHome Office team (Accounting, Payroll, HR, IT, Partsand Credit/Sales) for supporting our branches andensuring that we are compliant in each jurisdiction.This credit should also be extended to our branchemployees as everyone plays an important role incompliance. I would also like to give a special thanksto all of the BC branches that had to transition to a newProvincial Sales Tax in April 2013 – this was a lot of hardwork and thank you for the smooth transition!

Overall I feel very fortunate to work with such talentedand dedicated people. I believe that working with goodpeople in a good family environment is what makesInland a great place to work. On behalf of seniormanagement I would like to thank everyone for theircontributions and pushing for a strong finish to ourfiscal 2013 year!

Thank you

Kenworth Truck Company decided to take the new T680 and T880 on tour inSeptember. The tour made its first Canadian stop at Inland Kenworth’s dealershipin Langley, British Columbia, on Sept. 20. Approximately 150 customers attendedduring the day to walk through the display trailer and climb up into the new cabsfor a first-hand look at our new products. Over 200 hot dogs and hamburgerswere served by the staff, and the day was a great success! The tour made its finalscheduled stop in Canada at Kenworth Montreal in St. Laurent, Quebec, Oct. 17.The tour continues with 19 more stops throughout the United States until mid-December.

BranchSPOTLIGHT

Editor’s Note: If you like the content on these pages, contribute your own info through your Branch Communications Task Force member!

WILLIAMS LAKE, BC BRANCH

Excitement was clearly on the agenda for 13 kindergarten kidsfrom the Maranatha Christian School on May 15, 2013. Tana Nohrof the Williams Lake Branch Parts Department took on the task ofputting together the incredible, bigger-than-life, 2013 BIG TOY TOUR.

The day began with a safetyspeech and donning the kids intheir very own Safety Gear(Safety Glasses, Safety Vestsand harnesses, hearingprotection). They were taughtabout the dangers of our trucksand equipment and the reasonswhy safety gear and rules are soimportant.

During the tour the kids learned about ourtrucks and their many uses, backhoes,bunchers and skid steers. We had a Tigercat630 Skidder roped off in the front of ourbuilding. One by one the 4-6 year oldsclimbed into the BIG Machine and had theirphoto taken. These photos along with logosof our products were incorporated later ontoT-Shirts for each of the kids.

This was followed by a live demo duringwhich a Tigercat 635 Skidder operated byVolunteer Ryan Tugnum of Progressive Harvesting brought up acouple of logs. Seated in a Tigercat Feller Buncher with log in totewas our very own Peter Benisch (Heavy Duty EquipmentMechanic). He spun its blade, dropped the log and zinged it withthe blade while the wide-eyed spectators looked on. Small Pinelogging volunteered their LinkBelt Log Processor and operatorRachel Frizzi who picked up a log, pushed it through theprocessor and cut it. Peter then rode in on a LinkBelt Log Loader,picked up, spun around and dropped a log. The operators waved

the Broken Spatula AwardLast month we had our firstemployee BBQ done by our newDealer Manager SimeonHauptman. All the employeesenjoyed his cooking so much thathe was awarded “the BrokenSpatula Award”.

Submitted by Zuzana PattersonAlbuquerque NM Branch

and honked as the kids cheered them on. The combination of thenoisy BIG Machines and a well-timed Cariboo-style torrentialdownpour made for a highly dramatic and entertainingdemonstration. Unplanned but timely was a Logging Truckdriving by our site which completed the presentation.

In addition to keeping their safety gear, the kids were each givenDisposable cameras, white T-Shirts for the boys and pink for thegirls, a laminated poster of all they had learned about on their tourand a Helium Balloon.

A huge Thank you goes out to our volunteers and to SigurdsonMills (donated the logs) and Ryler Bulk (hauled the logs to oursite).

“There are no seven wonders of the world in the eyes of a child.There are seven million.” Walt Streightiff quotes. The Big Toy Tourwas a huge success and fun for all that partook.

Photos courtesy of Captured Charisma

Submitted by Barb Charboneau

THE 2013 BIG TOY TOUR...

35 Years!Gary Johnson, Truck Sales

Consultant receives his 35

year anniversary award

from Dave Boyle, Truck

Sales Manager at Inland

Kenworth Langley.

Submitted by Dave Boyle

News from Prince George submitted by Vivian Biederman

Lieutenant (Navy) T.A. Isabelle (Left) Service Advisor, Prince GeorgeThe Diamond Jubilee Medal Award was presented for 15 years of serviceto the Navy League of Canada. Starting as a parent volunteer for 142Navy League Cadet Corp Aurora, he soon became a Navy League Officerholding many positions including 5 years as Commanding Officer. Forthe past 6 years he has served as an officer with Royal Canadian SeaCadet Corp 158 Grizzly, currently holding the position of ExecutiveOfficer. His knowledge and his enthusiasm has been a tremendous assetto the local youth and community.

The recent Inland 2013 employee survey was completed by100% of the staff in Prince George. Rick Bruneski, ourDealer Manager went over some highlights of the survey atour staff BBQ.

Congratulations to Amy Harley, our part time receptionistwho was the winner of the iPad mini. Pictured is CoreyTimms serving Russ Brophy with Bruce Tufnell next.

Safety, Safety, Safety...We have been busy here inPrince George getting oursafety program up to speed.In the picture we have our trainthe trainer setting up ourforklift course for ouremployees to get recertifiedas per WCB regulations.

FONTANA HAS

NEVER LOOKED

SO GOOD!

On Thursday, August 8th eleven employees and managersvolunteered to clean up the grounds at the Fontana Branch.

Those in attendance were: LuisRamirez, Frank Aten, DerrickKing, Eddie Rodriguez, KrisGregory, Frank Rodriguez,Matthew Diaz, Arnold Franco,Zachary Bourn, and NaussenTorres. The employees pickedup all the fence lines, aroundthe buildings, and around thetrucks located in the New, UsedTrucks, and Service Dept. Wealso organized behind theBody Shop and the dumpsterarea behind PacLease. After allthe clean-up, we installed new

mulch to the flower beds near the New Truck and Parts Dept.The employees were very pleased to participate and we havealready received quite a few compliments from customers onhow the facility looks.

Submitted by Zachary Bourn

BULLMOOSE TRAININGIN OUR CANADIAN

BRANCHESDuring our external audit for Certificate of Recognition (COR) inJune, it came to our attention that we needed to conductspecialized training sessions for the 7 branches who operateBullmoose Cranemobile cranes.

These units were manufactured in house by SkagitManufacturing, and are close to 50 years old!

The branches that have them (Prince George, Fort St. John,Cranbrook, Penticton, Kamloops, Langley and Campbell River)find them an invaluable tool to off load and move trucks and willnot part with them!

Pictured in the photograph is one of our techs receiving therequired training in our Kamloops Branch yard.

Complete

the Caption

WHERE WAS THISPICTURE TAKEN?

This is Greg Sternberg

standing in the middleof the new and undeveloped

Albuquerque property.

What is he saying?

It was a GRAND RUN!!!Steve Pettit one of our more adventurous employees in Phoenixfollows a rigorous training program where he sets a new goal forhimself every 90 days and attempts to meet that goal by the endof 90 days. This time Steve came up with the goal of being ableto run from the South Rim of the Grand Canyon to the North Rimand then back to the South Rim, making it a 48 mile run. Hegathered up a group of twelve people that were daring enoughto give this run a try. Starting at midnight, the run was completedin 18 hours by Steve and only two other runners. Seven otherrunners had to be bused out and the last two slept in the canyonbut finished the run the next day in 28 hours.

Something one of Steve’s neighbors told him helped him finishthe run and not give up. He told Steve “that when your body isready to give up and you feel like you have nothing left to give,you’ve only given 40% of what your body is capable of”. It wasthose words that helped Steve push through the pain and finishthe run. Steve said “it was one of the hardest things he has everdone. It brought grown men to tears. I am not sure I would doit again, but I am glad I did it.”

Submitted by Don Blake

Much appreciation to all who contributed to the captioncontest from the last newsletter.Here is a selection of the responses

“I hope this new location doesn’t take as long as it took Carsonto open?” – Zach Bourn, Fontana

“…and we will put the bathroom right here!” – Betty Williams,Nanaimo

“If we build it they will come!” – Rachel Morgan-Finch,Farmington & Denise Kaufman, Phoenix

“Frank, the wash bay goes here!” – Randall Pace, Farmington

“Greg is outstanding in his field!” – Brad Seefried, Nanaimo

“So let me get this straight…if we build it…they willcome…HERE?” – Dan Barnes, Carson

“….and we will put the cash register right here!” – Greg Negus,Fort St John

“Get this damn shop built. Our first customer is already waitingfor service!” – Ken Taylor, Quesnel

UPDATE: The new site has been graded and buildingconstruction was well underway by the end of August!

Thanks to all those that provided a guess, and to RickDatoff for submitting such an interesting shot of hisBranch in Penticton, BC.

The only employee to correctly identify the Branch wasStephanie Wamboldt, Home Office Sales & Marketing!

Red Necks are Alive and Wellin Quesnel

IKPP Quesnel held theirstaff golf tournament onSeptember 15th @ RichbarGolf course. It was anusually warm and sunnyday for the Cariboo withtemperatures reaching+30. Due to the warmweather many showed upwearing summer attire inhopes of soaking up thelast warm rays of the yearincluding AdamD’Entremont & TylerBroughton who wore theirhunters Sunday best.

It was a laughter filled event followed by a putting competition,prizes, a wonderful meal and in true Cariboo style a torrentialdown pour and thunderstorm.

Submitted by Ken Taylor

FromThe

Archives

www.inland-group.com

And the Survey SaidThe April 2013 Employee Engagement Survey was very wellreceived again this year. The completion rate was the highest wehave ever seen at 95% participation, and our scores of eachquestion improved in every case. More Branches achieved 100%participation than we have ever seen, so Senior Managementdecided to extend the mini iPad prizes to all 11 Branches whoachieved that success! Congratulations again to Farmington whocaptured all three top prizes – 1st to reach last year’s response rateof 77%; 1st to reach 100% participation; and most written comments(61% of employees had written comments).

A question that comes up in the written comments is “What happensto these comments anyway?”.

To begin with, the comments are a very large part of the basicreason for the survey. It is a place where employees can add to thesurvey on a topic that is of interest to them that wasn’t covered inone of the questions, or a simple scoring of the question doesn’tcapture their thoughts well enough. Senior Management has theopportunity to read every one of the written comments. Each DealerManager also receives a copy of the comments for his own Branch.Again, there is no way to trace the comments back to the authorunless the author includes their name in the comments.

Management has reacted to several themes that have been revealedin the comments part of the survey.

Communications Needs Improvement was the big one in the firstsurvey. The formation of a Communications Task Force with amember appointed in each Branch to improve overallcommunications was the first step. iNLAND iNFO was a direct resultof the initial work of this task force, and this quarterly publication isnow widely read by employees and many of our suppliers,customers, and business partners.

The Idea Contest we conducted a couple of years ago was also adirect result of the comments feedback.

Safety has always had a very high rating in the survey, howevermore training and clarification of roles and responsibilities seems tobe high on the list of constructive criticism. Our Corporate H&SAdvisor has visited every Branch, and plans are in place to continuethese visits at least annually.

Leadership styles within each Branch management team have alsobeen a consistent theme in the written comments. Seniormanagement has taken these comments very seriously, andimplemented action plans accordingly. In California, BranchManagement has attended leadership development seminars. InArizona, New Mexico, and British Columbia, a heavy duty truckindustry experienced leadership development consultant has beenengaged to work with the management teams in each Branch toimprove their leadership styles and communications skills. We areabout 2/3 of the way through this engagement at this point.

While we are not able to reply to all comments individually, we hopesome of the actions that are put in place show all employees yourvoices are heard and your thoughts and contributions are soimportant to how our Company remains very successful.

TOP LINEPERSONNELNUMBERSInland Group Total Employees as at February 01, 2013•1044 Employees•624 in Canada•420 in USA•82.5 Employee Increase Over Previous Year

Average Age All Employees•42 Years Old

Average Tenure with Inland•7.9 Years

630 Employees (60%) Have a Direct Connection To Our Customers•Service and Body Shop Techs / Parts Counter &Product Support / Whole Goods Sales & PacLease /Credit Managers

Total USA & Canada Executive & Home OfficeEmployees•59 Employees (no change from March 2012)•5.7% of Total Employees