MAY 19, 2026 #016 M.SIMPSON/W.MARLAR/M.TOUCHSTONE (THE LEGENDARY STUFF)

REPLY/COMMENT 

In this episode of Talkin’ Grit, we take a trip back to 1991 as we break down a speech from our founder that’s still a story worth telling today. From timeless lessons to moments that had us laughing out loud, we dive into the stories, language, and personality behind the speech while reflecting on how much has changed and how much hasn’t. It’s part history lesson, part conversation, and all grit. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

From the job site to the office, from lessons learned to stories worth telling, this is Talking Grit, brought to you by Wright Brothers. Here's your host, Jared Walger.

SPEAKER_04 0:14

Alright, we're back with Talking Grit. And Mitchell, I've been looking forward to this conversation. And this is going to be a good one. And uh we've got Mark Touchstone, we've got Wendell Marlar, and uh we're gonna talk through some some legendary stuff. And so why don't you go ahead and set this up and take it away and uh let's let's let this conversation unfold.

SPEAKER_03 0:33

Yeah, so if you listen to the intro to talk and grits, it talks about lessons learned and stories worth telling. This is a story worth telling right here. So back in 1991, Wright Brothers had a safety meeting, and it was somewhat epic. Robert's safety meeting speech. Even when I showed up here at Wright Brothers in the 2000s, you know, I got a copy of it. So really, yeah, I got a copy of it, and I don't remember which one of you guys gave it to me. It was either Wendell, Marcus, one of y'all. But Robert had his safety meeting speech narrated, right? So March 4th, 1991. I'm gonna read this opening paragraph here. And Mark, Wendell, y'all, y'all kind of set the stage for how this all went down. And Robert starts out here, he said, I would like all of you to have a copy of the notes I used Saturday. In case I missed something or you did not understand something, you can refer back to this in the days to come to remind yourself. Improve where you need to and build on other people's strong points and build up your own strong points. This way, everyone will benefit and have a better project with a better attitude, and that will make our financial statement considerably better at the end of the year. I really believe it can be done. So look, even back in 1991, Robert's words, you know, I I've talked about it this year, you know, we need to improve, we need to invest, we need to measure. Hey, look, same words from Robert back then. So guys, let's go back to 1991. Friday night, Wendell. Friday night before the safety meeting, set the stage for us.

SPEAKER_01 2:21

Well, we were all at uh hotel over there that Steve had picked out, and best I remember, that was the one and the only meeting we've ever had alcohol at. And we were all sitting there, and I know Dink and a couple of more of us were going to the governor's lounge, which I don't even know if that exists anymore. After the meeting, and but that was before Robert came in.

SPEAKER_02 2:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:55

But I don't know that we knew that he was coming.

SPEAKER_02 2:57

No, we wasn't expecting him all thanks. Steve kind of called a Friday night meeting for his meeting, and Robert had all this set up with Saturday, and I guess he just said he broke it to us on Friday. Crash hit.

SPEAKER_00 3:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 3:11

You know, Robert was always the master knowing everything that was going on, right? He was.

SPEAKER_01 3:15

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_03 3:16

How he did that, I don't know, but he knew everything that was going on all the time. So so Robert showed up, right, guys? Oh yeah. So did he go ahead and give the meeting Friday night instead of Saturday? Is that what happened?

SPEAKER_01 3:27

Oh yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 3:29

He gave it. He went over this Friday. And Saturday. Yeah. Saturday. Friday was mainly supervisors and maintenance crews. Saturday, I think all employees were there. Yeah. The whole company. Operators, everybody. So how many people were there at that point in time? I don't know if it was even a hundred. I don't remember.

SPEAKER_01 3:46

You're talking about at uh Saturday.

SPEAKER_02 3:48

Saturday meeting. Yeah. I doubt there was a hundred and say there's twelve or fifteen of us there on Friday night.

SPEAKER_04 3:55

So you guys thought you were in the clear and you got the drop on you. Oh yeah. It shows in and shows up and lays this down.

SPEAKER_03 4:02

Typical Robert, right? So, you know, these words that he's got here, it's still stuff that's applicable today. I mean, you guys gave this to me when I came through the door because you guys were trying to, you know, get me going down the right road. And a lot of things that Robert said here, look, we need to apply it today, right, guys? So I I'm just gonna read through his main points here one at a time. And guys, get some color commentary on this about what we need to be doing, what you've seen, what was Robert's attitude at the point in time when he gave it to you?

SPEAKER_01 4:36

No, you don't want to know that.

SPEAKER_03 4:37

Yeah, yeah. We'll give some color commentary on all that, Wendell, and we can uh talk through that. So, number one, we have a lot of good people working for Wright Brothers construction. The majority overall are very good employees.

SPEAKER_01 4:53

He believed that.

SPEAKER_03 4:55

Yeah, and you know, we all believe that today. You know, we're blessed to have a lot of good people, but look, there's some that just don't fit the right brothers mold, right? And one of Robert's points was hey, you need you need to figure it out, right? So as I read through these notes, one of Robert's big points as I read through this is a hundred percent. Produce a hundred percent. If you're here and I'm paying you, I need you to be producing, right? And I like this one point he has here, guys. I want your mind clear in your thinking and trying to figure out a way to save this company money. This way the company will have money for profit sharing. You know, even back then, Robert understood and was pushing everybody that hey, if we save a dime here, it benefits all of us, right, guys?

SPEAKER_01 5:58

Right.

SPEAKER_03 5:58

Y'all got anything to add to that one right there? Let's flip to the second one here. It says supervisors, employees at work on time. At work on time. What was Robert trying to stress there, guys?

SPEAKER_01 6:12

Don't get out of your vehicle at 7 o'clock in the morning walking machine.

SPEAKER_02 6:16

Come on, Wendell.

SPEAKER_01 6:17

He expected you on that machine at 7 and it run it.

SPEAKER_02 6:21

And if he was running a loader or a track hole loading trucks at 6:30, and you get on it, walk it to the cut, have the cut cleaned up, and a bucket full in the air when the truck driver started at 7 and got there.

SPEAKER_03 6:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 6:35

And then when it quit at night, you cleaned your cut and all up and had it ready for you where you was going to work tomorrow morning. Same thing again. You went the push tractor guy the same way.

SPEAKER_03 6:46

That's they need to be in the cut and waiting on scrapers. Sit there waiting on scrapers at work time. That's right. So and Robert was completely fine with paying them guys to make it happen, right? Get there, get ready, get set up, and that's that's a good point that I've heard you two tell me over time that our key people, our foreman, our superintendents, look, if we're gonna be successful, you just can't show up at seven o'clock. You gotta be there and you gotta plan your work and set up your work. And if you do that, then you're gonna have a successful day. Right. It makes sense. Part of work is preparation.

SPEAKER_04 7:25

Preparation is gonna take some extra time.

SPEAKER_01 7:26

Well, and he expected that out of me. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 7:29

And and and look, he led by example, right? He led by example.

SPEAKER_02 7:34

That that deal where the push tractor guy would be there 30 minutes before the scraper guys go to work, it motivated those scraper guys because they would get into modes where they wanted to be the first one down there to get their loads. Uh by 645, you got scrapers sitting down there. That's right.

SPEAKER_01 7:51

You remember Joe? Oh, yeah. Joe would be there. Joe would leave out 10 minutes before any other scraper would, just to be there.

SPEAKER_02 7:58

Yeah. He wanted to get the first and last load every day. Sure did. There you go. But that motivated the whole crew, you know. If everybody that push tractor man still sitting in his pickup at 7 o'clock in the morning, you're 7:30 getting the first load loaded, you know, and you dragged the whole crew down 30 minutes right off the bat.

SPEAKER_03 8:18

Just messing up the whole day. So, last point underneath this section right here that I highlighted is if we have anyone in this organization who does not feel that they are 100% Wright Brothers employees and cannot be loyal to this company and do an honest day's work for an honest day's pay and speak good things about the company, we want you to step forward now so you can be dismissed.

SPEAKER_04 8:44

Just laid it out there. Just laid it out there. He say, hey, we're all in on this.

SPEAKER_03 8:51

And you know, look, in typical robber fashion, it might be a little harsh, right? But the message still rings true today, right, Wendell? But it does. Mark, I mean, it's it's still the same message. I mean, look, we got a good thing going here. If you ain't bought in, look, I get it. That's fine. I hope you find someplace you you need to be at, but we need everybody to be right, brothers employees.

SPEAKER_01 9:19

Yeah. If you're gonna be here, be here. And that's right. Well, if you wasn't bought in, Robert didn't want you there.

SPEAKER_02 9:25

Yeah, yeah. We didn't feel those ours because we didn't know any different.

SPEAKER_03 9:31

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, so just set the stage here. You two didn't know any different. You know, Mark, you started at what age? How old were you? 17. And Wendell, what age were you when you started?

SPEAKER_01 9:44

17 when I got paid.

SPEAKER_03 9:45

When you got paid.

SPEAKER_01 9:48

So push tracker for dad at 15.

SPEAKER_03 9:51

Yeah. So I mean, y'all didn't know any better, right? Y'all didn't know any better. But look, we need we need buy-in. We're blessed to work for a good company. We gotta have buy-in. Point number three, and this this goes to Robert's mentality on taking care of machinery. Robert was just phenomenal about taking care of machines. Number three, one change is the air indicators we expect to get all our machines. What's he talking about there? What's he talking about?

SPEAKER_02 10:25

On the older machines that when the vacuum level, when you fell air fields filled up with dust and was reaching their capacity and pulling the vacuum, it had a little gauge on there and it would suck the plunger down in the gauge and show you a red indicator saying that they were full of that capacity. And that's something you looked at every single day. Some days the back engines on 57s and 37s, you blew those filters out every single day.

SPEAKER_03 10:52

Okay, so that goes on to this point down here. I want the oilers and mechanics as well as the superintendents to learn when they need to blow the air cleaners. Because, you know, if they can't breathe, it can't run. They can't breathe, it can't run. So still today, guys, as much as the this equipment is almost like a computer, you know, the one controlling factor on these things is these filters, right? If they can't breathe, they ain't gonna run. That's still a critical, critical area, right, Mark?

SPEAKER_02 11:25

It is. But catfillers come a long way on their filtration systems over the years, and and uh we're not as dusty as the environments that we used to be, but there's a lot better filtration systems. And what Robert's pointing at there in that last one, pretty much if you drove a Wright Brothers Company vehicle, it didn't matter if it was one of Miss Ann's old minivans or Miss Barbara's old Cadillacs been handed down to you or a pickup all the way up to the low board driver, you had to have some mechanical ability, and you better have tools in your toolbox change a hose because he wasn't sitting a mechanic three hours away change hose for change your own batteries out. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 12:08

So the operators had to have way more knowledge as far as like just simple repairs and well back then the operators had more knowledge. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:17

They were they were true operators and and not saying that bad about the ones now.

SPEAKER_04 12:21

But back then, yeah, that that was your piece of equipment. You had to know the ins and outs of all of it.

SPEAKER_02 12:26

Yeah, but it was different, simpler systems on equipment back then too than it is today, you know. Yes.

SPEAKER_03 12:33

But with that said, I would stress to everybody that look, if you're an operator for Wright Brothers Today, that's a source of pride. It is a professional position. You know, being an operator in America today, that is a professional position. You need to treat it as such as you are a professional. There ain't many people and do what you're doing. Right. But you need to have the attitude of, hey, I'm a professional, just like a doctor or a lawyer or anything else, and treat it as such.

SPEAKER_02 13:03

And we spent a lot of money over the last 10, 12 years getting a lot of late model equipment. 95% of what we have now is air conditioned, heated, nice stuff that's pleasures we didn't have the benefit of back. You just put a goat fence on them to get it to boil back to you. And and but nobody seems to take pride in the inside the cab where you're gonna spend 10 hours a day comes in here like a hogstie. There ain't no point in we have one this week. We've got pictures of it so bad. We told that supervisor where this machine comes from, we're gonna put it on the board at the next company meet and show pictures of it, and he just laughed, no big deal. So, wow. We've got to take pride in keeping these machines clean, not be spitting on them, peeing in them. We're about to get to that. Hang on.

SPEAKER_03 14:00

Hang on, you're jumping jumping ahead.

SPEAKER_01 14:02

If you if you look at that too, a lot of the air conditioning problems now is because they've got keep the windows out and everything in the floorboard and sucking it up into those filters.

SPEAKER_02 14:14

Then it screws up the intake for the air conditioner, is in the cab, and when you get the cab so filthy that you're filling that filter up and then you're filling the condenser up.

SPEAKER_03 14:25

Yeah, it's a mess. Number four, supervisors. When a low boy comes into your job, I want you to see that he has what aid and help he needs to get loaded and unloaded and back on the road again. So, you know, Mark, we've talked about this in a previous podcast. You know, you're you're the daddy of making sure this happens every day, but moving that equipment in and out of a job, that's the lifeblood of the company, right? If it doesn't happen and it doesn't happen efficiently, Wendell and his guys, Jeff and his guys, Brian's folks, I mean, look, you can't you can't make it go, right?

SPEAKER_01 15:01

Just let it go. Two, the the drivers are on hours now. So many hours they've got to get off the road. You know, if you don't have them coming in there and getting them out, it don't help them a bit.

SPEAKER_03 15:15

That's a great point. I mean, it's a huge deal. It's a huge deal. Number five, tire care has been slacked on. So, you know, I grew up in the concrete business. You know, I never had any inkling about tires until I showed up here at Wright Brothers. It never hit me. But then I remember I was here for just a minute, and Mark, you started quoting what some of these tires cost. It blew my mind. What's a 740 tire cost now? They're five, six thousand dollars.

SPEAKER_02 15:51

Five, six thousand dollars for a tire. And you say we got sixty of those machines with six each on them is a lot of money. It was a lot of money right there.

SPEAKER_03 15:59

So, you know, and one of these points that Robert makes here is about spinning tires, you know, scrapers spinning tires, you know. I remember running over rocks, not keeping you all road clean. Yep. It matters, right? I remember one of the last jobs that Robert was involved in was back here at Vokker when we were moving all the yardage back there, and Jeff went home one weekend, and one of the operators spun a tire, and Robert had an epic meltdown. Just epic. And I get it, right? How much does a 651 tire cost now, Mark? They're up around 12,000 apiece now. Goodness. Now we're we're blessed that it appears we're gonna have triple sevens running this year, this summer. Probably gonna have a, I don't know, what do you think? 12 of them running at least. What's a triple seven tire cost? They're around 10. $10,000. So look, guys, pay attention to your tires, pay attention to your hall road. Gotta take care of that. Next point here from Robert. While we are talking about tires, I want all operators, supervisors, and everyone to see that this tire situation gets improved. We have torn up entirely too many tires the last few months. Here you go, guys. What you just said. We need to keep the hallroads in shape. That matters, right? Exactly. Hall roads, cuts, feels. Do not run over rocks and cut the tires. And he goes on down here listening a whole bunch of stuff, but you know, it goes back to y'all's point about preparation for the job, right? Somebody's got to care, somebody's got to prepare the job, somebody's got to keep that hall road prepared. So that that was that was Robert's point there.

SPEAKER_02 17:50

There's very few times I go to a job, I don't stop, pick a piece of concrete or rock up out of the hall rate. Still today. Or now it's more rebar. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Be there than it will.

SPEAKER_03 18:03

Rocks. You know, I remember when I came to work here, Wendell, and we were working up there on Hall of Fame Drive. You remember Chicken City Hill? The only cut on the job, right? The only cut on the job, and there was it was a block. It was a little city block you could drive around it. And I remember James Wright showing up in his Lincoln, and instead of driving around the city block, what'd he do? He drove right through the cut.

SPEAKER_04 18:29

In the Lincoln.

SPEAKER_03 18:30

In the Lincoln, and by gosh, we needed to clean that up. Right, Wendell? Yep. So uh and I mean that was with dump trucks, right? But still, it still applies, right? You know, your dump trucks can't run efficiently if you don't keep it cleaned up. Point number seven superintendents, foreman, and all push tractor men, or anyone that is pushing scrapers, you need to learn how to get in the center of the scraper. Explain that one to us, Wendell.

SPEAKER_01 19:03

Well, if you you just it puts wear on the the push tractor tracks if you don't get in the center, it cocks a scraper up, it just messes the whole thing up. And I you remember Charlie, Mark? Robert had me paint a white stripe down the back of every scraper we had in the center and put a white stripe on Charlie's hood's eye where he'd get in the center of that. No, we'll forget that.

SPEAKER_02 19:31

If you hit him at the angle, you're sitting there fighting that steering club something.

SPEAKER_01 19:34

Pulling on me the whole time. Yep.

SPEAKER_03 19:36

Nothing works good when you get off center, but it's all just about proper maintenance of the equipment, right? Proper usage of it. Proper operation. If you try to do stuff with it that you don't need to, it just it wears the equipment out. Just wears it out.

SPEAKER_04 19:52

Yeah, and I love what he has here. He says, I expect anyone who does not know how to learn. Just that that mindset of like just learn. Just learn. There's stuff all of us can learn each and every day. You know, if you're on a you're on a job and there's something you don't know, ask. Learn it. You know, absorb the knowledge. It's gonna make everything better.

SPEAKER_03 20:17

Yeah, and I think that's a good point there. I mean, Robert didn't expect everybody to know. He was willing to tell you if you asked, but you but you gotta be willing to ask. And I think that rings true today. We've got a lot of really, really good people around here that have a lot of experience. And, you know, those of us that don't have as much experience, you got to raise your hand, right?

SPEAKER_04 20:36

Yeah, especially if you're a young guy out there, like be a sponge and absorb all the knowledge that you can, you know. Try to learn as much about everything.

SPEAKER_03 20:45

Yeah, try to learn it all.

SPEAKER_04 20:46

Not only your task and responsibility and leave it at that, but like learn more.

SPEAKER_03 20:49

Yeah, and I mean, look, you know, I I was one of those guys, you know. Mark Wendell here taught me all sorts of things. Some of it was good, some of it bad, but you know, hey, I learned all sorts of things from these guys. So uh next point here, all operators that are running a backhoe, see that you have a place prepared before you start working the machine. Right? You guys talked about that earlier, right? Need to set your cut up. Set your cut up, be ready, be ready to go. Point number nine, for all operators, oilers, mechanics, and supervision, the matter of burning the cutting edge edges off the moe board and wearing the mode board out is going to stop. Explain that one there, Mark.

SPEAKER_02 21:35

It's pretty much when the blades get worn down the mow board. You start cutting on the mow board that you don't have nothing left to bolt it to. And that's what he's telling you is get out and look at them. And used to we have big scraper fleets going to one of the scraper forms, you'd see them every day, would be on the field at some point of the day, most of the time in the afternoons, and as they dumped, he'd have them raise their boat. All the way up and check them as they went by. Looking at them cutting edges come back. He checked them as they come by and he took his notes. But you know, it seems like a lot of time now nobody realizes there's cutting edges out there that they're a renewable resource when they're not.

SPEAKER_01 22:15

We don't we don't do the stuff that we used to do. It's it's nowhere on the jobs anymore. Some of the guys will, you know, used to every day at lunchtime and at quitting time, you walk the line of equipment. Yeah. Made notes. That way you had stuff you've seen that needs to be fixed if it was really bad.

SPEAKER_02 22:38

Or it fell off.

SPEAKER_01 22:39

That's exactly right. If it was really bad, you fixed it that night. But if it was something that a mechanic, you know, could tighten up, you know, it it could wait till the next day, but you had the notes. And then like Mark's talking about, you know, during lunchtime back then, we would we would take run the run your tailgates forward on the scrapers where you can get back behind it, look at the rollers, see if those coming off, loose, you know, and leave your your apron up. And that way you tell if it's bypassing in the cylinders and stuff.

SPEAKER_03 23:14

So I mean that's still important stuff. It is. We need to stop and look at the wear items on these pieces of equipment. We need to look at the cylinders. I mean, we've got so many dollars tied up in this equipment now. I mean, it's amazing. And, you know, Wendell, with all them landfills you got going right now, you got one big traco on them jobs, and if it goes down, you're down. You're down. You're down. And that that's how it's going to be this summer, too, with these couple of big jobs we've got coming with the 777s, you know, big excavator goes down, you're down. So keeping up with this stuff, it matters. It matters. So point number 10, if a machine gets stuck or something of that nature, you need to have your cable around supervisors and operators. So this is just once again, Robert pointing out to everybody hey, you gotta be prepared, right? You don't know what's gonna happen. You gotta think ahead, you gotta be prepared, and you gotta be ready to take care of it. Point number 11, the scrapers are coming back up at 10 again.

SPEAKER_02 24:28

Part of that is too, is when you you have a D6 stuck and you walk the excavator up there and grab the side of the blade and tear the cylinder off and punch a hole in the back of the blade. That he's telling me it would take a cable and pull it out properly instead of all that ripping it apart and banging.

SPEAKER_03 24:48

Yeah. Doing it the right way instead of the what you're doing the right way. That'll preach right there. Right way. Number 11. Scrapers are coming into the shop with tailgate hydraulic cylinders in bad shape. What's the story on that one?

SPEAKER_02 25:10

Well, you've got a tailgate cylinder back there on the 651. It's got a six, seven-foot stroke on it. When you run that cylinder all the way, that tailgate all the way to the front, and the cylinder's run all the way out. Yeah. The only thing you got riding on that whole six or eight foot of chrome shaft out here is a little piston about this big. So it's like trying to hold a hammer up by the end of the handle. Like a six-inch piston is all you're talking about. When you get it dumped, push that tailgate all the way back, then that cylinder's it's running on the front baron of the head of the cylinder, plus the piston's over the back, you know, is you're holding it like this instead of like that.

SPEAKER_01 25:51

None of that cylinder is exposed that way.

SPEAKER_02 25:53

And the same way with your uh lip cell paper. Yeah. You know, when you get through dumping, you let it all the way back down so it's not sitting up there just like that right there.

SPEAKER_03 26:05

So, you know, one of the things, one of the things you taught me early on, Mark, when we were out looking at jobs and stuff, you always pointed out to me when you're parking up the equipment and everything, don't have the cylinder out there exposed, shoved out and everything. Yeah, and you know, I've always found it interesting as I've driven around and looked at jobs. Sometimes when these people park stuff out, it's like they specifically try to expose the cylinder, you know. They leave the leave the beds up and have the cylinders exposed and everything else in the world. It just looks goofy, right? Like, what in the world are they thinking?

SPEAKER_02 26:41

And most equipment, your fluid levels are to be checked with the cylinders retracted anyway. There you go. You dump cylinders and you except for a dozer, they're made to be set on the ground with the cylinder explode exposed. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 26:58

So the next couple here are just about nastiness being clean. Number 12. I have a real special message for all tobacco chewers. A real special message. If you want to work, chew tobacco, and work for riper others, you one thing you will not do is chew and spit it all over the machines. So when I climb on the machines, I put my hand in that nasty stuff that you spit out. I mean, that's pretty easy to understand, right, guys? I mean it.

SPEAKER_01 27:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 27:34

It's pretty it's pretty clean. So Robert goes on. I want you to swallow it. Get a cup to spit in, or wait until after quitting time to chew. Can you imagine swallowing that all day long? Otherwise, you will get fired if I see that all that all over my machines. I want you to get that straight today. And he meant it. He meant it. Never been up with love, right? Oh yeah. Of course. And then number 13, this one's equally as good. You are also going to quit peeing in the engines and the radiators and making them smell terrible. The oilers and mechanics don't appreciate that one bit. So if you are going to take a leak, get off the machine, and pee on the blade or something, do not pee in the engine or the radiator where the mechanics and oilers have to work. I expect superintendents to make sure everything I've talked about is done. Period.

SPEAKER_04 28:33

Is there a story behind and like some context?

SPEAKER_02 28:37

Well, a lot of the Yeah, just about two months ago.

SPEAKER_01 28:41

A lot of the older operators would get out and be sitting where they was pushing the scrapers at.

SPEAKER_04 28:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 28:50

Well, instead of getting down, climbing down, and getting off on the ground, they would just turn around and pee in the belly pan and that, you know, Robert. I know there was two or three complaints waged. Sachs was one of the worst ones to do that, man. And uh, you know, Robert came out and seen an operator doing that.

SPEAKER_04 29:16

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 29:17

He went berserk. And uh and I don't blame him.

SPEAKER_02 29:21

I don't blame him. Don't blame him a bit, right? You don't need to do nothing, these machines you wouldn't do to your wife's car. Right.

SPEAKER_03 29:31

It's a great point. Great point. It's a great point. And I mean, the cost on some of this stuff today is just astronomical, right? I mean, I remember when I showed up here, you know, you could you could you could buy a D6 dozer for what, Mark, when I showed up here?

SPEAKER_02 29:51

$150,000, $200,000. And now what is it? A D6 full size vanal around $600.

SPEAKER_03 29:58

It's insane. It's insane what that stuff costs, right? And what's a new $740 cost? $700. $700,000. It's crazy, guys. Yeah, yeah. I mean, it's crazy. So number 14, parking the equipment at night, quitting time, or whenever. When you park that piece of equipment, you better leave room between the piece of equipment in front of you. So if the bell and the push-pull machines go down, it won't touch the radiator or whatever is in front of you or the next machine.

SPEAKER_02 30:41

That is when we run a lot of push-pull scrapers that had the bell on front, they would hook to the back of the other and they would load yourself.

SPEAKER_03 30:50

But you know, the other thing about that is, and this is something I think we all need to stop and think about, is on these jobs, at the end of the day, we need to park up this equipment to where it's neat and orderly, to where our oilers and fuelers and mechanics can get to the equipment to where they can fuel it, where they're not having to run around and try to do everything and make them work harder. It needs to be neat and orderly. It needs to be a professional operation, right? Does. And it looks uh and it just looks much neater. Well, it looks like you know what you're doing. Probably you know what you're doing. And look, we know what we're doing. We need to take the extra step to clean it up, make it look good, and do what you're supposed to. Number 16, supervisors and mechanics, anyone with a vehicle, get those pickups and trucks out of the way of the equipment and out of the way of the hall roads. Oh my lord, Marcus is one of your pet peeves. This is every week. Now, how many times a year do we have a company truck that's hit because it's in the line of fire on a job? It's close to one a week. Close to one. So 1991. Robert's talking about this, right? When he probably didn't have 12 pickup trucks at the time. And he still had the same problem. But you know, Mark, you you send me pictures every time you're out on a trip somewhere. You send me pictures of everybody else's job sites and stuff. And I think this is something we we gotta work on at right, brothers. I see these other jobs. Mark will send me pictures, and they'll have the vehicles out of the work zone. They'll have them out of the line of fire, guys. It's it's something we gotta work on. Reasonable thing. It's just purely a safely safety thing. And a simple one to fix. Very simple one.

SPEAKER_02 32:44

Well, it's and and two, you know, even at Vocker, we had one pool straight up behind the Mac fuel truck. Oh Lord, yeah. Well, when you sat in that Mac and looked back to the mirrors, can't see it. You're looking down the site. Well, he backs into the pickup, the pickup driver thinks it's the Mac driver's box. The Mac driver with the fuel truck was there doing his job bringing fuel to the machine. He had to see it close. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 33:11

But it's true. It's true. 17. The equipment on the hall roads are trailing behind each other entirely too close. So this just goes back to the hall road conversation. You got to have a well-maintained hall road, you gotta run your equipment like you're supposed to. Keep your distance, safe distance.

SPEAKER_02 33:28

Yeah. You know, even with these 745s. Because the bed on a 745 can do up to $70,000 worth of damage to the engine on another 745 when they run together like that. Say that number again. $70,000. Do you get the whole actual treatment system tore off the top of the engine? Crazy dollars. And the hood and the bumper and the windshield and everything goes along with that.

SPEAKER_03 33:55

But there's a point in why you do that. You know, it's it's it's not just because it's you lose the equipment, you lose the dollars. And you know, those dollars right there, guys, on this equipment damage and stuff, it's not programmed in the jobs for us to have that. That money comes off the bottom line, right, Wendell?

SPEAKER_01 34:16

That's right.

SPEAKER_03 34:17

Comes off the bottom line. There ain't no way we're getting that back. Just is what it is. Number 18 here. Supervisors and whoever shuts off the equipment, make sure that this is done. And then Robert's got a set of bullets here. And what he's what he's saying in this set of bullets is, you know, check your air assist, drain your air tank, drain your air tank, make sure stuff's drained. But the point is when you shut off your equipment, check it out, right? You know, it's a different day and time about the air tank and everything, but his point is check it out to see if there's a problem. Reasonable stuff.

SPEAKER_01 34:54

Yeah. And he he believed that every superintendent needed to do that. That was their responsibility. Didn't matter how many pieces of equipment they had, how many people they had, but you need to make sure it was done.

SPEAKER_04 35:09

That's right. Well, he ended that section saying, superintendents, if this is not done, I'm going after you. So that's right. He meant it.

SPEAKER_02 35:17

He meant it with all the love in his heart. No, he meant it. And you would know it after he'd been there.

SPEAKER_01 35:25

Done that pretty regularly.

SPEAKER_03 35:28

19. What I have discussed are just a few things I've noticed. I know that there are more that I've missed. What I'm expecting is for everyone to give the utmost that they have and do what they know how to do. You know, Robert just wanted everybody to give 100%. He wasn't asking you to do more than what you knew how to do, but if you knew it, he wanted you to do that. If they don't know how to do the job, they need to learn it right away. Hey, look at that. Look at that, Jared. You talked about a little while ago about learning.

SPEAKER_04 36:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 36:04

He wanted people to learn.

SPEAKER_04 36:06

Yep.

SPEAKER_03 36:07

Go to supervision or someone that knows to inform you what to do. To do it and to do it right. Gotta learn. I expect our cost of operation to go down, our cost of production to go up. I expect every man on the payroll to do his utmost to see that this happens. That way we will get along well and be happy in the results. Pretty simple.

SPEAKER_01 36:35

Back then, Robert expected the superintendents and Mark, you was part of this too. But you looked over the oil samples, you looked over everything else, and when you found something, you called Robert, and he already knew about it most of the time.

SPEAKER_03 36:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 36:52

But if you didn't call him, you'd be getting a call.

SPEAKER_02 36:56

That's right. Every Saturday.

SPEAKER_01 36:57

Every Saturday.

SPEAKER_02 36:58

He was in the details. Saturday morning, Robert's deal was to go. Back then, all the oil samples were mailed in. That's when we had computers and all that. Oh, I remember when I showed up here, that was his Saturday morning thing. He goes through all the oil samples. By 10 o'clock, your phone's gonna start ringing. And he's gonna make sure you know what you better already know. Wow.

SPEAKER_03 37:20

Well, that was a Saturday morning ritual. Wow. So then that really wasn't the closing. Robert took another breath and he started again. Right. So you would think that'd be the closing, but it wasn't. He took a breath, typical fashion, right? 20. You should know that one of the hydraulic cylinders that goes on the back of the 6051 is in the excess of $6,000 to get one repaired or replaced. What would that be today, Mark?

SPEAKER_02 37:48

Well, what we're running into now with those machines, we've run into these triple sevens, those parts aren't serviceable anymore. Even the seats in those trucks, we've had to go to third-party vendors. Kat didn't even have air filters in stock to change out the first gen of those trucks we're getting ready to go. The triple sevens? Yes, that's a problem.

SPEAKER_03 38:09

So that's what we're getting into nowadays. And then Robert goes on here. He talks about radiator costs. The radiators on the compactors are $2,200. You know, who knows what that is today? He says in another bullet here, if that happens, if that happens, you mess up the engine, and that's $30,000 to $35,000 to repair. That's you can double that today. I mean it's just huge dollars. And then last bullet here from Robert's Wisdom from 1991. Use of telephones. Use of telephones. So at this point in time, there wasn't cell phones, right, guys?

SPEAKER_02 38:53

They've been very, very few. Yeah. Very, very few. Yeah, they were, yeah, you could go get the hard-bounded ones in your vehicle and thousand dollars a month.

SPEAKER_01 39:03

Or the bagged phones that was about like the size of the biggest.

SPEAKER_04 39:05

Did anybody have those at that time, any of the leadership? Oh, yeah. Bagged phones.

SPEAKER_01 39:09

Yeah. There's three or four out on jobs.

SPEAKER_03 39:12

Yeah, but we got another have another podcast here with these guys because there was an epic conversation with the the radios. You know, everybody had these party line radios back in the day, and Robert and Steve had a spirited conversation that everybody heard on the radio, right, Mark, down at Red Bank. Yeah, so we'll we'll have a we'll have another we'll have another conversation about that one of these days. But use of telephones. I expect the telephones to be used for business and business only. I am sick and tired of all of the expensive phone bills.

SPEAKER_01 39:49

It comes to Tacoa, Georgia. I just got my first one in the truck. Didn't want it, didn't need it.

SPEAKER_03 39:57

But he wanted you to have it.

SPEAKER_01 39:59

The girls at the office were giving my number out to the Tom Baidies, the different folks, the vendors in there. So I get a $500 and something dollar phone bill.

SPEAKER_03 40:14

Oh my lord.

SPEAKER_01 40:16

I have no idea.

SPEAKER_03 40:17

What year was this? Early 90s. So this is directed at you?

SPEAKER_01 40:24

It could be. $500 by kill is a lot of money. It's a lot of money.

SPEAKER_03 40:54

Two or three weeks' work.

SPEAKER_01 40:55

So that's exactly right. And uh he was like, You see the price on that? I was like, no, sir. He said, turn back on and look at it. So I looked at it and he said, uh, what are you doing calling all these people? Well, I hadn't made two calls, you know. And uh I tell him and he I was like, Well, everybody's calling me. I said, you know, and I, you know, tell him all the vendors that call in stuff like that. He said, Well, quit giving them your numbers. I said, I ain't give nobody my number. So he goes back to the office. Teresa Cook calls me and she said, You need to quit talking to Robert. He'd come up here and shoot all the crap. But yeah, that was an experience.

SPEAKER_03 41:46

Well, 1991 safety speech, guys. 1991 safety speech. You know, words that still matter today, right? Right. Even, even from back then, Robert Wright, he had it figured out. He had it figured out. He wanted to run a tight ship to have a good company for all of us. And look, we need to be doing that today. We need to be doing that today. And I just tell anybody that if you want a copy of Robert's 1991 safety speech, send an email in to podcast at WBCI.com. Ask for it. Say you want to copy Robert's safety speech, more than happy to send it out to you guys because I think it's just a testament to a very wise guy that was dedicated to do what he was doing, and we all need to learn from something that today. So Wendell, Mark, y'all got anything to add to that before we close this one out?

SPEAKER_02 42:45

No, pretty much Robert Robert paid for this education. He did have a his and James pocket, and he's passed it on to us for free. For free should take care of it just like we paid for it, like he did. That's right. The way I feel. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 43:01

Yeah. And and I'll tell you, he believed in everything he was saying right there, too. And he he practiced that.

SPEAKER_02 43:08

Every day.

SPEAKER_01 43:09

If you would listen to him, he would teach you stuff.

SPEAKER_03 43:12

That's right.

SPEAKER_01 43:12

I've had him drive down past the line of equipment. I walked at lunchtime and slam on the brakes and back up. And he's like, son, do you see that crack in that gooseneck? And I'm looking in my notes and I ain't got the damn thing in there.

SPEAKER_02 43:28

Loose rocket segment bulbs. You see those a mile away.

SPEAKER_01 43:32

He knew where to look.

SPEAKER_02 43:34

He just He knew what to look for.

SPEAKER_03 43:36

Yep. But that takes practice, right? It does. That's what I'm saying. He did not become that on day one. He worked at it. He learned. You know, he was a lifelong learner, and that's how he got to become who he was. And that's you know, that's an inspiration to all of us.

SPEAKER_01 43:56

He done it all too. I mean when dad went to work for them. James and Robert was running equipment and servicing at night. They were doing that.

SPEAKER_04 44:06

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 44:06

That's pretty pretty impressive.

SPEAKER_04 44:09

Yeah. Well, this I I love this kind of stuff. You know, I mean, talking about a a piece of company history, you know, and Robert's words, and like you're saying, ring true. But it what he's saying is it's powerful, but it's simple. It's it's be all in, take pride in your work, take care of your stuff, do your best, and and just do your job. You know, just simple laying it out there, and I think all of us can can take away from that. Let's let's let's take pride in what we're a part of and what we're doing. Let's make sure we're taking care of it, doing the right things, learning, growing, all that kind of stuff, and just do our job. Yeah, got a lot to be proud of that. Good things will happen.

SPEAKER_03 44:54

Yeah, a lot to be proud of. Mark Wendell, appreciate you guys. Thank you for coming in here talking about that. And with that, Jared, I think we can wind this one up.

SPEAKER_04 45:02

Yeah, and love to hear your feedback. As always, podcast at wbccci.com. Throw your name in the hat for the drawings that we have going on, giving stuff away. And just love to hear your perspective on all this. And thank you so much for tuning in. Have a safe rest of the day.

SPEAKER_00 45:19

That's gonna do it for this episode of Talking Grit. Thanks for listening, and thanks to everyone out there putting in the work day in and day out. If you liked what you heard, be sure to follow the show and share it with someone who knows the value of hard work. We'll catch you next time right here on Talking Grit.