CTP top graduate shares roadmap to success.

ProVia began business in 1977 as a faith-based organization. Bill Mullet, founder and chair­man of the board, had a vision for his family-owned business and that was to always meet the highest standards of quality and customer service. The company’s roots are in Sugarcreek, OH, an area known for quality and old-world craftsmanship by people who take pride in making the best products available.

“Vision causes us to choose our goals and values based on truth and absolutes. This vision creates confidence, ideas and strategies which are reflected in our products and services,” Mullet said. “This vision brings change that improves products, services, and even lives. The market is not the same today as it was when we founded the company. We must constantly be aware of this in order to stay competitive and relevant.

“At ProVia, each person takes seriously the trust that professionals and homeowners place in them to manufac­ture building products that will last a lifetime and excel in unmatched beauty, durability, energy efficiency and secu­rity,” he explained.

These values and principles were a great benefit for T.J. Mummert, CTP, who joined ProVia in 2016. Born and raised near Xenia, OH, Mummert was officially honored at NPTC’s annual conference in April as the top graduate in the Certi­fied Transportation Professional Class of 2019.

ProVia manufactures professional-class doors, windows, siding, stone, and roofing products. Their mission? “To serve by caring for details in ways others won’t,” enabling them to fulfill their vision “to be the premier building products man­ufacturer, providing unmatched quality and service.”

T.J. attended Mount Vernon Nazarene University where he completed a bachelor’s degree in business management. He took a management training position with Con-way Freight and over four-plus years worked his way up to a ser­vice center manager role before joining ProVia’s team as a logistics analyst where he has served for over three years.

“I wasn’t planning for a career in transportation, but once you get in, you grow to like it,” Mummert said.

In this position, he serves as a resource to help analyze costs, implement ELD and route optimization technologies, equipment specifying and purchasing, and plan new routes for the fleet, among other assignments. He was first intro­duced to NPTC a few years ago by a local OEM truck dealer. T.J. attended the NPTC 2018 annual conference, enrolled in the 2019 Private Fleet Management Institute (PFMI), and sat for the CTP exam in February of this year.

“I took quite a bit away from attending PFMI and going through the CTP program,” Mummert explained. “The infor­mation available through NPTC provided a good measuring stick for how we can improve our fleet, especially in safety. We now have a network of resources to call on if we need help in a certain area. PFMI was well worth the time and effort. You will get out of it what you put into it; it’s just a full docket of new things to learn.”

Since getting active with NPTC, ProVia Logistics has brought on a full-time safety coordinator to fortify its safety culture.

“We are running our fleet in a more efficient way with the help of our NPTC experience and connections. The bench­marking report is a good resource, as was attend­ing the annual confer­ence,” he continued. “We have become open to ideas on how to make our fleet more valuable to our customers. Events like PFMI are a good way to come across those ideas or network to find different solutions. We plan to attend the National Safety Confer­ence in the fall.”

ProVia’s private fleet consists of 43 tractors, 78 trailers, and 51 drivers. Drivers are an important component of the company’s premium service pledge.

“Our drivers deliver to dealer stores and are the ‘faces and personalities’ of our top-notch customer service,” Mummert said. “A lot of our products are custom made and manually loaded and unloaded by the drivers.

“Taking the CTP exam was a whirlwind experience,” he continued. “The week of the exam a sickness had run through everyone in my house . . . I took Thursday and Friday off work, and my wonderful wife Holly quizzed me while I was home sick. Then Wyman Miller, ProVia’s director of distribution [who also earned his CTP certification], drove us three hours to take the exam on Saturday. I am grateful that ProVia con­tinually invests in its employees and gave us this opportunity. It is an honor to be recognized.”