Business View Magazine | February 2018

214 215 if you look at it from a seasonal perspective, we have extremely high turnover; we’re continually ramping up from 50 people to 800. So, we put the training center within our facility; we built an online training center called Case University; and we have videos, educational forums, pod- casts, a number of different things that we de- ploy that are mandatory for our employees and our sub-contractors to be trained, in order to be compliant and work for Case Snow Management. And the training is just a little bit more than what we’re doing. It’s about who our company is, our history, our company culture, how to maintain a professional look and feel, and that’s what we want to deliver. “So, I don’t see a lot of competition in the space that we’re in, basically, because of the size of our company and the footprint that we cover, in combination with the amount of equipment and people that we have.” BVM: What happens if it doesn’t snow much CASE SNOWMANAGEMENT during the season? Case: “Our contracts are very balanced.We have some seasonal, fixed contracts where we get paid X amount of dollars for the season, and we also have some per-occurrence contracts where we get paid based on how much it snows. So, in a low-snowwinter,we still have a fixed income, and in a larger snowwinter,we have an increase in reve- nue because of the amount of inches that fall.” BVM: Where do you get your weather informa- tion from? Case: “A company called WeatherWorks. They’re a New Jersey-based outfit; they have about 30 meteorologists on staff and they provide us with most current updates of weather.We don’t listen to the local weather stations; we don’t pay atten- tion to the national weather forecast; we go to the experts that understand snow and ice, ground temperature, moisture content, and understand our business. So, they’re able to give us solid advice, not just about when snow is coming, but what type of snow is coming and what the tem- peratures are going to be throughout the dura- tion of the storm, which helps us make decisions on how we put down de-icing materials, when we start plowing, and when to deploy our crews.” BVM: Are there any other companies that are important to your company’s operations? Case: “Caterpillar is certainly a major part of our supply chain. They provide us with over 100 pieces of equipment every year. That’s a critical element to our company’s power. Another one is our salt supplier, Leed Salt. De-icing materials is a big part of our organization.