What's Now: Delivering the Economy

What's Now: Delivering the Economy

Spring 2016

| By: Britten, Casey

Roehl Transport relies on FVTC to train all of its drivers.

Headquartered in Marshfield, Wisconsin, Roehl Transport is one of the nation’s largest trucking companies with over 2,000 tractors and 5,200 trailers. When company officials began facing the nationwide shortage of qualified drivers, they looked to Fox Valley Technical College for help.

“We have been working with Fox Valley Tech for years, using the college to supplement our training needs as well as hiring its graduates,” says Greg Koepel, Roehl vice president of workforce development and administration. “So, it was a natural fit to continue working with the college to create a program that’s exclusive to our company for training new truck drivers.”

Roehl appreciates FVTC’s desire to come up with innovative solutions. “Fox Valley Tech’s instructors come to us with an open mind and a blank piece of paper,” says Koepel. “We tell them what we need and they build a solution.”

An accelerated, four-week Commercial Driver License (CDL) program was created for Roehl. It gives inexperienced hires both the knowledge and hands-on skills needed to test for a commercial Class A heavy-duty license. “Heavy-duty truck driving is a great profession with a terrific wage,” Koepel states. “We provide a pathway for people to succeed. After about nine months of working for us, our new drivers are on pace to make an annual wage of $50,000.”

Koepel reiterates how important trucks are to our nation. “Everything we have and use throughout our daily life comes to us on trucks,” he says. “Trucks deliver the American economy.”

Truck Driving programs at Fox Valley Technical College >>