These days it is hard to find a growing company with excellent service and friendly small-town values and ethics. With the economy being down, many small businesses have been taking a hit. However, the strong can survive mostly in such a volatile industry such as the trucking industry. Crum Trucking, Inc. has maintained steady growth, which I believe is because of the great people that have stood with the company throughout the years.

Crum Trucking comes from humble beginnings. It started in 1963 when my father, Roger Crum, started hauling livestock for local farmers while also raising livestock and farming his own. He then branched into hauling grain and then other agricultural commodities such as crop fertilizers and livestock feed, which went on for many years. In 1986 I began working on the farm with my father and started working on the trucking equipment before I was old enough to drive. Eight years later, I came to the point where I felt that through my parents, I had learned the proper way to manage money, maintain all types of equipment, and most of all, how to put in a long (and some days even longer) day of dependable, hard and honest work. At this point, our family decided we needed to move forward.

In 1994 we separated the trucking from the farm to form Crum Trucking, Inc., which secured us our first significant account with an automotive part assembly plant. By 1996 the trucking business had grown to about eight trucks and required most of my time. This was when I had to choose between farming and trucking, so I decided to dedicate nearly all of my time to the trucking company, and my father decided to devote most of his time to the farm business. My mother used her banking experience and accounting practices for the farm and the trucking company. It was clear the values I learned on the farm from my mom, dad, and other co-workers had spilled over into the trucking company by giving customers “A & B” (above and beyond) service. This service has become a structured part of our company and applies to our customers, suppliers, employees, and faculty.

Today Crum has 200 trucks in operation, which was made possible by having great people that provide excellent service dedicated to the company. Initially, I made some sales. Over the years, we had a traditional approach to doing business. Our employees’ attributes to treat all people professionally contributed to gaining our company’s current customer base. Yesterday’s smallest suppliers are some of our largest customers now.

– Keith Crum, President