Here are a few of our favorite “war stories” – tales of those least-expected events and how we handled them.

1. SportsLab – How We Play the Game
2. Canon Digital Solution Forum – Come Fly With Us
3. Wonderware Showcase – Viva Las Vegas
4. Infiniti, The Triant – Spreading Our Wings
5. The Overhead Door – Can’t Keep A Good Team Out

SportsLab – How We Play the Game

On a cold November night, St. Louis became the host of the first SportsLab. The sports fields at Forest Park were converted to a 100,000 square foot air tent venue for the most exciting public interactive sports experience in history. Billed as the largest tour on the continent, 86 of our trailers from 8 different origins converged on St. Louis loaded with staging, lighting, sensitive electronics, interactive sports games, displays, promotional items and refreshment stands. Our challenge, which was planned in advance, was to unload our trailers in the proper sequence and on-time. Over 200 stagehands were on the clock, so our timing was critical. Swapping trailers in the air lock of the tent so that the tent didn’t collapse was quite a unique challenge, but despite the difficulty, the foul weather and a 36-hour round-the-clock move in, everything went smoothly.

The next venue was Houston and move-in started 24 hours after the St. Louis show ended. During move-out in St. Louis, there was little time to worry about the park rangers who weren’t pleased with our trailers all over the park. Lisa Michele was the senior logistics coordinator. When the park rangers wanted trailers moved, our 8-person logistics team told them they needed to speak with Lisa Michele. We denied knowing her whereabouts until there were too few trailers for the rangers to worry about. Only then did Lisa Michele ask the rangers, “Are you looking for me?”

Canon Digital Solution Forum – Fly With Us

Canon was about to reveal several new products in New York. Since these were prototypes, they could not duplicate them for a Los Angeles reveal 24 hours later. We chartered a DC3 standing by at Newark awaiting the arrival of our trailers, when two other divisions insisted on adding their equipment. Load factors and dimensions on the additional equipment were now too great for the DC3. Through our loyal resources (and a whole lot of sniveling), we located an L1011 with the proper capacity. Within two hours, the L1011 was positioned at Newark while our trailers waited. Our loadmaster supervised loading and securing the equipment and flew with this time-sensitive cargo that arrived at LAX at 06:00 to our awaiting trailers. We made the 5PM opening with time to spare.

Wonderware Showcase – Viva Las Vegas

Sure. We know how to move exhibits. We know how to sequence trailers and finesse drayage contractors. But a parade of big rigs? Our drivers love their jobs, but c’mon. That’s what this software company wanted in conjunction with a corporate Showcase kick-off. Twenty trucks, loaded with their stuff in the business part of town, air horns blaring on queue as the rigs departed for Las Vegas. They got it. But that’s not all. Apparently, our drivers’ acting careers had just begun. The client wanted shots of our trucks crossing the Mojave Desert in caravan, and not only on I-15 – we’re talking IN the desert. That seemed pretty easy after the parade. With heat rising from the asphalt, our 20 trucks crested a hill one by one and spilled towards the clients waiting camera crew. The client was kind enough to share the footage with us, and it led to one of our favorite marketing pieces — a video entitled “It Can Be Done”.

Infiniti, The Triant – Spreading Our Wings

Infiniti division of Nissan wanted their 2004 concept car to tour on the 2003 auto show circuit. Before it arrived in the United States, we knew we had a tough challenge. The Triant has gull wing doors that open upwards and the paint was extremely sensitive and one-of-a-kind. Traditional vehicle transports would not work because in driving the Triant on the trailer, the driver would not be able to exit (or enter) the car. To complicate matters even further, the trailer needed to be climate-controlled to protect the paint.

There are a lot of climate-controlled trailers, but none with 12-foot side doors. However, that’s what we needed and that’s what we found to accommodate this exciting vehicle. Careful positioning in the trailer was critical. We dedicated one specifically trained driver with this trailer to remain on tour for four months before returning the Triant to Tokyo.

The Overhead Door – Can’t Keep a Good Team Out

Friday night in New York’s theater district was the move-in for a client’s private event. We had 40 trailers staged blocks away feeding them to the hotel and, as the first 2 arrived, we discovered the overhead door that normally opens to 14 feet was damaged and frozen at 12 feet. That doesn’t work with our 13’6″ trailers, and we were under severe time pressure to get them unloaded. We located the hotel manager-on-duty and the hotel’s security team to discuss the dilemma. They did not share our urgency in fixing the problem, and matter-of-factly informed us that they would have it fixed on Monday. We, in turn, matter-of-factly informed them that we would kindly remove the door and they could fix it Monday on the ground.

We summoned our forklift crews, one outside and one inside, at opposite ends of the door to ram the top until it fell to the ground. After three hits, down it came and move-in began, only one hour behind schedule. When the sun came up, the hotel’s general manager commended us on our quick response solution and admonished the manager-on-duty for the lack of his.