E.R. Snell: a Unique Entity

E.R. SNELL CELEBRATED its 100th anniversary last year, marking its evolution from a subcontractor building culverts and bridges to one of Georgia’s largest prime infrastructure contractors with almost 1,200 employees. It now has separate divisions for roadway construction and reconstruction, asphalt paving and resurfacing, and structures. A maintenance division services all of the company’s heavy equipment and its fleet of trucks.

E.R. Snell remains a privately-held, family business, with Scott Briscoe, a fourth-generation family member serving as president and 12 family shareholders who actively work with the company. The company is headquartered in Snellville, also named for the founding family.

Although it is first and foremost a road builder, E.R. Snell shares many of the same concerns as the trucking company members of GMTA. Faced with a shortage of drivers, last year the company started its own driver training program for current employees.

Interested employees are often general laborers who want to advance their careers. “They come to us through an application process and tell us what they want to do: drive a dump truck, water truck, or distributor truck, or become a Class A driver,” said Ryan Peters, fleet safety manager. After an initial vetting process, applicants accepted into the program go through rigorous and regimented training classes. “There are certain milestones they have to meet to succeed and go on to the next step,” Peters added.

Almost 20 people have graduated from the program to date. The highest success rate has been with Class B drivers since the company’s Class A drivers must be able to handle lowboys that haul heavy construction equipment.

E.R. Snell does have some unique trucking-related problems. One is the long wait times for new trucks with standard transmissions, which can take 12 to 18 months from order to delivery. Automatic transmissions are designed for maximum fuel efficiency, but the company requires standard transmissions because drivers often need to shift gears manually to accommodate for the heavy equipment loads they are carrying. A related problem is finding drivers who know how to use standard transmissions.

E.R. Snell relies on a variety of technologies to enhance its operations. “We use in-cab recording to protect the driver and to protect us as a company. We really try to identify behaviors that drivers may exhibit that could make them more prone to an accident. We also provide training and coaching to make them safer and more defensive drivers,” Peters said. The company’s technology wish list includes more blind spot monitoring cameras for trailers, since the heavy equipment the drivers are hauling, like giant pavers and shuttle buggies, is difficult to see around.

The company’s equipment team monitors its trucks’ telematics data to ensure that any problems or routine maintenance needs can be quickly addressed by its in-house mechanics. “We also have fleet watcher and other technologies that track and trace our own dump trucks as well as subcontractors, he continued. The telematics data also enables them to determine how much time was spent dumping a load. “It’s all about efficiency and making sure that the heavy equipment we utilize to get the job done is constantly moving and being productive,” he added.

Because E.R. Snell’s focus is on highway construction, GMTA membership has been especially valuable to them. “GMTA keeps us tied in to regulatory changes and gives us insights into where state and federal government are going,” said Peters. When the company expanded its milling operations last year, the association put them in touch with the Georgia Motor Carrier Compliance Division. “We met with the regulators and got to do an in-person weight test with our current setup and our largest machine to see where we needed to be for legal space and legal weights for the state.”

The company also takes advantage of GMTA’s training programs, including commercial motor vehicle certification for their in-house mechanics. “GMTA provides us with a lot of connections,” Peters added.

Headquarters: Snellville, Georgia
Background: The conception of the company goes back to 1923, when Gladstone Snell responded to new opportunities created by the explosion of automobile travel by building stone culverts, walls and bridges on Georgia’s roads and highways. In 1938, after the passing of Gladstone Snell, the founder’s son and company’s namesake, E.R. Snell Sr., went on to assume leadership of his father’s company. He expanded the company into poured-concrete culverts and bridges, and incorporated E.R. Snell Contractor in the summer of 1959.
Trucks: 219
Employees: Almost 1,200, including 525 drivers
GMTA member: Since 2011
Why GMTA matters: “We are a unique entity, unlike a standard trucking company. We are primarily in the road, bridges and construction mindset first and motor carriers second. So GMTA helps us make sure that we’re complying with everything that is expected as a motor carrier.”                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ryan Peters, Fleet Safety Manager