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A Word from Our PresidentBy: Hastings Puckett, President

August 2011Volume 5, Issue 1

Inside this issue:

I would like to take this opportunity to discuss some important topics which impact us all.

A Great CompanyI continue to be so proud our company –

the people, the culture, and the way we do business. I have told many employees that if you ever experience a rough spot here at PMC, the best remedy is to attend a CAT meeting where other dealers are present. Every time I am around other dealerships I become even more proud of our company and realize what a good company we are all a part of. Every day might not be the best and there are things we need to do better, but from top to bottom we have a very special company that I am very proud of and I hope you are too.

Healthy Workplace InitiativeI truly hope the Healthy Workplace

initiative we have rolled out is well-received and results in an improvement in the overall health of our work force. As the numbers I shared indicate, we have a lot of opportunities to improve! Last week we had our Biometrics data collection and I look forward to getting the averages for our company. These figures will be a great baseline for our company and for everyone individually. We will be able to measure the success of this initiative when we have our Biometric data collection next year and can compare the averages to this year’s – hopefully they will all be improved. The benefits of good health to an individual and his or her family are countless and I look forward to hearing and sharing success stories from around the company.

Remember, a healthy lifestyle is a CHOICE that we all have the ability to make!!

P.S. Keep an eye out for our CEO – he is leading by example and looking great!!

Company PicnicMany of you have asked if we’ll start

having a company picnic again. The answer is yes, but not this fall. It will also likely become an every other year event rather than an annual event. In light of this, we have decided to resume the picnic next year, likely in the spring. Puckett Machinery will be celebrating its 30th year in business next year and I think it is appropriate to have a company picnic in conjunction with this milestone. More details will be forthcoming.

The FutureOur company is continuing to improve

and position itself for the future. Through this downturn we have continued to invest and make decisions for the long term. We’ve launched numerous growth initiatives that we discussed at our mid-year meetings. We’ve maintained our employees without a layoff and continued to train and develop. Also, in the last 12 months we’ve done a significant amount of strategic hiring. Our operations are becoming more and more efficient and customer focused. We have committed to new facilities in Brookhaven and Meridian in the next 12 to 18 months and are evaluating a significant facility upgrade in Jackson. We’re also continuing to strategically transfer and add personnel to place people in positions where they can

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A Word from Our President

PMC Meridian Gets Fired Up!

Spotlight on CSA

Records Broken at Puckett Rents Meridian

ThinkBIG! News

The PMC Safety Commitment

Puckett Prescription: Small Steps Lead to Big Success

The PMC Family

Update: Puckett Global Services

Congratulations to Chad Beard, PR Biloxi Branch Manager

(Continued on Page 2)

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PMC Meridian Gets Fired Up!By Michele C. Bunch, Director of Human Resources

By now, everyone has heard about the fire in the Shop at PMC Meridian on April 30, 2011. It was about 1:30 a.m. and a CAT skidder was in a bay in the southwest corner of the shop for repairs. The City of Meridian Police Department is diligent about patrolling our branch after hours. It was a cooler than normal evening and the Policeman on duty was riding around with his patrol car windows down. This observant officer did not see smoke, but smelled it and contacted the Meridian Fire Department immediately.

Josh Hopkins, Service Tech was the first on the scene as he has a relative who is a Meridian fireman. The shop and its roof were ablaze. Jeff Barnacastle and Kevin Rosewall both Parts Countermen arrived that night and reported not being able to see a foot in front of them due to smoke in the Parts area in the front of the branch. The fire had started due to an electrical problem with the skidder.

When the smoke settled, PMC Meridian had suffered extensive fire damage in the shop and smoke damage everywhere else in the branch. Then John Rand, PMC Safety, Contamination Control, Environmental and Facilities Manager arrived and stayed over 30 days to oversee estimating, cleaning and the reconstruction of the branch.

How do your provide customer service and repair tractors under these conditions for 35 days? According to Gary Dixon, Service Manager, we had no crane, no power and no air making it very difficult at first. But, Gary and Arron Chunn, Service Foreman noted 2 factors that are a testimonial to the Meridian team. “First, the Meridian area customers proved to be concerned, patient and helpful during the rebuild.” “And the morale of the employees remained positive,” according to Gary and Arron.

For over a month, the Techs worked outside and the weather did not cooperate – first very hot, then rainy. Arron reported that Techs, Red McMinn, Josh Hopkins and Caleb Cox were particularly helpful during this time. These 3 Techs agreed that “teamwork, no complaining and looking forward to a better shop in the end would get them through this.” For Gary and Arron it was the juggling that caused the most stress – “the juggling of the contractors’ work and business as usual.”

In the end, we have a better facility now at PMC Meridian. Everyone cannot get over three vast improvements made to the shop – better insulation to keep it cooler, better lighting and better ventilation! There are many people to thank for this – the police and fire departments of Meridian, our loyal customers, John Rand and his leadership, Adam White and the team at Puckett Rents, PMC Meridian’s leadership and each and every employee in Meridian.

Puckett Today

PMC Meridian techs from left to right: Red McMinn, Josh Hopkins, and Caleb CoxThinkBIG Intern: Kyle LairdService Foreman: Arron Chunn

be most successful and make the most effective contributions to our company. And, there are a lot more items still in the “queue” which we’ll be implementing in the future. All of this to say, we are preparing for the future and our best days and results are ahead!

Personal On a personal note,

many of you know I have a 6 year old son (Peyton) and a 4 year old son (Parker). A couple of weeks ago I was playing with them in the yard and unprompted, out of the blue my 4 year old proceeded to tell me when he got bigger he wanted to be a “tractor man” just like Daddy. Needless to say, there aren’t many things he could have said that would have made me prouder and happier! So, it looks like our dealership won’t be going anywhere for at least the next 60 years and I’ve got some real incentive to make this place even better for the next generation than it was for this generation.

A Word from Our President(Continued from Page 1)

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PMC Meridian Gets Fired Up!By Michele C. Bunch, Director of Human Resources

Puckett Today

BEFORE AFTER

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Puckett Today

Spotlight on CSABy Ben Puckett, Service Operations Manager and Michele C. Bunch, Director of Human Resources

When you think of preventive maintenance, what comes to mind? Oil changing and greasing, right? Sure, these are some of the elements that make up the responsibilities of the CSA Department, but there is a whole lot more. The CSA department is the facet of our service department responsible for on-site preventive maintenance with responsibility for nearly 1,100 machines. There is never a dull moment in CSA. The Customer Support Agreements (CSA) range from 25-hour basic services all the way up to 20,000-hour total maintenance and repair contracts (MARC). That means these Techs are responsible for all maintenance and repair over the machine’s 20,000-hour life span including everything from the headlights to utilizing repair-before-failure on the power train components!

The job of a CSA tech is more accurately described as - preventing a problem before it happens. So how do our CSA Techs accomplish this? Servicing the machine to Caterpillar standards and making sure the machine is greased properly are both important but that’s just the beginning. It is done through machine inspections where small defects are found prior to becoming major failures. Also, by utilizing oil sampling and full machine inspections, the CSA techs are able to give customers the information they need in order to fix their machine

before it causes downtime and additional expense. Simply put, the CSA tech adds value by making sure the customers’ machines are running where and when they need them. An oil sample may indicate an issue inside a power train component allowing the customer to elect to rebuild the component prior to destruction. Repair-before-failure typically saves the customer 40% on the cost of the repair. The machine inspection may note a safety issue or find a minor problem that would otherwise shut the tractor down on the job-site for a full day or more.

Our customers have sent the message loud and clear – they want highly trained Caterpillar Certified Technicians to fix their machines before they break, not after the failure! Customers are demanding value-added solutions that increase machine availability and reduce operating costs over the life of the machine.

The CSA Team

At the helm of the CSA Department is Jody Jones, CSA Manager and eleven-year veteran at PMC. Jody likens his role in CSA to being a Coach – “I show

the team our goals and guide them as they run the plays.” “Every day in CSA is a challenge; finding the balance between what needs to be done and what has to be done, and all with a sense of urgency.” Jody is thankful to our PSSR’s and Machine Sales Reps who sell the CSA contracts to our customers. He attributes the huge success of CSA to “our quality team, and the care and pride we take.” “The machine may be working fine when we come on a job site and it has to be working properly when we leave it.”

Daniel Lowe is on the fast track at PMC; he serves as our CSA Coordinator. Daniel is charged with the operations of CSA including the trucks, the scheduling of techs and meeting the needs of our customers and our CSA Techs. For Daniel one of his biggest challenges is “working around our busy customers’ schedules – they all want CSA service during their down time which makes for a long day and night for our dedicated techs.” Some days are a logistical nightmare. Daniel feels the CSA contracting has grown by leaps because of:

• The quality of our CSA Techs

• The valuable relationships the techs build with our customers

• The willingness and flexibility of our techs who meet the unique needs of every customer

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Puckett Today

Steve Davis is a veteran CSA Tech with eleven years and a territory surrounding Hattiesburg. However, according to Steve that “territory can expand from Texas to Florida – remember CSA techs go where the customers’ machines are working.” Steve’s loves the customer exposure of this position and the flexibility of his hours. Steve feels the weather presents the CSA Tech with the most challenges like the heat right now and sometimes, the water left behind by heavy rains. We are not exactly sure how Steve worked this wonder, but at times he has to help customers out of rough spots or should we say holes in this case (see the photo below).

Vic Caquias is our CSA Tech on the coast. He is one of our few bilingual employees; fluent in Spanish and English. Because of his ever-present smile and positive demeanor, customers look forward to seeing Vic come on site. Vic feels it is the comfort of these relationships between CSA Techs and customers that is the secret to their success.

Justin Waltman, 2008 ThinkBIG Graduate and Alan Sanders, former Shop Tech in Jackson are our newest CSA Techs. Joining the CSA Team is Brian Shannon, our line boring Tech and expert.

Darrell Taylor is the veteran of the staff; he joined PMC in July of 2000. He is a graduate of the Copiah Lincoln Community College Diesel Program and now his son, Nadarious attends the same program. Darrell chose “teching” because he loves to work outside. During this time of the year he does most of his CSA work between 11:00 p.m. and 8:00 a.m. in his Brookhaven/Natchez territory. These hours in the middle of the woods make for some interesting near-miss encounters for Darrell - like with coyotes near Edwards and a black panther near Gillsburg, MS. According to Darrell the word has gotten out about the quality of work churned out by PMC CSA Techs and that explains the explosion of CSA business.

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Records Broken at Puckett Rents MeridianBy Billy Holliday, Operations Manager and Michele C. Bunch, Director of Human Resources

The Meridian area was a territory that Puckett Rents had done business in on a limited basis for several years. In late 2008 Don Shimfessel was assigned the responsibility for rental and contractor supply sales in Lauderdale and surrounding counties to improve our coverage and understanding of this market. Don’s success in the Meridian territory and the announcement of Southern Company’s plans to build a $2.5 billion power plant in Kemper County led to a decision late last year to open our fifth full-service rental store in Meridian.

Since opening in January, the Meridian branch has been a great success! We hired local rental veterans, Adam White (Branch Manager), Steve Harmon (Sales Representative), Tom Nelson (Rental Coordinator) and Dan Pearson (Service Manager) along with additional key employees and were off to a quick start. In April Puckett Rents hosted a Grand Opening event for the new Meridian branch featuring Jeff Burton and the #31 Cat racecar. This event was attended by more than 250 customers and helped The Cat Rental Store build on its early momentum.

Adam White attributes the new Puckett Rents Branch success story to: “employees working long hours, dedicated to our customers, and building on past relationships.” Adam believes that their foundation is “honesty – simply do what you said you were going to do for the customer.”

He sees nothing but growth and prosperity for the Meridian branch.

Thanks to the hard work of the dedicated staff, for their first six months in business, this new branch has far exceeded everyone’s expectations and is continuing to grow and adding new customers and employees every month. The future looks bright for this new addition to Puckett Machinery! Although it has been open for only seven months, Puckett Rents Meridian is already a major contributor to the overall success of Puckett Rents.

Puckett Today

Jared Smith, Inside Sales, Tom Nelson, Inside Sales, and Steve Harmon, Outside Sales

Chris Risher, Service Technician

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Puckett Today

Adam White, Branch Manager and Billy Holliday, Operations Manager at the April Open House with the # 31 Cat racecar.

Adam White, Branch Manager Dwight Vaughn, Service Technician and Dan Pearson, Service Manager

Lincoln Cooke, Driver Kendrick Benamon, Wash Rack/Yard

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The PMC Safety CommitmentFrom John Rand, Safety, Contamination Control, Environmental and Facilities Manager

Below is an article from the OSHA Safety Compliance Alert, June 23, 2011

Boosting Facial Protection Compliance

Congratulations to PMC 2011 ThinkBIG graduates: Jeff Morris of PMCH and Korey Bond, PMCG, pictured with Michele Bunch. We are proud of you!

Puckett Today

PMC sends a record number of 8 ThinkBIG Interns to College in August, 2011.(from left) Adam Walker, Kyle Williams, Garrett Young and Joseph Howe, PMCJ, Trey Ladner and Dalton Russell, PMCG, Michael Cardin, PMCH and Kyle Laird, PMCM

■ BEST WAY TO GET THEM TO COMPLY: HAVE A STRONG SAFETY CULTURE

You should know that of all the types of personal protective equipment (PPE) that workers need to use, facial protection is the toughest one to actually get them to wear.

It seems like workers don’t mind all that much wearing their safety gloves and special work boots necessary to protect them, but they hate to put anything on their faces, whether it be full facial shields, eye protection, or masks and respirators.

You probably already knew that from your own experience, but recent doctoral research by Kathryn Nichol at the University of Toronto in Ontario, Canada, confirms it.

Nichol conducted her research among more than 1,000 nurses at several Toronto-area hospitals.

She found only 44% of people complying with all PPE regulations on facial protection all or most of the time, in self-reporting through surveys, and confirmed by independent observation.

Fortunately, the research also pinpointed the best ways to get compliance with donning PPE.

People can be motivated to wear facial PPE for three different reasons:

• Environmental - such as the availability of resources• Personal - belief systems, values, past experiences,

level of competence (which could either help or hinder), and

• Organizational - company culture, how important safety was to the organization, the presence of constant reminders, and personal accountability.

Culture was the most importantOf the three factors that could influence compliance

with PPE rules on facial protection, company culture was by far the most important.

Good communication between managers and workers, organizational support for safety and health and training played the biggest role.

ThinkBIG! News

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Small Steps Lead to Big Health StridesBy Anne Lampton, Wellness Coordinator

We have all recently been charged with the worthwhile task of living healthier lives. Some of us may already be living fairly healthy lives, while most of us will probably admit to having one or more areas in which we could improve. And for others this challenge may seem so overwhelming we just don’t know where to begin. For all of us I think there is a lesson to be learned in one of the funniest movies from the early 1990s.

In the movie What About Bob, Bill Murray is a patient with every possible insecurity and phobia in the world. He has his initial appointment with a new psychiatrist who gives him great hope at making progress. However Bob is upset to learn that his new doctor will soon be on vacation for a month and he will have to make do without him. Terrified at the thought of surviving without his counselor, Bob ends up tracking down the doctor’s family and tagging along on their summer vacation. This, of course, leads to many disastrous and funny situations.

You are probably wondering how we can learn anything of value from this silly movie that will help us in our quest for better health. The catch phrase in What About Bob is “baby steps.” Bob’s psychiatrist was always reminding him to take small steps to overcome his fears. Sometimes we forget that big, lasting changes in society, ourselves, and our health are most often the result of small, incremental steps rather than major hard-to-accomplish changes. So as we all set out together to make some changes let’s keep in mind that “baby steps” are the best way to get lasting, lifetime results.

Below are some simple steps to help you move more, eat less, and look and feel better than ever.

Purge your pantry/fridge – Stop stocking your pantry with tempting foods that you tend to overindulge in. If you love ice cream try replacing your at-home stock with low-fat frozen yogurt, sherbet, or one of the many varieties of low-fat ice cream bars available. Switch out your high fat chips for pretzels, popcorn, baked chips, or whole-grain crackers. Its fine to occasionally indulge in the high fat options, but when you do: eat slowly, watch your portion size, and enjoy it. Plus, if you have to go out to get the high fat options you’ll find that you’re eating them much less often than if you had easy access at home.

Purge your closet – You could be using your too-large clothing as a crutch in case you gain more weight. Don’t give yourself an excuse to slip back into bad habits and bigger clothing sizes. Get rid of anything that’s too big for you right now that is still in your closet or drawers. These items can be donated to a local shelter or you can even

make some extra money selling them at a garage sale.

Pick up a pen each time you eat or drink– According to recent studies, people who keep a daily food journal lose twice as much weight as those who don’t . The log helps you be mindful of how much you are actually consuming which in turn makes you more likely to practice portion control. The log also helps you identify your eating patterns. Do you skip meals? Do you mindlessly snack late at night? Do you binge when stressed? Identifying these patterns can help you figure out the changes you need to make.

Brown bag it at least once or twice a week – You’ll save thousands of calories and hundreds of dollars over the course of a year. Research shows that the more often a person eats out, the more body fat he or she has. When you make and eat your own food you not only control the quality and portion sizes but also reduce the amount of sugar, salt, and fat that you’re consuming which is almost always significantly higher in restaurants.

Get your ZZZZs – Tiredness could be the reason your cravings are out of control. Lack of sleep raises levels of ghrelin, a hunger-boosting hormone. Research from the University of Pennsylvania found even just a few nights of sleep deprivation can lead to almost immediate weight gain. Get back in control by going to bed earlier to get the recommended 7 to 9 hours a night.

Up your water intake – Hunger and thirst are easy to confuse. Sometimes your body is really trying to send you the message it is thirsty, but you interpret it as hunger. Additionally, people who drink about 7 cups of water a day eat nearly 200 fewer calories than those who get less than one glass of water a day. If 7 cups sounds like a lot to work in try this: drink 1 cup with each meal and each snack, have some before and after your workout, drink it throughout the day at your desk. To liven up plain water, add sliced lemon, lime, orange, cucumber, or even a low-calorie drink mix.

Walk 5 minutes more every day – Increasing daily activity levels by just a few minutes at a time helps you lose weight. Eventually your goal should be to do at least 30 minutes of physical activity a day, but it doesn’t have to be all at once. Find ways to work in small bouts of exercise throughout the day. Some simple ways to get moving: Take a walk around the block at lunch or dinner, move in place when you are on the phone, do jumping jacks or crunches during TV commercials, choose the stairs rather than the elevator, go through the entire mall instead of parking near the entrance to the particular store you need.

Please look for more Puckett Prescription wellness tips, articles, and newsletters to come!

Puckett Today

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Puckett Today

The PMC Family

Puckett Today

Kellar, nephew of Gerald Tindle, Parts Inventory Control, shows off the bass he caught in July in the Mississippi Delta

Allen Al-Suwaidi, Outside Sales Rep at PRH thinks his daughter, Maris Violet’s(8 months) future looks bright

David Ward, PMCJ Sales Shop Tech and proud father of Kaeli Ariunna Ward, age 7 and Dorien O’Conner Ward, age 2 months

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Puckett Today

Richland High School 2011 graduate Trey Miles signed a soccer scholarship with Meridian Community College. Pictured with Trey are his dad, Bobby Miles, Tech at the Component Rebuild Shop at PMCJ and his stepmom, Jennifer.

Ellie Marie Burke is the 2-month old grandaughter of the very proud Sid Burke, PPSJ Field Service Tech

Richard Wilson, Parts Manager at D-M is the beaming grandfather of Caitlyn Fletcher Cater, 2 months

Shelby Farlow, PRH Driver and 5 month old miracle grandchild, Zoey Jane Hitchcock. Zoey Jane was born December 28, 2010 and was delivered by a special procedure in order to remove a tumor that had formed in her mouth. Zoey Jane is healthy now!

The PMC Family

Phyllis Malone congratulates her granddaughter, Alix Chandler 2011 honor graduate from Parkview Baptist Academy in Baton Rouge, LA and now a happy freshman at the University of Colorado in Boulder!

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Puckett Today

UPDATE: Puckett Global ServicesBy Ben Puckett, Manager of Service Operations

Congratulations to Chad Beard, PR Biloxi Branch ManagerBy Michele C. Bunch, Director of Human Resources

After a stellar career as an Outside Sales Rep for Puckett Rents Biloxi, Chad Beard became the PR Biloxi Branch Manager in April of 2008. In high school, Chad announced to his friends that he would be working for Caterpillar one day. And today, his wife Amanda has recently commented how fortunate he is to be working in the field that is also his passion. For Chad the only aspect of his transition which has been a challenge is “taking care of his customers from a management verses a pure sales perspective.”

8000 miles from home on Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan is a group of 8 guys supporting the US Army’s and Navy’s efforts in Operation Enduring Freedom. Our PGSI employees are accomplishing this this by the maintaining and repairing of Caterpillar equipment. This CAT equipment is used for every application imaginable including setting up a small Forward Operating Base in a remote area, to the clearing of fields of land mines and building roads, bridges and other infrastructure. To say the least, these pieces of equipment experience rough conditions and long use. As the Army puts it, the employees of Puckett Global Services are here to ‘get the tractors back in the fight.’

The repair facility is one of only two like it in the world. Repairing equipment isn’t an easy task, but repairing equipment in Afghanistan

in the middle of a war takes this challenge to a whole new level. All the tractors are heavily armored and all the replacement parts available fit in a shipping container; both factors adding considerable complexity to the repair.

Our PGSI staff has prevailed and they have delivered 11 machines since the first group hit the ground on January 17, 2011 and every machine has passed its rigorous quality inspection the first time! This is the mark of a top-notch group consistently producing work they can be proud of and the US Military can rely on.

Currently the PGSI Team consists of Charles Felsher, Danny Bales, Ronnie Kirkland Jeff Young, Mitch Harris, Deron Lunceford, Wayne Harrell and Don Pigot. Thank you for your work and commitment to this meaningful effort!