26 Oregon Trucking Association, Inc. Oregon Truck Dispatch “I’m a really creative person, so I like to find ways to solve problems in the industry and in my business,” said Heather. That creativity became even more important in recent years as the truck driver shortage that so many trucking companies are facing nearly put Zwald Transport out of business. “We were really struggling getting drivers, running skeleton crews six days a week,” said Heather. “We’re hauling milk, and not hauling is not an option, so everyone was—and still is—working a lot.” Heather went to her risk manager and said, “We have to come up with a solution.” Heather had seen how big trucking companies were able to create driver training programs to develop their own workforce internally. The question was how they could do the same thing without the resources and infrastructure of a large, national trucking company. “I went to our economic development center in town and asked if they thought the community college would be interested in taking on this type of program,” said Heather. In 2018, Heather and others in the community helped start the Commercial Truck Driving (CDL) program at Tillamook Bay Community College and they have already seen a lot of success from the program. The Truck Driver Training Program consists of four weeks of training including both classroom and driving time, as well as time on the stateof-the-art truck driving simulator that prepares students for local, high-wage jobs. To date, 98 percent of students who have completed the course have gone on to earn their CDL. One hundred sixtyseven CDL students have passed out of the program and Zwald Trucking has hired about 30 of those graduates. “I’m super proud of the program,” said Heather. “It has been huge for our community. Essentially, we were losing our workforce because people would decide they wanted to get their CDL and no one could hire anyone who didn’t have driving experience, so they were going to the valley to be trained and would end up with a two-year contract over there. We just kept losing people.” Heather says the new program has provided a path for people who don’t want to move away from Tillamook, who want to stay in the community and be home every night. “This has created a pathway for people to do that and stay in our community,” said Heather, who says her next goal is to start a diesel technician program because “that has become the new driver shortage.” Under the leadership of Heather’s husband and long-time Shop Manager, Mike Taksdal, Zwald Transport is in the process of building a new shop and would like to work with Tillamook Bay Community College to use that space to train technicians and expand the workforce on the coast. Heather believes that the community college partnerships she has helped develop are programs that could be replicated across the state and has talked with other OTA members about ways they can use a similar model to help with workforce development in their own communities. Thanks to her successful partnership with Tillamook Bay Community College, Heather now serves on OTA’s Workforce Policy Committee and on North Oregon Works, her local state workforce board. “I’m a really creative person, so I like to find ways to solve problems in the industry and in my business,” said Heather. Member Feature, cont.
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