If I had to pick one word to define 2019, it would be “Awesome”.
adjective: awesome
- extremely impressive or daunting; inspiring great admiration, apprehension, or fear.
The oldest meaning of awesome is of “something which inspires awe”.
As a nation, this last year has given us some extreme highs and lows politically, socially, and emotionally. It has been a year of constant change and transformation. We have seen huge advances in technology and medicine, from the breakthroughs in the fight against AIDS and Malaria, to the large-scale production of luxury electric cars and delivery drones.
As we close out the second decade of the twenty-first century, let’s take a look at some of the promises met and exceeded, and some of the dreams that are still in process.
- Scientists are on the cusp of commercializing the first personalized cancer vaccine.
- Apple released an FDA-cleared ECG feature, embedded in the Apple watch itself, that can detect atrial fibrillation, a frequent cause of blood clots and stroke.
- Google published a research paper describing a breakthrough in quantum computing, saying that an experimental quantum processor they’d developed had completed a calculation in just a few minutes that would take a traditional supercomputer thousands of years.
- In October, the UK Government reported that wind power was cheaper than gas for the first time. In Scotland, wind farms had supplied 200% of the country’s energy demand for the first six months of the year. The United Kingdom is on track to produce one third of all its power from wind by 2030.
- Advances in blockchain and distributed ledger computing technologies permit those engaged with the food supply chain to intently monitor and track the journey of nourishment, from seed to plate.
2019 also saw great loss, from whole communities to major wildfires and floods. And despite promises from Uber, Google, and others, self-driving technology has failed to meet the original claims of proponents. While there have been major advances, several highly publicized safety incidents involving autonomous vehicles the last few years have chilled the auto industry’s self-driving aspirations.
We saw almost 800 trucking companies failed. That’s 24,000 trucks removed from our nation’s transportation capacity. While volume continues to increase year-over-year across every vertical in the trucking transportation industry, many smaller outfits have been driven out of business by thinner profit margins and increasing competition from major players.
So, where do we stand?
Another Decade of Diversified Transfer & Storage:
During our 31 years in business, DTS has remained competitive through a combination of innovation and old-fashioned customer service.
In 2019 alone:
- We continued to expand our fleet while simultaneously replacing any vehicle older than two years.
- We’ve improved driver recruiting and retention.
- We replaced our TMS and brokerage systems with new integrated platforms, providing better communication and tracking, and cost control capabilities.
- We have expanded our pallet shop, adding 20,000 square feet.
- We’ve continued to grow our operations in Denver/Aurora and Salt Lake City.
So far for 2020:
- We’re continuing construction at our Billings headquarters to include expanded office space.
- We are expanding our Salt Lake City operations and continue to make improvements to our Denver operation, welcoming new management.
- Here’s to another great decade of Diversified Transfer & Storage!
- We’ll see you in 2020, when we’ll look forward to having you as a part of our DTS Family.
