Headquartered in Cleveland, Tennessee Santek Waste Services is adding another 50 jobs to its 330-employee roster after picking up a contract for services in the Birmingham, Alabama market.
Things have come a long way from the small waste disposal start-up that had one truck and one client back in 1999. Santek today services about 15,000 commercial, industrial and residential customers across southeast Tennessee and northwest Georgia.
The company's mobile fleet consists of 50 trucks that, just on the collection side, provide 21,000 services a week. Santek also operates five solid waste landfills, three transfer facilities and a construction and demolition facility in various parts of Tennessee and Georgia.
And watching and managing the logistics of it all have never been easier for the company's top executives, thanks to the dramatic innovations technology has produced since Santek first came online.
"Twenty-five years ago, you had very little knowledge when you routed the trucks, where they really were," says Tim Watts, chief operating officer at Santek.
But today, there are GPS trackers in every Santek truck, so officials back at HQ can not only see what truck is where, they can view the information in real time.
"Live information," says Watts.
Technology has also changed the trucks themselves, and consequently, the skills necessary to operate one.
Gone are the days of the old rear-load truck with one person driving and another hanging off the back, picking up trash cans street-side and tossing them in the back.
Santek today largely employs a fleet of trucks with boom arms that can be operated with a joystick from inside the cabin, meaning the driver can swing the arm out and remove the need for a rider. This reduces the possibility of injuries and worker's comp claims.
"I think cost and competition have driven the changes," says Watts. "You're always looking for a way to make your equipment more productive."
He says Santek's top officials remain vigilant about emerging technologies and tools that can make waste collection safer, cleaner and more cost-effective.