Posted yesterday at 9:00 a.m.
When asked about his company’s biggest current challenges, Groupe Morneau President André Morneau immediately mentions recruitment.
“We currently have 60 positions to fill, that is to say about ten administrative positions and about fifty drivers. As we employ around 900 drivers, it’s not dramatic, and we can continue to operate, but it’s still a significant shortfall,” he says. Training is the solution he puts forward for now.
Groupe Morneau, for example, welcomes students that it trains itself to become drivers and forklift operators. This flexible learning formula, called alternating work-study (ATE), allows companies to train future employees in collaboration with training schools.
PHOTO KARÈNE-ISABELLE JEAN-BAPTISTE, SPECIAL COLLABORATION
Forklift operators at work at the Anjou warehouse
“We also recruit internationally,” says André Morneau. We have about ten drivers who have arrived recently and we are expecting about fifteen very soon. »
However, these solutions are only a first step. Groupe Morneau wants to continue to develop in-house training. “The ATE is the beginning, specifies the president. But we want to set up our own training school to teach the forklift and driver trades. This is a project that we would like to complete within five years. »
PHOTO KARÈNE-ISABELLE JEAN-BAPTISTE, SPECIAL COLLABORATION
Longshoreman inside the warehouse
Difficult supply
Delays and delays in supply chains also affect logistics players. At Groupe Morneau, for example, it is very difficult to get your hands on heavy vehicles and other rolling stock.
There are delays in deliveries because the manufacturers themselves are experiencing delays in obtaining parts and components. So there are significant delays. We have, for example, delays of six to eight months in our tractor orders.
André Morneau, President of Groupe Morneau
For new orders, the deadlines increase to 12 or 13 months. On top of that, prices also surged. As for used equipment, prices have increased by 50%, reports the president.
“So we stretch the equipment we already have,” he says. In response to the situation, the company opened a new maintenance center to keep its current equipment in good working order.
“We opened a new workshop in Toronto a month ago,” explains André Morneau. We have no choice but to keep alive the equipment we currently have in hand. There are no other solutions at this time. To get a fleet at auction, the prices are astronomical. »
The Morneau Group in brief
Transport terminals: 23 in Eastern Canada
Employees: 1500
Equipment: 1600 (550 vehicles, 1050 trailers)