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By Jon Dalberg - Genie Commodity Manager, Terex AWP

I started my career with Genie in 1998. Soon after that, I became the Hydraulics Buyer for Genie^®  Big Booms in Building #3. Early on in my Genie career, I learned that in the Genie culture we didn't take "no" or "can't" as answers to a problem. For example, in 1999-2000 we started work with a new cylinder supplier out of South Korea. Early on there were challenges with day-to-day work flows as we got to know each other. On one occasion, the Port of Seattle and Department of Agriculture put a hold on all shipments from the port to the suppliers warehouse due to the wood our supplier was using. The correct documentation wasn't available showing that the wood had been fumigated. We were told by the supplier that we couldn't have the parts and that they would have to return to South Korea or go through full fumigation in Seattle which would take weeks. Early that morning, I was told our line would be down after lunch, and I needed to get cylinders. The supplier said it "can't" be done. I contacted the Port of Seattle and they said "no." I called the Department of Agriculture and they said "no." After some brainstorming, I called back and asked if we could take the cylinders and leave the wooden pallets behind. They agreed that the parts were steel and were not an issue. The parts were in quarantine on a truck at Harbor Island. I worked with our traffic team to have a driver and flatbed truck on site by 10:00 a.m. I had the truck driver bring old S-40 boom extension cylinder packaging so we had a way to protect the paint, hard lines and valves on the cylinders. Shane Wagner and I drove to Seattle to do the transfer from truck to truck. We had the Genie driver park his truck side-by-side, and we lifted the cylinders one-by-one off of the quarantined truck onto the Genie truck. These cylinders weigh about 190 lb and are about 16 ft in length. Stepping over pallets, over gaps between the trucks and around holes in the flatbeds themselves was challenging. But, it was all worth it. The plant didn't skip a beat. The supplier brought in new shipments with proper paperwork and fumigation certificates, and we kept building. We didn't take "no" and "can't" as final answers and found a way to make things work out.