A. Duie Pyle marks 100 years
A. Duie Pyle, a family-owned transportation and logistics provider based in West Chester, Pa., celebrates its 100th anniversary in 2024. We asked Peter Latta, the company’s chairman and CEO, to share his thoughts on what it means to reach this major milestone.
Family Business: To what do you attribute your success?
Peter Latta: We are grateful to the Pyle people, both those that came before us and our 4,000-member team today, who have over the years risen to and overcome the multitude of challenges any business, particularly a family-owned business, faces over the course of 10 decades. We are a service business, and the Pyle people are the most important element of the success the company has achieved. I believe the strong embracement of Pyle’s six core values by our team members creates the enduring and unique Pyle culture, which in turn earns the mutual trust that brings forward the discretionary effort of the Pyle people. Over the years, the engagement of the Pyle people has been our most important strategic competitive advantage.
FB: What are the biggest challenges you’ve faced in your 100 years?
PL: There are many!! To name just a few before my time: The Great Depression; the unprecedented challenges of World War II; and the rise in power and influence of organized crime within the Teamsters Union, which once dominated the trucking industry. More recently during my time, I would include a 14-week Teamsters strike at Pyle in 1979 that nearly put us out of business but for the courage of 25 strikers who resigned from the union, crossed the picket line at their own risk and peril, and then voted the Teamsters out in a decertification election. A few other noteworthy challenges would include deregulation of the motor carrier industry that started in 1980 and resulted in 57 of the top 60 motor carriers in 1980, along with thousands of smaller carriers, ceasing operations; and a ransomware attack in 2019 that took our systems out from under us. Last but not least, who will ever forget the COVID pandemic?
FB: When you look back, what makes you most proud?
PL: I am most proud of the fact during my generation of the family business, we have stayed true to our core values and enjoyed healthy expansion and profitable growth during three decades of extreme turbulence in our industry stemming from the 1980 deregulation. At the same time, we have provided our dedicated, hardworking and loyal Pyle people with great job stability and good compensation programs that have allowed them to provide well for their families and contribute to the communities in which they reside.
FB: What advice do you have for other family businesses who may be limping toward 100 years?PL: As a family-owned business, never forget that there are two businesses that both require attention: the business-of-the-business and the business-of-the-family. Both have mutual dependencies, and neglect of either will derail both. The second lesson learned would be the importance of ensuring a compatible set of values is shared among the emerging owners, as a large divergence in values will be a source of dispute and undermine sustainability of the family business. As Abraham Lincoln cautioned, “A house divided against itself cannot stand.”
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