Undercover Boss (2010) s02e15 Episode Script
Mack Trucks
Male announcer: Americans are worried about the economy.
Many of them wonder if our corporate and elected leaders have the answers to our problems.
In these tough times, some bosses are taking radical steps to discover how to improve their companies.
Each week, we follow the head of a major organization as they work undercover alongside their own staff.
This week, the President and CEO of Mack Trucks, one of the most historic manufacturers of heavy-duty trucks in the world, poses as an unemployed subcontractor looking for a new line of work.
- Roger, how are you? - Hi, nice to meet you, Roger.
Welcome to Mack Truck.
- You ready to get started? - Yeah, anytime.
Bang it.
Come on, hit it.
You're a minute and ten seconds in the hole.
Slow, slow, slow, slow down.
Whoa.
Ah, ah, ah.
No! By working on the front line, he'll find out what needs improving in the business.
They shut our plant down.
Just going from place to place firing people.
How will his coworkers react when they find out he's really the boss? And how will it change their lives? So when we're number one looking back at everybody, let's remember this day.
Find out next on Undercover Boss.
Mack Trucks, an iconic American brand, has been building vehicles in the United States for more than 100 years.
More than 5,000 employees make Mack Trucks the second largest manufacturer of heavy-duty trucks in the world.
Overseeing this $4 billion corporation is one man.
I'm Denny Slagle.
I'm President and CEO of Mack Trucks.
The company was founded in 1900 by the Mack brothers.
Mack Trucks is truly an American brand.
We've been in all the wars.
It really got its name in terms of the Mack bulldog during World War I.
The British soldiers saw the shape of its hood and the performance and started to call them Bulldog Macks because they were able to plow through anything.
And Mack has been sort of interwoven with American industrial history since everything from the Hoover Dam to the Empire State Building to the World Trade Center at 9/11.
My mom and dad were very simple people from the mountains of North Carolina.
I lived in a neighborhood where my house was 100 yards from the city dump.
We didn't have a lot, but it never felt like we were without.
My dad was an army veteran.
He taught me the values of hard work, honesty, and a basic belief in the American dream.
Mack Trucks was acquired by Volvo in 2002.
And then being part of the Volvo group, I came to Mack Trucks in early 2008.
It's almost like a call to duty.
I grew up with Mack Trucks, my father was in construction, so we had Mack Trucks then.
And so I really felt honored and an awesome responsibility to take on this great American brand.
We suffered during the last three of four years in the latest economic downturn.
There was also cost pressures brought about by some of our competitors moving south of the border.
So we had to make some tough decisions.
We moved some jobs, we consolidated some operations, and we leaned up.
You lose some good people, but you learn from that, you get stronger, and that's what I'm hoping happens with Mack Truck.
Is it good, ? You want to put some sprinkles? No, no, no, put it on the-- it's a cupcake.
I love being with my family.
I love my grandchildren.
Okay.
It should be interesting to see the kind of things he does when he's undercover.
Hopefully he won't embarrass his family too much.
These are my steel-toed shoes.
Going undercover gives me a unique opportunity.
I'm sort of doing a health check on this organization because once you make these very difficult decisions, it's necessary to look after the survivors.
See you, baby.
See you.
Have a good week.
I want to hear what's on their minds.
Not everything I hear is gonna be right or able to be implemented.
But by hearing it, I think it'll help the company get better.
My cover story is I'm Roger Donovan, an unemployed subcontractor trying to start a new career.
My coworkers are being told they're involved in a program where a man and a woman compete for the same job at Mack Trucks.
Well, first morning, the first day.
I'm ready to go.
I feel good.
The disguise seems a bit nerve-racking.
I believe the last time I had a disguise was a toga party in 1977.
Hopefully it'll work.
The engine is the heart of the truck, so today I want to go undercover in our Hagerstown facility where all of our Mack Truck engines are built.
The Hagerstown plant has gone through major upgrades.
They've made a lot of changes to ensure good quality.
So I hope to find not only that the engines are coming together well, but also I'm interested to see how well the employees are taking up with this quality movement.
Hi.
How you doing? - I'm Roger.
How are you? - Great.
Tracy.
Okay, so I'm gonna train you to do my job.
We're gonna have a wonderful day.
This is an 11-liter engine.
What I do is I put the front cover on that engine.
These guys move on their own, huh? Yes.
Don't worry, they won't hit you.
They have sensors on them.
Wow.
- So they'll stop.
- Pretty wild.
What I want you to do is everything that I do.
First thing that I do when my engine comes in is scan it.
And now the time is gonna start.
We've got two minutes and 34 seconds.
All righty.
Then I get this cover.
These things drip a lot of oil.
Okay.
This was my idea.
I saw it in paint.
And they used to use these so they didn't get paint on these heads.
And I just tuck that in.
I'm gonna grease this.
This is very important.
Okay.
If you don't grease this, it's gonna leak.
And then I'll be in trouble.
Then I'm gonna go back over here.
This is my robot.
This is the front cover.
It puts the sealant on.
The dull part is gonna go inside.
The sharp part is gonna come out.
You're gonna take this and you're gonna put it right here just like that.
Right.
Do not put your hand inside of this hole.
You can hold it here and there.
There's a seal right in here.
You don't wanna break the seal.
If it breaks, it's gonna leak, and that'll be a problem.
And I'm gonna grab this apparatus.
I call it an apparatus 'cause they didn't give me a name for it.
It's gonna attach itself to it.
Push it in just like that.
We used to push them by hand, and we were getting defects.
So they came up with that.
Then you want to clean the excess sealant off up here.
Okay.
Make sure you get all that off.
And once it moves out of my station, then another one is gonna come in.
And then you just start all over again.
'Cause I have to keep moving.
The line has to go.
I'm supposed to do You think you got it? No.
But I think with a little help I could maybe try one.
- I trust you.
- All right.
You got it.
I have faith in you.
All right.
And then you want to tuck that side in.
All right, and then we're gonna-- You're gonna scan it.
Once you scan it, the time starts.
It's just remembering the process is so important.
Okay, whoa, almost knocked your thing off.
That wouldn't have been good.
That's okay.
And then apparatus thingy.
Yeah, apparatus.
- You see what you're doing? - What? You're putting your finger on the plastic ring.
Don't do that.
We don't want to break the seal.
Ah, darn it.
You are the supplier for the people in front of you.
And those guys are waiting.
They don't have anything to do but wait on you.
And management, when you got them waiting and you got engines back here, they're looking at you also.
If that leaks, then I'm gonna say, "Roger did that.
" No! Oh, my.
Did I screw it up? Dien! He was about to push it in with his hand.
Okay.
That's Dien.
He's our coordinator.
Looking at you like, why are we so far behind? Fix it? Oh, you're in the hole.
Oh, boy.
Uh-oh, it didn't like something.
Ah, ah, ah.
You see what you just did? You're right, you're right.
Yeah, you're right.
I'm sorry to say, "ah, ah, ah," but-- No, you're right.
You're a minute and ten seconds in the hole.
This is pressure.
This is stress.
You have to keep a lot of things together in your head.
Uh-oh.
You hit that twice.
Start it, start it.
You have got to clean this.
You have to stay focused and concentrating and use that grey matter as well as your hands.
You have got to calm down.
I know, I am.
You gonna have an aneurysm.
No, I'm not.
So you do this all day and go home to-- All day.
Everybody can't do this.
Yeah, no, you're right.
I'm here to attest to that.
Everybody-- everybody can't do it.
It's repetitious.
You do the same thing over and over and over again.
I love it.
I don't wanna have to worry about my job.
Yeah.
I worry enough about the goings-on outside of my job.
So when I come in here, I actually have more tranquility.
I had a heart attack in 2006.
- No, you didn't.
- Yes, I did.
I flatlined about a month after I turned 46 years old.
Yeah, I worked in Mack Truck in Winnsboro, South Carolina.
They shut the plant down.
And I guess I internalized a lot of issues.
So that's why this is a calming thing for me to do the same thing all the time.
Everything else I tend to worry about.
I don't want this to worry about.
That's why I told my kids, "please don't have any grandkids.
"I don't want any, 'cause I'll worry about 'em, and it'll stress me out.
" - It's break time.
- Oh, good.
So you said you worked in South Carolina? So you're from there? And you came up here as-- Came up here to work.
I had to come.
So you like the Hagerstown area? - I like home.
- Yeah.
You know? I like home.
I think we all do.
I was off almost two years.
Makes you think about how people-- how cold people can be.
Just going from place to place firing people.
It's-- unfortunately too much of that going on.
Too much.
Prayerfully, things gonna get better.
I'm optimistic.
It has to.
I got three kids out there.
They gotta make their way too.
I have kids and grandchildren.
I know what you mean.
Tracy was one of the ones that worked in Winnsboro when we closed the plant.
So you got all family down there? Everybody.
When you decide on things that affect literally thousands of people's lives, no doubt that's been the hardest.
And I knew with every business cell in my body that it was the right decision, but my heart hurt with it.
Time to go back to work.
All righty.
See how good you're doing now? Oh, yeah.
Of course I am helping you.
Oops.
Dien! Coming up, all eyes are on the boss.
You have to pick up the pace.
Boss man just get on you.
Yeah, yeah.
I call him the warden.
And later, Denny's coworker breaks down.
Our special needs grandkids.
They're missing an enzyme in their body.
So it's killing them.
Denny Slagle, the President and CEO of Mack Trucks, is a boss undercover within his own company.
No! You want to grease that up good.
His employees think he's part of a reality show where a man and a woman compete to see who does the better job.
There you go.
Charlotte listened and she did it.
Don't bring Roger up in here.
I'm not gonna lie.
Bring Charlotte in.
She can do it by herself.
Train her good, and she'll do what she's supposed to do.
His journey continues in Baltimore, Maryland.
We're here at the Baltimore parts distribution center.
These parts warehouses supply parts to dealers, who in turn get it to the customers.
If a truck is down, the customer isn't making money.
They rely on that truck in order to put food on their table.
So it's vital that we bring the right parts at the right time to the customers to get that truck back up and running.
Hi, Mike.
I'm Roger.
Hi, Roger.
Nice to meet you.
Nice to meet you.
How you been? Well, the Yankees are up two to nothing.
Pirate fan, and I don't have much to cheer about anymore.
You're not an Oriole fan? No, I live in Hagerstown.
- And you drive down to here? - Yeah, it's an hour.
Hour and 15 minutes.
Oh, my gosh.
- You ready to get started? - Yeah, anytime.
I sure am.
Now you're not a Steeler fan on top of being a Pirate-- Absolutely.
I was born 20 miles from Pittsburgh.
- Oh, my goodness.
- I love football.
I coached youth leagues for 17 years.
Did you really? I got a kid that plays for the Miami Dolphins right now, third-string quarterback.
Before I even get on a truck, I'll look it over.
- Right.
- This is your steering.
This is your power.
You want to stop in an emergency, just pull off.
And then we'll-- gotta check my horn.
You don't wanna lay on it, make people mad.
And these things will turn on a dime.
Feel safe? Okay, you pick up your first order.
Basically what you need to know today is the location, the part number, and the quantity.
Right.
So we're gonna head to 10-13-15-A.
So you're moving a lot of parts through here, aren't you? Oh, yes, we are.
"Built like a Mack.
" Well, maybe 20 years ago.
- Is that right? - Yep.
- Okay.
- This is where we're at.
What you gotta do first, you gotta scan that ticket.
Okay, and then you scan the part number.
- All right.
- And it's gonna ask you to scan the location, and that's the location.
Then I'll bring it out.
We'll stick, uh, right there.
Okay, and then it's telling us our next one's 26.
You want to give it a try? I'll try it, yeah.
All right, here I go.
I'm gonna just do that.
And I'm going straight.
Watch where you're going.
And I'm--whoops, I didn't do that well, did I? Turned too hard.
Keep it to the side so you can make that turn and get in straight.
All right, and easy on that horn.
Don't blow their ears out.
Slow, slow, slow, slow down.
Slow down, dude.
Roger made me very nervous and a little shaky.
Go on straight down there.
- Okay, go straight? - Yeah.
Oh, you're driving me nuts, Roger.
Roger would drive me to drinking.
I'd have to have a drink after work if I had to train him all day.
Sorry, I'm just getting my feel for it.
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
Slow down.
Yeah.
That's 32.
All right, and then I'm going up.
Yeah.
This is pretty high.
Now I can actually feel us wiggling a little bit.
Well, that's all right.
It's just we're up so high in the air.
Oh, boy, this is high.
I got these two puppies here.
- They go in a bag.
- I'm gonna put 'em in a bag.
All right, just go on down.
You have to pick up the pace.
Boss man just get on you.
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, here comes one of the guys.
- I call him the warden.
- Really? We got this order done.
Now we gotta get it to the packing line.
Let's do it.
You just send this down the line.
All right.
I'm gonna send you on your own to go get this-- - No way.
- Yeah way.
Good luck.
Yeah, thank you.
I'll need it.
All right.
All right.
He's been gone and he's only two aisles away.
- 29-35.
Gotta make sure it's right.
What? What? Error? I'd say go back to the unemployment line.
Whoa! I got to drive the forklift.
It's a much harder, more complicated job than I had imagined.
Where in the hell you been? Took you kinda long.
All right, let's go eat some lunch.
We're gonna park this-- sounds like a winner to me.
Huh.
- Where are we? - I usually sit right here.
Right over here.
How's that bumping around? Does it bother you? Yeah, I think I'll do better next time.
How many people work here? How long you been at Mack? I've been doing this for a long time, Oh, okay.
'77 I got hired, and my little brother got hired.
That's 50 years next year.
All part of the Mack-- Family.
And then Volvo bought us, and it's just not the same anymore.
Oh, okay.
Everything keeps changing.
Yeah, it does.
I had five acres all set up to build a house on.
- Right.
- That have been paid for.
Right.
We were there 15 years, then they closed it when Volvo bought us out.
Okay.
Who's looking out for us? We've got 12 people on layoff here, and they were all offered a job in Macungie.
Only two of them took it.
Really? Nah.
Well, a lot of the rumors I've heard in the past have come true.
Facebook? You're on Facebook? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah, I love it.
Mike's been with Mack for 35 years, bless him.
He's been brought up in sort of the old school.
And I think that this is part of, you know, sort of an "us and them" that I'd rather not see.
It is something we just need to work on here, and we've got to make sure they have the right information and good information so that they can form a better bond with not just themselves but with the company.
Will you be my Facebook friend? Yeah.
End of another day.
I was a little disappointed that they weren't more sort of bonding with the company.
People were worried, are we moving? Are we going south of the border? There is a very competitive world.
You have to make the decisions that are best for our shareholders and all the people that rely on us.
It's a heavy weight, it's a heavy burden.
Coming up, Denny learns how to manhandle a Mack.
We gotta put the hood down.
Bang it.
Hit it like a Mack.
And later, the boss summons his employees to headquarters.
I think Roger knew he couldn't hack it.
Denny Slagle, the President and CEO of Mack Trucks, is a boss undercover within his own company.
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
Slow down.
His employees think he's part of a reality show where a man and a woman compete to see who does the better job.
We're gonna pull that part first.
- Okay.
- Just take it easy.
All right, so we're going to aisle four.
His journey continues in Macungie, Pennsylvania.
Today I'm in Macungie.
I'm gonna be on the assembly line.
As a result of regulations introduced just this year, we've had to do a huge upgrade to our emissions control technology.
Hi, Allan? Yeah.
- Roger, how are you? - Hi, nice to meet you, Roger.
Welcome to Mack Truck.
Thank you.
So I'm looking forward to seeing how well they are being integrated in the manufacturing process.
We're gonna build D.
E.
F.
tanks.
It's diesel exhaust fluid tanks that are used in the exhaust system.
It'll cut down on emissions.
So basically our part is building the steel frame.
We have a back panel.
Okay.
We'll put our back panel on first, and throw it to the notch.
This is a bracket that will be used to hold a nut plate on.
Are you nervous? Yeah, a little bit.
That's okay.
At my last job, I didn't do so well.
Oh, we'll make sure we give you a good opportunity.
Now we're gonna do a side panel.
Here we use two small screws.
Sometimes I run my screws loose then tighten them later.
This is the hardest screw to get in.
You gotta push a little bit to get it started.
There you go.
All right.
I'd rather you learn how to build it then we'll work on speed and all that other stuff later.
That's probably smart.
Mack Truck's more concerned about quality.
And quality is what's gonna sell a truck, not speed.
I bring it in here.
I'm still holding onto it.
Grab my screw and hand-start it.
Okay.
All right, now we'll tighten all four of them up.
I'll let you have the honors.
Thank you.
Oop, wrong way.
That's not going in.
Here.
Agh.
We'll get it later.
Allan, he was a good teacher, but I just feel like all thumbs out there.
- Roger, over here.
- Oh, sorry about that.
These two.
That's fine.
I'm anxious to get it out there.
And that's all we're doing for this one.
I'm gonna let you build one on your own.
You're gonna build a 70-liter.
Okay.
Yeah, it goes this way.
Yes.
Now we'll do our side panel.
Okay.
All right, good.
I'm ahead of you.
I'm waiting on you.
I know, I noticed that.
How'd you do that? There you go.
Good.
We'll put our paperwork here, then we'll slide it down to the next person.
Okay.
One of the things I wanted to do is see how well this new D.
E.
F.
tank was being integrated in the production system.
I got very satisfied with that.
The assurance of quality was there, both from Allan's personal habits, and despite how I did it, it came together very well.
I'll show you what we do.
Take my gloves off.
Relax.
Hideaway seat.
Ahh, I see.
So you're trying to get in the workforce? Yeah, I was sort of a subcontractor.
Subcontractor, okay.
And things just stopped.
Oh, with the economy? Yes, yeah.
There's a little bit more work up here in the northeast.
Yeah, I hope so.
But still, then there's more off.
Yeah.
So do you have any hobbies? Mainly family and grandchildren.
Okay.
I, um, love 'em.
We have two daughters, both married.
That's--I'm sorry.
That's all right.
It's worth it.
That's our special needs grandkids.
Ah.
That's Waverly and Oliver.
Wow.
Oh, they're beautiful.
- They have a disease.
- Oh, what is it? M.
P.
S.
They, uh-- it's all right, man.
It's okay.
They have--it's called Sanfilippo Syndrome.
My daughter says it's like our bodies have little trash trucks, and they get rid of all our waste.
And they're missing an enzyme in their body.
And that enzyme doesn't get rid of any of their waste.
So it's killing them.
Is that-- How old are they? Waverly's seven.
Oliver is three.
All I can say is bless you, bless them.
Yeah.
Waverly and Oliver both were born with many problems.
And you go to the doctors, and they say, "try this, try that.
Wait for this, wait for that.
" And it's just as time goes on you go to the next doctor and he goes, "I think this is it or that's it.
" Wow, do you get enough help? Do you get-- Um, they're 24-hour care.
With a nurse? Yeah.
And that helps.
But in a year and a half, I think my wife's gonna retire, so she'll be really available.
His story about having to run through doctors to find out what-- what's wrong with the children is every parent's nightmare.
There's a lot of people that have situations in their lives that I don't think sometimes the bosses know or the coworkers.
And they carry a lot with them.
You know, I wish you had ways of help.
You know, like put a little flag on, "I need help today.
" Or "I need somebody to care for me today.
" They need to sit down and spend time with people, I guess.
- I have two grandchildren.
- Do you? Beautiful, and another one on the way.
Yeah.
So I'm with you on this.
Yeah, love 'em.
Spend time with them.
I will, I do.
And I'm gonna love them a little more.
That's good.
I'm certainly going to appreciate my children, my grandchildren a bit more after having met Allan.
You know, when we're in the workplace, we don't always recognize there are people with problems like Allan's facing in their private side.
And there probably is something we can do to organize and support each other and build on the family atmosphere.
- 45-liter tank.
- 45-liter.
Okay? Today I'm back in Macungie, and I'm gonna join the assembly line again.
After my time with Allan, I want to work in another department in the plant to make sure this area is running smoothly and see how they're feeling.
Looking for Jeff.
How you doing? - Good.
- What's your name? - Roger.
How 'bout you? - Tim, I'm Tim.
Jeff's not here right now.
Oh, okay.
I'm supposed to find-- Here he comes.
There's Jeff.
All right, Jeff may.
And your name? Roger Donovan.
Roger Donovan.
Roger Dodger.
Roger the Dodger.
I'm a technician.
My job is to put the bumpers on.
All right.
And then I have to put exhaust stacks on.
Okay, Roger.
This is a bumper here obviously.
See the holes here? Yep.
This is called a stone guard.
What we're gonna do is put nuts and bolts and washers on this stone guard.
We're not tightening it.
You take one of these.
Got it.
Now I don't know if you ever knew this, but every washer has a good side and a bad side.
That's the good side.
That's the customer side.
So it faces out.
Excellent.
I'm building a Mack Truck.
This is cool.
Right, exactly.
How long you been with Mack? I've been with Mack since December of '98.
December of '98, so I have 11 years, going on 12.
I belong to the Vermont chapter of the Bulldogs.
What it is, it's a group of guys that just have Macks.
How many do you have? I have 13 Macks right now.
- 13 Mack Trucks! - Yep.
All right, these bumpers, they're done.
We got that one, we're gonna put it on the truck here.
One of the difficult things is that truck is moving.
So that's a real big adjustment to be able to hold the nuts and the parts and whatever, and the truck is moving.
Okay, now we'll pick it up.
Aim for that hole.
Yep, put the nut on there.
If you have to, you hit it.
Remember, it's a Mack Truck.
You can-- you can mack it around.
You don't have to-- this isn't a kindergarten.
You can All right? All right, got it.
Now we gotta tighten it up.
Oops, you all right? Oops, yep.
When I was putting on the bumper, my gun slipped and just put a tiny little nick in the thing, and I thought, do I tell somebody? That's it.
You got it there, Roger Dodger.
That bumper is ready to go.
I didn't.
So I hope whoever gets that truck sees it as an autograph rather than a problem.
So this is when we build our stacks.
Okay, grab one of them pipes.
See the notches? That's the top.
We don't want the customer to get hurt, and it's sharp.
Notice the other end.
Beveled.
That's the bottom, down where you are.
We're gonna put it on here.
This is a tough one to build.
Shake it around till you get it, yep.
Trying to get it up to there but not all-- whoa.
Is that too much? We can move it.
Well, it's good to see these types of jobs, you manufacture or you build something.
It's hard to find that anymore.
We're grateful they're in America.
You know, that's the big deal.
Mack is the only one that's made everything Really? We're gonna put that stack on the truck here.
All right, you're grabbing the top.
Gotta angle it to get into this here.
Angle it a little towards you.
Towards you, angle the edge in there.
Okay, now slosh it around.
You're trying to get it down.
All the way down, that's it.
Wrong way.
You got the wrench the wrong way.
See, you gotta-- that's it.
Okay, beautiful.
This type of bumper we gotta put the hood down.
Bang it.
Hit it.
Hit it like a Mack.
All right.
This is the stone guard with the brush guard, that, and all of these.
Did good.
Okay, break.
We get an hour.
I'm not hungry, so don't worry about me.
- You're not hungry, huh? - Get something for yourself.
Well, okay then.
I don't know, maybe you can-- if you'd like, you could possibly come to my garage and you can see some of the-- I'd love that.
- Would you like to do that? - I'd really enjoy--thank you.
You gotta come out here in my truck.
Oh, you got a Mack pickup truck.
You might figure out which truck is mine, right? Favorite thing to say to my wife, she'll say, "where are you gonna be?" And I say, "honey, I'm either at work or I'm at my garage or I'm home.
" You know, that's better than being at a bar, right? Yeah, I can see-- and that's where I spend my time.
I like driving the trucks.
I've taken a Christmas tree from Vermont to Washington D.
C.
Wow.
The tree, the one in front of the capitol.
The last trip was so much fun 'cause we stopped at V.
A.
homes.
My truck had trees to give to the veterans.
God bless our veterans and the active duty, the ones that are there now.
These are the two buildings here, and then there's another building over there.
All right.
This is the main garage here, Roger.
This here is the first one I bought.
I don't think we're gonna get this one started.
It'll turn over, but we aren't gonna fire this up.
I won't test it.
I got a little problem that we're working on.
This is the bed that I replaced.
There's the winch.
I put the winch on.
So therefore when you get, you know, a sick dog, a sick bulldog, you can help it get up on the trailer, up on the ambulance.
Then you could see, I got a few parts here.
How do you get the parts when you need new parts? Funds are limited, so when you wanna buy things you gotta figure it out, you know what I mean? And anyway, this is an R700, okay? This is a 1970 Mack.
So this baby is 40 years old.
She's had a couple of engines put in her already, and this has about - Wow.
- So jump on up there, and we're gonna fire this thing up.
All right.
Throw it in neutral, if you can figure the neutral out there.
This is your engine stop, but it's in.
Fire it up.
Give it a little gas.
You're smoking it out here.
See it? Give it gas.
All right, we're gonna shut it down there.
Turning over that engine and watching him light up really sets the feelings, the emotions another level higher.
It's more than just a truck.
It's more than the brand.
It's something bigger and more meaningful.
Appreciate you coming down.
Okay, back to work.
Okay.
Well, my journey is just about over.
I really enjoyed meeting Jeff.
He really eats, sleeps, and breathes Mack.
I'm happy to say that I found spirit and pride.
Now I feel an awesome responsibility to make sure that the market understands the pride of these people and what they put into these products, and that's built here in the U.
S.
A.
The decisions I take in the future will be made with a little more empathy and a little more understanding or the consequences not just from a business standpoint but how they impact the lives and the community.
Coming up, Denny's employees think they're coming to company headquarters to cast their vote.
Charlotte's definitely more Mack material than Roger is.
But how will they react when he reveals the truth? Denny Slagle, CEO of Mack Trucks.
All the employees have been called to headquarters to supposedly vote for two people competing for the same job.
They have no idea what they're really here for.
I think Roger knew he couldn't hack it.
Charlotte's definitely more Mack material than Roger is.
How you doing? Good.
I'm Denny Slagle, CEO of Mack Trucks.
Okay, I've heard you and seen your picture.
I've never seen you in person.
We've met before.
- When did we meet? - You come around, you used to have the community meetings.
We also met last week.
I'm also Roger Donovan.
My, my, my.
Now I can see it.
I must train well.
I cast my vote, and you as Roger didn't do very well.
Is that right? Tracy, I enjoyed the way you go about your work from the standpoint of pride and quality-minded but at the same time having a little fun.
- Yeah.
- You came up with the idea for that oil-- Tracy's bonnet.
- Yeah.
- That's a good idea.
As you know, the factory has a regular innovation award, and you're gonna be the recipient for the next one.
Oh, thank you so much.
Oh, you're welcome.
And because I know there's only one place you really want to be, and if I remember right, that's South Carolina.
- Home.
- Well, what we'd like to do is allow you to have a week's vacation wherever you want in South Carolina.
And we're gonna rent a house big enough for your entire family.
And we'll make sure you're comfortable.
Oh, thank you so much.
It's amazing.
You think, is anybody gonna notice what I'm doing? And then you get appreciated.
I'm shaking.
It's wonderful.
Mike, I wanted to tell you a few things.
I know you raised some concerns, and I heard them.
- Morale is terrible there.
- Yeah.
It's bad when management wants me to retire and I don't want to retire.
That's a decision that, you know, I noted that.
Or at least I noted it through some of your comments.
But I've heard other employees complain.
This is, uh-- we consider it a family.
You know, Mike, we're part of the same team.
The guys that are working against us aren't in that warehouse.
They're out there trying to put us out of business.
Oh, absolutely.
I understand that.
I want to let you know that I hear you, and I'm planning to come to Baltimore, do a town hall at the end of this month.
There's not a lot of you.
Amen to that.
There's been people asked-- Let's flesh out some of these questions, and let's put real answers behind them so we're all looking at the same goal.
Thank you.
You know, things are picking up.
And you've had Yeah, and I enjoy it.
I thoroughly enjoy it.
That's good, and you've got a few more years to give us.
And one of the things we'd like to do is you love sports, as I do.
Yeah.
Mack would like to make a $5,000 donation in your name to the local Hagerstown athletic programs.
- Wow.
- On top of that, you mentioned you're a Pirates fan.
- Oh, yeah.
- Yeah.
As a penalty to you, we're going to take you and your family to a weekend in Pittsburgh for a Pirates game.
- Great.
- Take care.
Good to see you again.
I'll never forget this as long as I live.
That's the last thing in the world I was expecting.
And this is the biggest step in communicating with us workers that he could possibly do.
That's gonna pick the morale up right there.
Jeff, let me tell you, the craftsmanship that you emphasized in your job was an inspiration to me.
I love it.
It is a passion.
And I'll tell you, I'm really grateful for all the decisions people have made.
You know, some people might not like the idea we were bought by Volvo, and I said it's a partnership with a strong partner, and another 110 years, right? Another 110 years at least.
And it's that kind of dedication that's gonna keep us building trucks in America for a long time.
That's right.
And I was also greatly inspired by your stories of your care for the veterans.
And in your name we're going to donate $5,000 to the Fisher House Foundation, which is a foundation there to help out veterans.
That's just wonderful.
I mean, I don't know what to say.
Like, when we were on that trip with the Macks and you'd shake a veteran's hand, you want to cry.
We're proud to do it, and we're proud that we met you.
And one more thing I'm gonna do is give you a gift certificate for $5,000 to find-- Oh, my God, no, I can't accept that.
Well, no, this is helping us.
To buy Mack parts for your truck so that you can live up to your passion.
And we want to see those trucks that you redo get back up into mint condition.
We want to see them at future antique truck show.
I don't know what to say.
I just, uh-- thank you very much.
You know you can count on me out there, and we'll be building trucks.
I'm just, I'm-- I'm blown away is what it is.
To get these accolades, I'll never forget this in my life.
It's, uh--what do they say? Awesome.
Oh, it's awesome.
Allan, it's personally inspiring to see how joyful and positive your outlook is, particularly given the challenges you face with your grandchildren.
After my experience with you, I gave my grandchil-- I gave my grandchildren a little extra hug.
That's what it's about.
That's what it's about.
It touched me so much, and in order to thank you for being the employee you are, Mack is proud to offer a donation of $5,000 to the MPS Foundation in Oliver and Waverly's name to help them find a cure for this thing.
That's very appreciative.
I'm also gonna make sure that Mack makes an earmarked donation so that you can take those two beautiful grandchildren to Disney World, along with your extended family.
Thank you.
My pleasure.
And this is from my wife and I personally.
Just a little something to help defray your expenses for treatment or whatever it takes that might not be covered by the insurance, and just a way to personally say thank you.
Thank you so much.
This is from him personally.
Thank you.
We'll use it for the grandkids.
They have so many-- so many needs.
I want to personally address the company 'cause my eyes have been opened this past week, and I have a new perspective on things, and I want to share it with them.
Please welcome our President and CEO, Denny Slagle.
My name is Denny Slagle, and for the past week I've been undercover.
When I started my journey a week ago, I was very, very concerned about what I might find.
But I'm here to tell you that that pride, that bulldog toughness still exists with Mack Truck.
Now we're gonna have some fun, probably at my expense.
You gotta bang it.
Hit it like a Mack.
All right.
You see what you're doing? No! Oh, my.
Slow, slow, slow, slow down.
Whoops.
I'd have to have a drink after work if I had to train him all day.
The other thing I discovered was how important Mack is to the lives of our employees, our families, and the communities.
When Mack is doing well, the community is doing well.
We have built Mack Trucks in the U.
S.
A.
for 110 years.
Frankly, I can't imagine not building Mack Trucks in the U.
S.
A.
, despite what everybody says.
And when we're number one looking back at everybody, let's remember this day and let's think of all those people, those families, and those communities that we've helped by being successful and working harder.
Thank you.
I see the things that are happening in the economy today.
We had some of our competitors moving their operations to Mexico, creating a lower cost.
Our main goal is to keep jobs here in the U.
S.
A.
For the sake of our neighbors and for the sake of our grandchildren.
Come here, sweetie.
And we'll use skill and that determination and hard work to bring not only Mack back but America back.
Many of them wonder if our corporate and elected leaders have the answers to our problems.
In these tough times, some bosses are taking radical steps to discover how to improve their companies.
Each week, we follow the head of a major organization as they work undercover alongside their own staff.
This week, the President and CEO of Mack Trucks, one of the most historic manufacturers of heavy-duty trucks in the world, poses as an unemployed subcontractor looking for a new line of work.
- Roger, how are you? - Hi, nice to meet you, Roger.
Welcome to Mack Truck.
- You ready to get started? - Yeah, anytime.
Bang it.
Come on, hit it.
You're a minute and ten seconds in the hole.
Slow, slow, slow, slow down.
Whoa.
Ah, ah, ah.
No! By working on the front line, he'll find out what needs improving in the business.
They shut our plant down.
Just going from place to place firing people.
How will his coworkers react when they find out he's really the boss? And how will it change their lives? So when we're number one looking back at everybody, let's remember this day.
Find out next on Undercover Boss.
Mack Trucks, an iconic American brand, has been building vehicles in the United States for more than 100 years.
More than 5,000 employees make Mack Trucks the second largest manufacturer of heavy-duty trucks in the world.
Overseeing this $4 billion corporation is one man.
I'm Denny Slagle.
I'm President and CEO of Mack Trucks.
The company was founded in 1900 by the Mack brothers.
Mack Trucks is truly an American brand.
We've been in all the wars.
It really got its name in terms of the Mack bulldog during World War I.
The British soldiers saw the shape of its hood and the performance and started to call them Bulldog Macks because they were able to plow through anything.
And Mack has been sort of interwoven with American industrial history since everything from the Hoover Dam to the Empire State Building to the World Trade Center at 9/11.
My mom and dad were very simple people from the mountains of North Carolina.
I lived in a neighborhood where my house was 100 yards from the city dump.
We didn't have a lot, but it never felt like we were without.
My dad was an army veteran.
He taught me the values of hard work, honesty, and a basic belief in the American dream.
Mack Trucks was acquired by Volvo in 2002.
And then being part of the Volvo group, I came to Mack Trucks in early 2008.
It's almost like a call to duty.
I grew up with Mack Trucks, my father was in construction, so we had Mack Trucks then.
And so I really felt honored and an awesome responsibility to take on this great American brand.
We suffered during the last three of four years in the latest economic downturn.
There was also cost pressures brought about by some of our competitors moving south of the border.
So we had to make some tough decisions.
We moved some jobs, we consolidated some operations, and we leaned up.
You lose some good people, but you learn from that, you get stronger, and that's what I'm hoping happens with Mack Truck.
Is it good, ? You want to put some sprinkles? No, no, no, put it on the-- it's a cupcake.
I love being with my family.
I love my grandchildren.
Okay.
It should be interesting to see the kind of things he does when he's undercover.
Hopefully he won't embarrass his family too much.
These are my steel-toed shoes.
Going undercover gives me a unique opportunity.
I'm sort of doing a health check on this organization because once you make these very difficult decisions, it's necessary to look after the survivors.
See you, baby.
See you.
Have a good week.
I want to hear what's on their minds.
Not everything I hear is gonna be right or able to be implemented.
But by hearing it, I think it'll help the company get better.
My cover story is I'm Roger Donovan, an unemployed subcontractor trying to start a new career.
My coworkers are being told they're involved in a program where a man and a woman compete for the same job at Mack Trucks.
Well, first morning, the first day.
I'm ready to go.
I feel good.
The disguise seems a bit nerve-racking.
I believe the last time I had a disguise was a toga party in 1977.
Hopefully it'll work.
The engine is the heart of the truck, so today I want to go undercover in our Hagerstown facility where all of our Mack Truck engines are built.
The Hagerstown plant has gone through major upgrades.
They've made a lot of changes to ensure good quality.
So I hope to find not only that the engines are coming together well, but also I'm interested to see how well the employees are taking up with this quality movement.
Hi.
How you doing? - I'm Roger.
How are you? - Great.
Tracy.
Okay, so I'm gonna train you to do my job.
We're gonna have a wonderful day.
This is an 11-liter engine.
What I do is I put the front cover on that engine.
These guys move on their own, huh? Yes.
Don't worry, they won't hit you.
They have sensors on them.
Wow.
- So they'll stop.
- Pretty wild.
What I want you to do is everything that I do.
First thing that I do when my engine comes in is scan it.
And now the time is gonna start.
We've got two minutes and 34 seconds.
All righty.
Then I get this cover.
These things drip a lot of oil.
Okay.
This was my idea.
I saw it in paint.
And they used to use these so they didn't get paint on these heads.
And I just tuck that in.
I'm gonna grease this.
This is very important.
Okay.
If you don't grease this, it's gonna leak.
And then I'll be in trouble.
Then I'm gonna go back over here.
This is my robot.
This is the front cover.
It puts the sealant on.
The dull part is gonna go inside.
The sharp part is gonna come out.
You're gonna take this and you're gonna put it right here just like that.
Right.
Do not put your hand inside of this hole.
You can hold it here and there.
There's a seal right in here.
You don't wanna break the seal.
If it breaks, it's gonna leak, and that'll be a problem.
And I'm gonna grab this apparatus.
I call it an apparatus 'cause they didn't give me a name for it.
It's gonna attach itself to it.
Push it in just like that.
We used to push them by hand, and we were getting defects.
So they came up with that.
Then you want to clean the excess sealant off up here.
Okay.
Make sure you get all that off.
And once it moves out of my station, then another one is gonna come in.
And then you just start all over again.
'Cause I have to keep moving.
The line has to go.
I'm supposed to do You think you got it? No.
But I think with a little help I could maybe try one.
- I trust you.
- All right.
You got it.
I have faith in you.
All right.
And then you want to tuck that side in.
All right, and then we're gonna-- You're gonna scan it.
Once you scan it, the time starts.
It's just remembering the process is so important.
Okay, whoa, almost knocked your thing off.
That wouldn't have been good.
That's okay.
And then apparatus thingy.
Yeah, apparatus.
- You see what you're doing? - What? You're putting your finger on the plastic ring.
Don't do that.
We don't want to break the seal.
Ah, darn it.
You are the supplier for the people in front of you.
And those guys are waiting.
They don't have anything to do but wait on you.
And management, when you got them waiting and you got engines back here, they're looking at you also.
If that leaks, then I'm gonna say, "Roger did that.
" No! Oh, my.
Did I screw it up? Dien! He was about to push it in with his hand.
Okay.
That's Dien.
He's our coordinator.
Looking at you like, why are we so far behind? Fix it? Oh, you're in the hole.
Oh, boy.
Uh-oh, it didn't like something.
Ah, ah, ah.
You see what you just did? You're right, you're right.
Yeah, you're right.
I'm sorry to say, "ah, ah, ah," but-- No, you're right.
You're a minute and ten seconds in the hole.
This is pressure.
This is stress.
You have to keep a lot of things together in your head.
Uh-oh.
You hit that twice.
Start it, start it.
You have got to clean this.
You have to stay focused and concentrating and use that grey matter as well as your hands.
You have got to calm down.
I know, I am.
You gonna have an aneurysm.
No, I'm not.
So you do this all day and go home to-- All day.
Everybody can't do this.
Yeah, no, you're right.
I'm here to attest to that.
Everybody-- everybody can't do it.
It's repetitious.
You do the same thing over and over and over again.
I love it.
I don't wanna have to worry about my job.
Yeah.
I worry enough about the goings-on outside of my job.
So when I come in here, I actually have more tranquility.
I had a heart attack in 2006.
- No, you didn't.
- Yes, I did.
I flatlined about a month after I turned 46 years old.
Yeah, I worked in Mack Truck in Winnsboro, South Carolina.
They shut the plant down.
And I guess I internalized a lot of issues.
So that's why this is a calming thing for me to do the same thing all the time.
Everything else I tend to worry about.
I don't want this to worry about.
That's why I told my kids, "please don't have any grandkids.
"I don't want any, 'cause I'll worry about 'em, and it'll stress me out.
" - It's break time.
- Oh, good.
So you said you worked in South Carolina? So you're from there? And you came up here as-- Came up here to work.
I had to come.
So you like the Hagerstown area? - I like home.
- Yeah.
You know? I like home.
I think we all do.
I was off almost two years.
Makes you think about how people-- how cold people can be.
Just going from place to place firing people.
It's-- unfortunately too much of that going on.
Too much.
Prayerfully, things gonna get better.
I'm optimistic.
It has to.
I got three kids out there.
They gotta make their way too.
I have kids and grandchildren.
I know what you mean.
Tracy was one of the ones that worked in Winnsboro when we closed the plant.
So you got all family down there? Everybody.
When you decide on things that affect literally thousands of people's lives, no doubt that's been the hardest.
And I knew with every business cell in my body that it was the right decision, but my heart hurt with it.
Time to go back to work.
All righty.
See how good you're doing now? Oh, yeah.
Of course I am helping you.
Oops.
Dien! Coming up, all eyes are on the boss.
You have to pick up the pace.
Boss man just get on you.
Yeah, yeah.
I call him the warden.
And later, Denny's coworker breaks down.
Our special needs grandkids.
They're missing an enzyme in their body.
So it's killing them.
Denny Slagle, the President and CEO of Mack Trucks, is a boss undercover within his own company.
No! You want to grease that up good.
His employees think he's part of a reality show where a man and a woman compete to see who does the better job.
There you go.
Charlotte listened and she did it.
Don't bring Roger up in here.
I'm not gonna lie.
Bring Charlotte in.
She can do it by herself.
Train her good, and she'll do what she's supposed to do.
His journey continues in Baltimore, Maryland.
We're here at the Baltimore parts distribution center.
These parts warehouses supply parts to dealers, who in turn get it to the customers.
If a truck is down, the customer isn't making money.
They rely on that truck in order to put food on their table.
So it's vital that we bring the right parts at the right time to the customers to get that truck back up and running.
Hi, Mike.
I'm Roger.
Hi, Roger.
Nice to meet you.
Nice to meet you.
How you been? Well, the Yankees are up two to nothing.
Pirate fan, and I don't have much to cheer about anymore.
You're not an Oriole fan? No, I live in Hagerstown.
- And you drive down to here? - Yeah, it's an hour.
Hour and 15 minutes.
Oh, my gosh.
- You ready to get started? - Yeah, anytime.
I sure am.
Now you're not a Steeler fan on top of being a Pirate-- Absolutely.
I was born 20 miles from Pittsburgh.
- Oh, my goodness.
- I love football.
I coached youth leagues for 17 years.
Did you really? I got a kid that plays for the Miami Dolphins right now, third-string quarterback.
Before I even get on a truck, I'll look it over.
- Right.
- This is your steering.
This is your power.
You want to stop in an emergency, just pull off.
And then we'll-- gotta check my horn.
You don't wanna lay on it, make people mad.
And these things will turn on a dime.
Feel safe? Okay, you pick up your first order.
Basically what you need to know today is the location, the part number, and the quantity.
Right.
So we're gonna head to 10-13-15-A.
So you're moving a lot of parts through here, aren't you? Oh, yes, we are.
"Built like a Mack.
" Well, maybe 20 years ago.
- Is that right? - Yep.
- Okay.
- This is where we're at.
What you gotta do first, you gotta scan that ticket.
Okay, and then you scan the part number.
- All right.
- And it's gonna ask you to scan the location, and that's the location.
Then I'll bring it out.
We'll stick, uh, right there.
Okay, and then it's telling us our next one's 26.
You want to give it a try? I'll try it, yeah.
All right, here I go.
I'm gonna just do that.
And I'm going straight.
Watch where you're going.
And I'm--whoops, I didn't do that well, did I? Turned too hard.
Keep it to the side so you can make that turn and get in straight.
All right, and easy on that horn.
Don't blow their ears out.
Slow, slow, slow, slow down.
Slow down, dude.
Roger made me very nervous and a little shaky.
Go on straight down there.
- Okay, go straight? - Yeah.
Oh, you're driving me nuts, Roger.
Roger would drive me to drinking.
I'd have to have a drink after work if I had to train him all day.
Sorry, I'm just getting my feel for it.
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
Slow down.
Yeah.
That's 32.
All right, and then I'm going up.
Yeah.
This is pretty high.
Now I can actually feel us wiggling a little bit.
Well, that's all right.
It's just we're up so high in the air.
Oh, boy, this is high.
I got these two puppies here.
- They go in a bag.
- I'm gonna put 'em in a bag.
All right, just go on down.
You have to pick up the pace.
Boss man just get on you.
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, here comes one of the guys.
- I call him the warden.
- Really? We got this order done.
Now we gotta get it to the packing line.
Let's do it.
You just send this down the line.
All right.
I'm gonna send you on your own to go get this-- - No way.
- Yeah way.
Good luck.
Yeah, thank you.
I'll need it.
All right.
All right.
He's been gone and he's only two aisles away.
- 29-35.
Gotta make sure it's right.
What? What? Error? I'd say go back to the unemployment line.
Whoa! I got to drive the forklift.
It's a much harder, more complicated job than I had imagined.
Where in the hell you been? Took you kinda long.
All right, let's go eat some lunch.
We're gonna park this-- sounds like a winner to me.
Huh.
- Where are we? - I usually sit right here.
Right over here.
How's that bumping around? Does it bother you? Yeah, I think I'll do better next time.
How many people work here? How long you been at Mack? I've been doing this for a long time, Oh, okay.
'77 I got hired, and my little brother got hired.
That's 50 years next year.
All part of the Mack-- Family.
And then Volvo bought us, and it's just not the same anymore.
Oh, okay.
Everything keeps changing.
Yeah, it does.
I had five acres all set up to build a house on.
- Right.
- That have been paid for.
Right.
We were there 15 years, then they closed it when Volvo bought us out.
Okay.
Who's looking out for us? We've got 12 people on layoff here, and they were all offered a job in Macungie.
Only two of them took it.
Really? Nah.
Well, a lot of the rumors I've heard in the past have come true.
Facebook? You're on Facebook? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah, I love it.
Mike's been with Mack for 35 years, bless him.
He's been brought up in sort of the old school.
And I think that this is part of, you know, sort of an "us and them" that I'd rather not see.
It is something we just need to work on here, and we've got to make sure they have the right information and good information so that they can form a better bond with not just themselves but with the company.
Will you be my Facebook friend? Yeah.
End of another day.
I was a little disappointed that they weren't more sort of bonding with the company.
People were worried, are we moving? Are we going south of the border? There is a very competitive world.
You have to make the decisions that are best for our shareholders and all the people that rely on us.
It's a heavy weight, it's a heavy burden.
Coming up, Denny learns how to manhandle a Mack.
We gotta put the hood down.
Bang it.
Hit it like a Mack.
And later, the boss summons his employees to headquarters.
I think Roger knew he couldn't hack it.
Denny Slagle, the President and CEO of Mack Trucks, is a boss undercover within his own company.
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
Slow down.
His employees think he's part of a reality show where a man and a woman compete to see who does the better job.
We're gonna pull that part first.
- Okay.
- Just take it easy.
All right, so we're going to aisle four.
His journey continues in Macungie, Pennsylvania.
Today I'm in Macungie.
I'm gonna be on the assembly line.
As a result of regulations introduced just this year, we've had to do a huge upgrade to our emissions control technology.
Hi, Allan? Yeah.
- Roger, how are you? - Hi, nice to meet you, Roger.
Welcome to Mack Truck.
Thank you.
So I'm looking forward to seeing how well they are being integrated in the manufacturing process.
We're gonna build D.
E.
F.
tanks.
It's diesel exhaust fluid tanks that are used in the exhaust system.
It'll cut down on emissions.
So basically our part is building the steel frame.
We have a back panel.
Okay.
We'll put our back panel on first, and throw it to the notch.
This is a bracket that will be used to hold a nut plate on.
Are you nervous? Yeah, a little bit.
That's okay.
At my last job, I didn't do so well.
Oh, we'll make sure we give you a good opportunity.
Now we're gonna do a side panel.
Here we use two small screws.
Sometimes I run my screws loose then tighten them later.
This is the hardest screw to get in.
You gotta push a little bit to get it started.
There you go.
All right.
I'd rather you learn how to build it then we'll work on speed and all that other stuff later.
That's probably smart.
Mack Truck's more concerned about quality.
And quality is what's gonna sell a truck, not speed.
I bring it in here.
I'm still holding onto it.
Grab my screw and hand-start it.
Okay.
All right, now we'll tighten all four of them up.
I'll let you have the honors.
Thank you.
Oop, wrong way.
That's not going in.
Here.
Agh.
We'll get it later.
Allan, he was a good teacher, but I just feel like all thumbs out there.
- Roger, over here.
- Oh, sorry about that.
These two.
That's fine.
I'm anxious to get it out there.
And that's all we're doing for this one.
I'm gonna let you build one on your own.
You're gonna build a 70-liter.
Okay.
Yeah, it goes this way.
Yes.
Now we'll do our side panel.
Okay.
All right, good.
I'm ahead of you.
I'm waiting on you.
I know, I noticed that.
How'd you do that? There you go.
Good.
We'll put our paperwork here, then we'll slide it down to the next person.
Okay.
One of the things I wanted to do is see how well this new D.
E.
F.
tank was being integrated in the production system.
I got very satisfied with that.
The assurance of quality was there, both from Allan's personal habits, and despite how I did it, it came together very well.
I'll show you what we do.
Take my gloves off.
Relax.
Hideaway seat.
Ahh, I see.
So you're trying to get in the workforce? Yeah, I was sort of a subcontractor.
Subcontractor, okay.
And things just stopped.
Oh, with the economy? Yes, yeah.
There's a little bit more work up here in the northeast.
Yeah, I hope so.
But still, then there's more off.
Yeah.
So do you have any hobbies? Mainly family and grandchildren.
Okay.
I, um, love 'em.
We have two daughters, both married.
That's--I'm sorry.
That's all right.
It's worth it.
That's our special needs grandkids.
Ah.
That's Waverly and Oliver.
Wow.
Oh, they're beautiful.
- They have a disease.
- Oh, what is it? M.
P.
S.
They, uh-- it's all right, man.
It's okay.
They have--it's called Sanfilippo Syndrome.
My daughter says it's like our bodies have little trash trucks, and they get rid of all our waste.
And they're missing an enzyme in their body.
And that enzyme doesn't get rid of any of their waste.
So it's killing them.
Is that-- How old are they? Waverly's seven.
Oliver is three.
All I can say is bless you, bless them.
Yeah.
Waverly and Oliver both were born with many problems.
And you go to the doctors, and they say, "try this, try that.
Wait for this, wait for that.
" And it's just as time goes on you go to the next doctor and he goes, "I think this is it or that's it.
" Wow, do you get enough help? Do you get-- Um, they're 24-hour care.
With a nurse? Yeah.
And that helps.
But in a year and a half, I think my wife's gonna retire, so she'll be really available.
His story about having to run through doctors to find out what-- what's wrong with the children is every parent's nightmare.
There's a lot of people that have situations in their lives that I don't think sometimes the bosses know or the coworkers.
And they carry a lot with them.
You know, I wish you had ways of help.
You know, like put a little flag on, "I need help today.
" Or "I need somebody to care for me today.
" They need to sit down and spend time with people, I guess.
- I have two grandchildren.
- Do you? Beautiful, and another one on the way.
Yeah.
So I'm with you on this.
Yeah, love 'em.
Spend time with them.
I will, I do.
And I'm gonna love them a little more.
That's good.
I'm certainly going to appreciate my children, my grandchildren a bit more after having met Allan.
You know, when we're in the workplace, we don't always recognize there are people with problems like Allan's facing in their private side.
And there probably is something we can do to organize and support each other and build on the family atmosphere.
- 45-liter tank.
- 45-liter.
Okay? Today I'm back in Macungie, and I'm gonna join the assembly line again.
After my time with Allan, I want to work in another department in the plant to make sure this area is running smoothly and see how they're feeling.
Looking for Jeff.
How you doing? - Good.
- What's your name? - Roger.
How 'bout you? - Tim, I'm Tim.
Jeff's not here right now.
Oh, okay.
I'm supposed to find-- Here he comes.
There's Jeff.
All right, Jeff may.
And your name? Roger Donovan.
Roger Donovan.
Roger Dodger.
Roger the Dodger.
I'm a technician.
My job is to put the bumpers on.
All right.
And then I have to put exhaust stacks on.
Okay, Roger.
This is a bumper here obviously.
See the holes here? Yep.
This is called a stone guard.
What we're gonna do is put nuts and bolts and washers on this stone guard.
We're not tightening it.
You take one of these.
Got it.
Now I don't know if you ever knew this, but every washer has a good side and a bad side.
That's the good side.
That's the customer side.
So it faces out.
Excellent.
I'm building a Mack Truck.
This is cool.
Right, exactly.
How long you been with Mack? I've been with Mack since December of '98.
December of '98, so I have 11 years, going on 12.
I belong to the Vermont chapter of the Bulldogs.
What it is, it's a group of guys that just have Macks.
How many do you have? I have 13 Macks right now.
- 13 Mack Trucks! - Yep.
All right, these bumpers, they're done.
We got that one, we're gonna put it on the truck here.
One of the difficult things is that truck is moving.
So that's a real big adjustment to be able to hold the nuts and the parts and whatever, and the truck is moving.
Okay, now we'll pick it up.
Aim for that hole.
Yep, put the nut on there.
If you have to, you hit it.
Remember, it's a Mack Truck.
You can-- you can mack it around.
You don't have to-- this isn't a kindergarten.
You can All right? All right, got it.
Now we gotta tighten it up.
Oops, you all right? Oops, yep.
When I was putting on the bumper, my gun slipped and just put a tiny little nick in the thing, and I thought, do I tell somebody? That's it.
You got it there, Roger Dodger.
That bumper is ready to go.
I didn't.
So I hope whoever gets that truck sees it as an autograph rather than a problem.
So this is when we build our stacks.
Okay, grab one of them pipes.
See the notches? That's the top.
We don't want the customer to get hurt, and it's sharp.
Notice the other end.
Beveled.
That's the bottom, down where you are.
We're gonna put it on here.
This is a tough one to build.
Shake it around till you get it, yep.
Trying to get it up to there but not all-- whoa.
Is that too much? We can move it.
Well, it's good to see these types of jobs, you manufacture or you build something.
It's hard to find that anymore.
We're grateful they're in America.
You know, that's the big deal.
Mack is the only one that's made everything Really? We're gonna put that stack on the truck here.
All right, you're grabbing the top.
Gotta angle it to get into this here.
Angle it a little towards you.
Towards you, angle the edge in there.
Okay, now slosh it around.
You're trying to get it down.
All the way down, that's it.
Wrong way.
You got the wrench the wrong way.
See, you gotta-- that's it.
Okay, beautiful.
This type of bumper we gotta put the hood down.
Bang it.
Hit it.
Hit it like a Mack.
All right.
This is the stone guard with the brush guard, that, and all of these.
Did good.
Okay, break.
We get an hour.
I'm not hungry, so don't worry about me.
- You're not hungry, huh? - Get something for yourself.
Well, okay then.
I don't know, maybe you can-- if you'd like, you could possibly come to my garage and you can see some of the-- I'd love that.
- Would you like to do that? - I'd really enjoy--thank you.
You gotta come out here in my truck.
Oh, you got a Mack pickup truck.
You might figure out which truck is mine, right? Favorite thing to say to my wife, she'll say, "where are you gonna be?" And I say, "honey, I'm either at work or I'm at my garage or I'm home.
" You know, that's better than being at a bar, right? Yeah, I can see-- and that's where I spend my time.
I like driving the trucks.
I've taken a Christmas tree from Vermont to Washington D.
C.
Wow.
The tree, the one in front of the capitol.
The last trip was so much fun 'cause we stopped at V.
A.
homes.
My truck had trees to give to the veterans.
God bless our veterans and the active duty, the ones that are there now.
These are the two buildings here, and then there's another building over there.
All right.
This is the main garage here, Roger.
This here is the first one I bought.
I don't think we're gonna get this one started.
It'll turn over, but we aren't gonna fire this up.
I won't test it.
I got a little problem that we're working on.
This is the bed that I replaced.
There's the winch.
I put the winch on.
So therefore when you get, you know, a sick dog, a sick bulldog, you can help it get up on the trailer, up on the ambulance.
Then you could see, I got a few parts here.
How do you get the parts when you need new parts? Funds are limited, so when you wanna buy things you gotta figure it out, you know what I mean? And anyway, this is an R700, okay? This is a 1970 Mack.
So this baby is 40 years old.
She's had a couple of engines put in her already, and this has about - Wow.
- So jump on up there, and we're gonna fire this thing up.
All right.
Throw it in neutral, if you can figure the neutral out there.
This is your engine stop, but it's in.
Fire it up.
Give it a little gas.
You're smoking it out here.
See it? Give it gas.
All right, we're gonna shut it down there.
Turning over that engine and watching him light up really sets the feelings, the emotions another level higher.
It's more than just a truck.
It's more than the brand.
It's something bigger and more meaningful.
Appreciate you coming down.
Okay, back to work.
Okay.
Well, my journey is just about over.
I really enjoyed meeting Jeff.
He really eats, sleeps, and breathes Mack.
I'm happy to say that I found spirit and pride.
Now I feel an awesome responsibility to make sure that the market understands the pride of these people and what they put into these products, and that's built here in the U.
S.
A.
The decisions I take in the future will be made with a little more empathy and a little more understanding or the consequences not just from a business standpoint but how they impact the lives and the community.
Coming up, Denny's employees think they're coming to company headquarters to cast their vote.
Charlotte's definitely more Mack material than Roger is.
But how will they react when he reveals the truth? Denny Slagle, CEO of Mack Trucks.
All the employees have been called to headquarters to supposedly vote for two people competing for the same job.
They have no idea what they're really here for.
I think Roger knew he couldn't hack it.
Charlotte's definitely more Mack material than Roger is.
How you doing? Good.
I'm Denny Slagle, CEO of Mack Trucks.
Okay, I've heard you and seen your picture.
I've never seen you in person.
We've met before.
- When did we meet? - You come around, you used to have the community meetings.
We also met last week.
I'm also Roger Donovan.
My, my, my.
Now I can see it.
I must train well.
I cast my vote, and you as Roger didn't do very well.
Is that right? Tracy, I enjoyed the way you go about your work from the standpoint of pride and quality-minded but at the same time having a little fun.
- Yeah.
- You came up with the idea for that oil-- Tracy's bonnet.
- Yeah.
- That's a good idea.
As you know, the factory has a regular innovation award, and you're gonna be the recipient for the next one.
Oh, thank you so much.
Oh, you're welcome.
And because I know there's only one place you really want to be, and if I remember right, that's South Carolina.
- Home.
- Well, what we'd like to do is allow you to have a week's vacation wherever you want in South Carolina.
And we're gonna rent a house big enough for your entire family.
And we'll make sure you're comfortable.
Oh, thank you so much.
It's amazing.
You think, is anybody gonna notice what I'm doing? And then you get appreciated.
I'm shaking.
It's wonderful.
Mike, I wanted to tell you a few things.
I know you raised some concerns, and I heard them.
- Morale is terrible there.
- Yeah.
It's bad when management wants me to retire and I don't want to retire.
That's a decision that, you know, I noted that.
Or at least I noted it through some of your comments.
But I've heard other employees complain.
This is, uh-- we consider it a family.
You know, Mike, we're part of the same team.
The guys that are working against us aren't in that warehouse.
They're out there trying to put us out of business.
Oh, absolutely.
I understand that.
I want to let you know that I hear you, and I'm planning to come to Baltimore, do a town hall at the end of this month.
There's not a lot of you.
Amen to that.
There's been people asked-- Let's flesh out some of these questions, and let's put real answers behind them so we're all looking at the same goal.
Thank you.
You know, things are picking up.
And you've had Yeah, and I enjoy it.
I thoroughly enjoy it.
That's good, and you've got a few more years to give us.
And one of the things we'd like to do is you love sports, as I do.
Yeah.
Mack would like to make a $5,000 donation in your name to the local Hagerstown athletic programs.
- Wow.
- On top of that, you mentioned you're a Pirates fan.
- Oh, yeah.
- Yeah.
As a penalty to you, we're going to take you and your family to a weekend in Pittsburgh for a Pirates game.
- Great.
- Take care.
Good to see you again.
I'll never forget this as long as I live.
That's the last thing in the world I was expecting.
And this is the biggest step in communicating with us workers that he could possibly do.
That's gonna pick the morale up right there.
Jeff, let me tell you, the craftsmanship that you emphasized in your job was an inspiration to me.
I love it.
It is a passion.
And I'll tell you, I'm really grateful for all the decisions people have made.
You know, some people might not like the idea we were bought by Volvo, and I said it's a partnership with a strong partner, and another 110 years, right? Another 110 years at least.
And it's that kind of dedication that's gonna keep us building trucks in America for a long time.
That's right.
And I was also greatly inspired by your stories of your care for the veterans.
And in your name we're going to donate $5,000 to the Fisher House Foundation, which is a foundation there to help out veterans.
That's just wonderful.
I mean, I don't know what to say.
Like, when we were on that trip with the Macks and you'd shake a veteran's hand, you want to cry.
We're proud to do it, and we're proud that we met you.
And one more thing I'm gonna do is give you a gift certificate for $5,000 to find-- Oh, my God, no, I can't accept that.
Well, no, this is helping us.
To buy Mack parts for your truck so that you can live up to your passion.
And we want to see those trucks that you redo get back up into mint condition.
We want to see them at future antique truck show.
I don't know what to say.
I just, uh-- thank you very much.
You know you can count on me out there, and we'll be building trucks.
I'm just, I'm-- I'm blown away is what it is.
To get these accolades, I'll never forget this in my life.
It's, uh--what do they say? Awesome.
Oh, it's awesome.
Allan, it's personally inspiring to see how joyful and positive your outlook is, particularly given the challenges you face with your grandchildren.
After my experience with you, I gave my grandchil-- I gave my grandchildren a little extra hug.
That's what it's about.
That's what it's about.
It touched me so much, and in order to thank you for being the employee you are, Mack is proud to offer a donation of $5,000 to the MPS Foundation in Oliver and Waverly's name to help them find a cure for this thing.
That's very appreciative.
I'm also gonna make sure that Mack makes an earmarked donation so that you can take those two beautiful grandchildren to Disney World, along with your extended family.
Thank you.
My pleasure.
And this is from my wife and I personally.
Just a little something to help defray your expenses for treatment or whatever it takes that might not be covered by the insurance, and just a way to personally say thank you.
Thank you so much.
This is from him personally.
Thank you.
We'll use it for the grandkids.
They have so many-- so many needs.
I want to personally address the company 'cause my eyes have been opened this past week, and I have a new perspective on things, and I want to share it with them.
Please welcome our President and CEO, Denny Slagle.
My name is Denny Slagle, and for the past week I've been undercover.
When I started my journey a week ago, I was very, very concerned about what I might find.
But I'm here to tell you that that pride, that bulldog toughness still exists with Mack Truck.
Now we're gonna have some fun, probably at my expense.
You gotta bang it.
Hit it like a Mack.
All right.
You see what you're doing? No! Oh, my.
Slow, slow, slow, slow down.
Whoops.
I'd have to have a drink after work if I had to train him all day.
The other thing I discovered was how important Mack is to the lives of our employees, our families, and the communities.
When Mack is doing well, the community is doing well.
We have built Mack Trucks in the U.
S.
A.
for 110 years.
Frankly, I can't imagine not building Mack Trucks in the U.
S.
A.
, despite what everybody says.
And when we're number one looking back at everybody, let's remember this day and let's think of all those people, those families, and those communities that we've helped by being successful and working harder.
Thank you.
I see the things that are happening in the economy today.
We had some of our competitors moving their operations to Mexico, creating a lower cost.
Our main goal is to keep jobs here in the U.
S.
A.
For the sake of our neighbors and for the sake of our grandchildren.
Come here, sweetie.
And we'll use skill and that determination and hard work to bring not only Mack back but America back.