Frank Muse keeps an eye on the details. Enter his office in Redding, Calif., and you’ll likely find Muse on the phone with a driver from one of the several businesses he owns.

"When the phone rings here, the owner answers," says Jim Patterson, a long-time business associate and Muse's right-hand man.

Yet Muse also has an ability to take a step back and look at the world around him. Yes, he manages the drivers of the 25 trucks run by Muse Trucking Co. But he also constantly looks to upgrade the business, whether it's through acquiring another company or improving the firm's fleet.

"If everybody stayed with the same stuff, we'd still be driving Model As," Muse says.

Keeping a variety

Much of Muse’s business philosophy is built around improving existing operations. He has purchased several struggling trucking firms and turned the businesses around. But he does so only when there is an opportunity for growth.

"You have to listen to your customers, and sometimes they almost demand you start hauling a certain product or take on new responsibilities because they need that help from you, and they know they can rely on you," Muse explains.

The demands are flattering. They also can be dangerous. "The customers can dead-end you, too," Muse says. "They won't mean to, but if you get in over your head, or encounter unexpected trouble, it's your trouble – not theirs. You have to be careful." That doesn't mean Muse won't take risks. Instead, he uses his experience to reduce the likelihood of failure. That includes a constant effort to find new ways to utilize trucks.

Doing so has led the firm to haul a variety of fuels – including propane and kerosene for Northern Lights Energy, a petroleum seller owned by Muse and his wife, Kathie. The Kenworth T800s that haul the kerosene to meet demand in the winter often are used to fuel road construction and logging crews in the summer. Muse Trucking hauls a variety of products, including powdered cement and lime for mines and hot oil for asphalt plants. Muse constantly looks for other loads – proven by the fact the firm also hauls strawberry plants and on one occasion even transported a SR-71 Blackbird spy plane to a museum at Boeing Field near Seattle.

Always evolving

Muse has always looked to expand. Yet he also remembers what brought success. For example, he drove a logging truck as a teenager. He remains active in that industry, and currently serves as the president of the Sierra Cascade Logging Conference – an event that raises money to help with reforestation efforts.

It was while driving logging trucks that Muse saw other opportunities, and eventually bought out his father-in-law, Bill Schmitt, whom he worked for, and developed what is now Muse Trucking.

He also was exposed to Cat^® engines early. "I've been around Caterpillar since I've been around trucks," he says.

He now runs 470 hp Cat C13 engines with ACERTT Technology in his 22 Kenworth T800s. The business also runs three medium-duty Kenworth trucks with C7 engines.

"I've run Cat engines forever," he says. "In the old days, we ran Cat 3406A and 3406B engines. Other manufacturers were basically giving their products away, but they broke down. With Cat engines, we had no trouble. Staying with Caterpillar was an easy decision."

That doesn't mean Muse doesn't take a look at new products now and then.

"Caterpillar has really gotten more into the on-highway trucking applications and they've perfected a lot of things," he states. He plans to buy the new Cat automatic transmission. "If it's half as good as their engines, it will be fine," he says. "I know they've had automatics in off-highway applications. It's not the first automatic they've built."

He likes the programmability of the automatic transmissions, in part because of safety benefits. "You can actually lock in settings, which is good for safety if someone is uncertain of the terrain," he says.

He also thinks the transmissions benefit drivers and the equipment. "It's just easier," he says. He started moving toward automatic transmissions a few years ago. "Some drivers objected," he said. "I told them, 'Give it two weeks. If you want the old way back, you can have it.' No one did."

"It makes the trucks easier to drive. It also minimizes the human element. I used to watch people pull in and out of that driveway and they would jerk, shift and grind. Now they don't."

He also believes automatic transmissions improve mileage because they run more efficiently over the length of the haul.

Frank and Kathie like the transmissions for use in the hilly countryside around Redding – particularly when it comes to the Northern Lights operations. That business specializes in kerosene deliveries.

"The trucks do an excellent job," Kathie says. "We don't have to work on them, and that's important because we get busier all the time."

Northern Lights, in operation for six years, sells about 250,000 gallons of fuel each month. Seizing another opportunity, the company also sells, installs and services propane and kerosene heaters.

"We more or less bought the business and worked out the details," Kathie says. "It was sink or swim."

The Muses' commitment to constant improvement means the businesses are going swimmingly.