Meet Our Team: Rock Platte

Rock’s first day on the job in Grand Rapids

Rock Platte joined the Crystal Flash team in February of 1979. At that time, Crystal Flash was still in the gas station business, and Rock was an attendant at the station on Alpine Avenue in Grand Rapids. During his time on the job, Rock would fill cars with regular leaded gasoline, or occasionally, unleaded gasoline. CF’s stations were full service and therefore included a free window wash, oil and tire check with each gasoline purchase. After a few years, Rock transitioned to driving a delivery truck to transfer groceries to gas stations throughout the state. Another change followed when he began working in our environmental services department picking up waste oil.

In his mid-twenties, Rock started driving for CF’s transport department, and, as the saying goes, the rest is history. In the eighties, CF’s large transport trucks were manual and included two trailers. There were no radios in the trucks, so drivers would need to call using the gas station landline from their current delivery location to find out where their next delivery stop was. Thirty years, and massive advances in vehicle and dispatching technology later, Rock remains Crystal Flash’s Transport Fleet Equipment Manager.

In his current role, Rock’s personal mission is to “ensure we always find a way to make the delivery — and our trucks are always able to go down the road.” He fields phone calls from drivers at all hours of the day and night, helping to figure out mechanical issues and coordinating support and mobile maintenance, if necessary. Sometimes this entails driving out to vehicle locations directly. At Crystal Flash, “Safety Always” is one of our core values — a sentiment that Rock carries with him through every repair, phone call and maintenance task.

Rock’s decades of experience and natural problem-solving abilities have kept CF’s large vehicles moving safely through the toughest of storms, ensuring our teammates can continue to transport fuel to both our own facilities, and to customers across the Midwest.

Rock lives in Sparta with his wife of 33 years, Lisa, who was also a Crystal Flash employee. They have four children and three grandchildren and enjoy fishing on the all-sports lake they live on and vacationing in Florida.

We’d like to thank and congratulate Rock for his 45 years with Crystal Flash.