Blog Archives




 

  • Cat Turns Yellow... er
    By Mark O'Connell - Wednesday June 18, 2008
    The big news last week that Caterpillar plans to exit the on-highway diesel engine market as of 2010 probably didn't come as a complete surprise to anyone in the trucking industry. Over the past several months, as other diesel engine manufacturers were loudly proclaiming their plans to meet the Environmental Protection Agency's 2010 emissions standards, Cat had been notably quiet. In fact, so little news has come out of Peoria in the past year that I had started to wonder if the company had shut down its public relations department. In last week's press release from the company, Cat's Group President, Douglas R. Oberhelman, said, "Caterpillar and our dealers will continue to provide product support and service beyond 2010 for all...

  • Parts is Parts
    By Mark O'Connell - Monday June 9, 2008
    Two weeks ago I had the opportunity to visit a pretty remarkable place: ArvinMeritor's aftermarket parts distribution center in Florence, KY. My publisher, Larry Greenberger, and I were invited to Florence by ArvinMeritor Commercial Vehicle Systems executives to get a good look at the volume of business they do, and they way they keep all those parts flowing from factory to end-user. What took me by surprise is that the Florence distribution center is an all-brands operation. You won't just find ArvinMeritor-branded parts at this operation; what you'll find is ArvinMeritor parts mixed in with a whole lot of other manufacturer's parts, so that ArvinMeritor can deliver exactly what the customer needs, even if someone else makes it. There...

  • Laying Rubber
    By Mark O'Connell - Tuesday May 27, 2008
    Okay, I admit, I was a little disappointed with the "ride 'n' drive" event I attended last week in Joliet, IL. I had been invited by the folks at Meritor WABCO to see a demonstration of their latest safety systems, including Electronic Stability Control, Roll Stability Control, Roll Stability Support, and the OnGuard (TM) Collision Safety System with adaptive cruise control, and the demo was to take place at the Route 66 Drag Strip--how cool is that? Well, it turns out that demo didn't actually take place on the drag strip itself, but in the parking lot adjacent to the strip. But the disappointment was fleeting, because once I got into the demo trucks to experience Meritor WABCO's systems first-hand, I was greatly impressed. First came a...

  • Setting the Standard
    By Mark O'Connell - Tuesday May 20, 2008
    I've said before in the pages of Fleet Maintenance Magazine, and I'll say it again here: I have nothing but praise for the work done by the Emergency Vehicle Technician Certification Commission, Inc. (EVTCC). This group, operating out of Dundee, IL, has been setting certification standards for the technicians who maintain fire apparatus, rescue vehicles and ambulances for many years, then testing those technicians and certifying them to serve in their field. I recently received a newsletter from EVTCC announcing that 30 maintenance technicians had recently been certified or recertified as Master Technicians, and once again I am completely impressed that such professionalism is encouraged and rewarded in this industry. The newsletter also...

  • Trucks Deliver... Sustainability
    By Mark O'Connell - Thursday May 8, 2008
    Today the American Trucking Associations unveiled an ambitious new Sustainability Program designed to lower CO2 emissions and save millions of gallons of diesel fuel. Announced at a press conference in Washington, D.C., by ATA President and CEO Bill Graves, the new program consists of six major initiatives that could revolutionize the trucking industry and the country's transportation system. The six items, developed by a 25-member Sustainability Task Force led by Tommy Hodges, Chairman, Titan Transfer, Inc., are: One: The American Trucking Associations recommends enacting a new national speed limit of 65 mph for all vehicles, and setting speed governors on new trucks at no more than 68 mph. Two: The American Trucking Associations...

  • When Super Isn't So Super
    By Mark O'Connell - Wednesday April 30, 2008
    I've been reading up a little on the "Super Warranty" issue, which, I must admit, I had never heard of until my Assistant Editor mentioned it. Super Warranties are being mandated by more and more states to cover automotive emission-control systems for 15 years or 150,000 miles, and independent repair shops in those states are not pleased. The idea was hatched in California, where the Air Resources Board (CARB) decided that it would be a good idea to keep emissions-control hardware under warranty longer. And it is a good idea: People are keeping their vehicles longer, so it makes sense, from CARB’s point of view, to do everything it can to ensure that those vehicles will be running clean for their entire lives. Super Warranties can make...

  • Squeezed Out, Part II
    By Mark O'Connell - Wednesday April 23, 2008
    My blog post from last week, “Squeezed Out,” has aroused some bad feelings in some parts of the fleet world. In that post, I described a chat I had with a vendor who had dropped out of the Technology & Maintenance Council (TMC) because they felt that a competing vendor had dominated the proceedings of a particular TMC Task Force that had developed a new Recommended Practice (RP). One reader thought that I was unfairly accusing TMC of allowing some vendors to run roughshod over Task Force proceedings, and that I should have gotten “both sides of the story” before writing my post. What I actually said in that blog post was that TMC’s process seemed to have broken down in this particular case, and that it was hard to say why (in...

  • Squeezed Out
    By Mark O'Connell - Tuesday April 15, 2008
    I had an unusual conversation at the Mid-America Truck Show a few weeks back that keeps rattling around in my brain for some reason (a lot of things rattle around in my brain, but that's another story). At MATS, I was talking to specific component suppliers about a specific Technology & Maintenance Council (TMC) Recommended Practice (RP). Not only did I assume that all of the component suppliers would be familar with the RP (they were), I also assumed that many of them would have taken part in developing the RP (they weren't.) And therein lies a problem.   For those of you who don't follow TMC activities, an RP is a maintenance standard developed by a Task Force that ideally consists of both fleet maintenance professionals and technical...

  • The Slow Lane
    By Mark O'Connell - Thursday April 10, 2008
    This week I had the pleasure of attending a meeting of the Indiana Motor Transport Association in Indianapolis, IN, and to get to the meeting I drove six hours from Wisconsin to Illinois to Indiana, and then six hours back again. For the most part it's a boring drive, along boring stretches of Interstate highways, so it gives me a lot of time to think. There was something different going on along the Interstates this time, however, that gave me a whole new thing to think about.   At first I thought it was my imagination, but after a few hours I realized it was very real: trucks are driving slower. It came to my attention because I was making an effort to drive five to ten miles an hour slower than usual, in order to save fuel. I expected...

  • It's Not About Trucking
    By Mark O'Connell - Thursday April 3, 2008
    It really happened. Countless truck drivers across the county shut down their rigs on Tuesday, April 1st, to protest against high diesel fuel prices. Many more slowed to 20 miles per hour on Interstate highways. This event, unorganized as it was, has managed to make headlines around the country and get at least a few people talking about the difficulties faced by truck owners and drivers who lose money every time they start up their rigs.   I've been Googling to find some comments on the shut-down from politicians, and so far I can't find a thing. Not one word from the Presidential candidates, not one word from the Congress, not a thing anywhere. Oh, a few days ago Congress did call the oil company CEOs to explain why they are making...

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