Nebraska SuperTech is now accepting competitors!  And, not only are we accepting registrations, we already have a few people signed up. This is quite a relief to everyone in the SuperTech Steering Committee.  It’s nice to finally see all of our work coming to fruition. Of course, there have been hiccups along the way. But one of the things the STSC has done really well is come together to work through the hiccups. I think that’s the key for any of you who are trying to plan a competition- get a great group of volunteers who are committed to the cause to get together to help. Make sure to have people from many different backgrounds if you can, because that will make your group that much more knowledgeable.  Back to the registration...

Like all editors in the automotive and trucking business, I typically hear from my marketing and public relations friends at General Motors fairly regularly, but lately the giant has been eerily quiet... I'm sure they have more important things to worry about these days. The news this week that the Obama administration had sought--and received--the removal of Rick Wagoner as CEO of GM, must have come as quite a shock to rank and file GM employees. It's too early to say what this change might accomplish, but I think it can be argued that after 30 years at GM, Wagoner may have outstayed his welcome. Who knows, maybe it will even be worth the reported $23 million payoff Wagoner is receiving from GM to get someone new at the helm.

By now, you should know what SCR and DEF stand for, but if you don't I'll recap: SCR stands for Selective Catalytic Reduction, the technology that most of the major diesel engine manufacturers have chosen to meet the EPA's 2010 diesel engine emissions standards, and DEF stands for Diesel Exhaust Fluid, the urea solution that is injected into the aftertreatment system of a truck with an SCR engine.  Last week at the Mid-America Trucking Show in Louisville, KY, you could hardly go five minutes without someone talking about SCR and DEF, and the conflict that has erupted between the OE's that will be using SCR and DEF in 2010 (Daimler, PACCAR, Cummins, Volvo and Mack) and those that will be using "enhanced EGR" (Navistar/International). The...

I don't normally talk about products here in my blog, but an interesting situation came up the other day. A gentleman contacted me to talk about a vehicle maintenance product that he invented several years ago. He was having trouble getting attention for his product, and wanted some advice on how to reach the fleet maintenance market. What surprised me about this man's story is that his product addresses an age-old vehicle maintenance problem that has, I'm sure, cost the fleet industry a great deal of money over the decades. He told me has tried to sell it through mobile tool distributors with no luck. "With a production capability of nearly 30,000 tools per month, two manufacturer part numbers, acceptance world-wide by thousands of techs...