The Truck Writers of North America has listed the top five finalists for its 2016 Technical Achievement Award. The finalists are:
- Accuride EverSteel wheels with a special anti-corrosion treatment;
- Cummins X15 Efficiency series diesel, whose advances to meet federal Phase 2 greenhouse gas emissions rules include an Atkinson Cycle combustion mode;
- Mack and Volvo “wave” piston, part of engine upgrades to comply with new GHG regulations;
- SAF-Holland P89 disc brake, a high-performance, lightweight and moderate-cost braking product; and
- Volvo iSee and Mack Predictive cruise control, which “learns” routes and operates a truck’s powertrain to gain maximum efficiency.
The winner will be announced March 1 during an industry awards luncheon at the Technology & Maintenance Council’s Annual Meeting & Transportation Technology Exhibition in Nashville, Tennessee.
“It took a while for us to sort through the nominees and narrow the field to just five products,” award committee chairman Jim Park, of Heavy Duty Trucking and Today’s Trucking, said. “There were some spirited discussions, but we used a scoring method in our voting that put numbers to opinions, and that got us to this point. It was all done by email.”
Other members of the award committee and their publications are Paul Abelson of Land Line; John Baxter, freelance technical writer; Tom Berg, Heavy Duty Trucking and Construction Equipment; Jason Cannon, CCJ; David Kolman, Fleet Maintenance; James Menzies, Truck News; Jason Morgan, Fleet Equipment; Jack Roberts, Heavy Duty Trucking; and John G. Smith, Today’s Trucking.
For the first time, the annual award is named after Jim Winsor, a longtime respected truck journalist and TWNA member who passed away in 2015.
Each year since 1991, the group’s award committee, a panel of editors representing the industry’s major publications rank items nominated by TWNA members for the award. To be eligible, a product or service from the named year must show technical innovation, have a wide applicability and availability in trucking, and offer significant operating benefits. Last year’s winner was Eaton’s Procision medium-duty, seven-speed, dual-clutch automated transmission.
Founded in 1988, TWNA is a professional organization composed of writers, editors, public relations specialists, marketing personnel and others involved in the business of creating or producing information related to the world of trucking.
