The benefits of lightweighting are not just for heavy-duty trucks
Every pound of weight you can eliminate when specifying a truck is another pound of payload capacity. If you’re a delivery operation, that means the truck can legally carry more goods. If you run a vocational or service fleet, it can mean carrying more supplies, tools and equipment to job sites. In both cases, that adds up to improved productivity and efficiency.
Fleet profile: Texas-based Alan Ritchey is focused on delivering the best possible value to customers
Meeting customer requirements is nothing new for Alan Ritchey Inc. (ARI). While the Valley View, Texas-based family owned and operated carrier provides services in several government, industrial, agriculture, energy and transportation sectors from coast to coast, since it was founded in 1964 it has served as a contract mail hauler for the United States Postal Service (USPS).
Solving the puzzle: Eagle Transport is using fleet management technology to put all the right pieces together
Primarily, Eagle Transport hauls raw milk from farms and plants to production facilities. The niche carrier also works with organic and smaller farms. In addition, it handles some loads of liquid sugar.
The right solutions: Manufacturers providing medium-duty trucks designed for fleet customers’ applications
Growth in the medium-duty truck segment continues to lead fleets to look for new vehicle capabilities and options that can be used in specific and dedicated applications. Across the board, truck manufacturers are responding to those needs with a range of vehicles.
Making upfitting easier in medium-duty applications
Trucking companies are working to improve the total cost of ownership by focusing on making upfitting easier for truck equipment manufacturers.
Benchmarking success: Utility fleets are using performance metrics to drive measurable improvements
Fleet executives at the annual Electric Utility Fleet Managers Conference (EUFMC), discussed benchmarking. For fleet managers on the panel, using data and performance metrics is a means of showing opportunities for improvement, through which cost savings can be realized.
At Prime Inc., success is driven by dedication to supporting drivers
It shouldn’t be surprising that Prime Inc. has always been a driver-focused trucking company. Robert Low started the operation in 1970 with a single truck, with the then-19-year old behind the wheel as the company’s first driver. Today, he’s still at the helm as the carrier‘s president.
Medium-duty truck dealer networks become increasingly capable
With ongoing growth in many vocational market segments, including operations that use medium-duty trucks, truck manufacturers like Ford, GM and Ram are actively working with their dealer networks to expand service offerings. Just as importantly, they are providing extensive training and support to the highly specialized commercial dealers.
Eagle Transportation adheres to the highest standards to earn the trust of its customers
At Eagle Transportation Co., it’s all about productivity and uptime. “In the past, a down truck could cause missed pickups and deliveries, and driver overtime,” says Mike Brady, the company’s president. “That was a costly problem, especially during the fall harvest period, so uptime is everything in our business.”
Electric vehicles are being readied for vocational operations
A tipping point is rapidly approaching in the drive to develop electric commercial vehicles. For those units, reduced fuel use and maintenance costs will yield rough parity with traditional designs, even allowing for higher upfront costs.
Augmented reality in truck service: A different way to train technicians
With augmented reality training, fleets can lower costs and downtime, and find it easier to attract new technicians.
Actively reducing risk: Taking stock of the safety systems available for medium-duty trucks
In medium-duty commercial operations, safety systems are becoming more important and prevalent as fleets seek to reduce the risk of their trucks being involved in accidents, to improve the safety of drivers and to potentially lower insurance costs.
