Watch: Three lessons learned from the ELD mandate
If your fleet has drivers who are currently required to keep records of duty service, Dec. 16, 2019 is a date with which you should be very familiar. That’s the day your fleet must start to use the electronic logging devices known as ELDs that are registered with the Federal Motor Carrier and Safety Administration, or FMCSA.
Watch: The future of trailer tracking solutions
Software companies that create the trailer tracking systems fleet managers are familiar with know that having the ability to see the real-time location and status of your trailers can have a direct impact on your business’s productivity. So, we caught up with some of these companies to ask: What trailer tracking solutions are coming in the near future?
It’s time to think of suspensions as driver retention equipment
The suspension plays a major role in the truck’s ride quality. When your drivers are spending eight, 10 or 12 hours a day in your cabs, an improved ride can add up, reducing the pain and strain that are inherent parts of prolonged driving, and helping the drivers feel better when they exit the cab at the end of a long day.
What’s next for suspensions?
Future suspension technology, FE’s sources say, will make suspensions even more useful as a driver recruitment and retention tool.
A look at air cab suspensions
Let’s focus on the cab suspension for a moment. Link Manufacturing, a maker of cab suspensions, has focused much of its recent development efforts on improving ride quality, which has resulted in the introduction of the ROI Cabmate Semi-Active Cab Suspension.
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.
The importance of freight-ton efficiency
Of all the different metrics that can be used for measuring the energy required to move goods—miles per gallon, ton-miles per gallon, gallons per ton-mile and freight ton efficiency—freight-ton efficiency (FTE), measured in ton-miles per gallons, is the most effective in measuring the amount of energy required to transport a load of goods from Point A to Point B.
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).
Ready for winter: Truck air line inspection/replacement tips
Air lines should be inspected for damage to avoid failure on the road.
FAQ: Answering your questions about Volvo Active Driver Assist 2.0
What are the basics of the system? What are its features? How does it all work? We address those questions and more here.
How will today’s ‘customer focus’ translate to tomorrow’s electric trucks?
Over the past three years, OEMs have invested heavily in driver-focused equipment benefits—from cozy creature comforts to uptime- and productivity-boosting technology. Today, significant R&D investment is going into the development of electric trucks—probing the possibilities of untested powertrains in hopes of producing a product that meets application needs.
Photo gallery: NACV Show 2019
This year’s NACV Show, held at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta, drew new products, speakers and more from some of the world’s biggest trucking companies.
