TMC 2017 Day 1

Larry Bennett, director of the vehicle technology center for the vehicle group at Eaton Corp., talked about how the move towards more "connected" trucks and ones with self-driving capabilities will drive the need for more "electrification" of commercial vehicles; a trend that will drive the need to upgrade to 48 volt systems on heavy trucks.

Truck Lite's Brett Jackson discussed the company's new "Road Ready" trailer tracking system, which he expects will launch in June of this year. Right now some 6,500 trailers are equipped with the device as the company wraps up its Beta testing efforts.

Haldex's Scott Walpole highlighted key attributes of the company's new "intelligent trailer control module" or ITCM, which should be available by the second quarter of this year.

Phillips Industries is also getting into the "connected trailer" game with the creation of a new division: Phillips Connect Technologies. "We need to embrace what is coming," said Rob Phillips (standing), president and COO of Phillips. "A tidal wave of change is coming at us; we'll experience more change in this industry in the next five years compared ot the last 50." (Seated, left to right: Dave Diaz, director of marketing; Dave Phillips, VP of operations; and Tom Begin, director of innovation and emerging technologies)

Dana unveiled a new tire analytics program called Rhombus at TMC along with some upgrades to its tandem axle and driveshaft products. Left to right: Steve Slesinski, Dana’s director of global planning-commercial vehicle driveline technologies; Mark Wallace, executive VP; Tim Farney, VP of global sales for commercial vehicles; and Trent Siemens, director of maintenance for Paul's Hauling, a Canadian fleet that's been piloting testing the Rhombus program for 3 months. 

A "double dose of Josh" describes the new partnership between automatic tire inflation system provider Aperia, headed by CEO Josh Carter, and truck aerodynamics developer FlowBelow, headed by President Josh Butler.

Norm Ellis, a longtime industry veteran who became president-North America for electronic logging device(ELD)  maker EROAD this January, believes that some 1.4 million truck drivers currently are not using ELDs, with 800,000 of them working at fleets with less than 20 trucks.

Andrew MacDonald (far left), EROAD's product manager, stressed that 'there are no shortcuts' when it comes to making ELDs compliant with the 600-plus rulemaking issued by the FMCSA mandating the use of such technology by U.S. truck drivers by Dec. 2017. He's joined by Gail Lavario (middle) EROAD's VP of compliance and regulatory affairs, and Paul Clark (right), EROAD's regional sales manager for the U.S. northwest.

Deryk Powell, president of Velociti, noted that whil 50% of new trailer orders are spec'd with automatic tire inflation systems of some type, only a very small percentage of existing trailers are retrofitted with such technology. His company is working with Pressure Systems International, makers of the Meritor Tire Inflation System by P.S.I., to make such retrofitting easier for fleets. He added that Velociti has retrofitted 45,000 trailers to date.

TMW Systems is trying to bringing lower-cost versions of its back-office record keeping technologies to smaller fleets. Scott Vanselous, executive VP of asset management solutions (left) and Renaldo Adler, principle for TMW's asset management group, discussed the firm's new FleetCheck and Parts Manager Solution - a mobile app.

Decisiv’s Michael Riemer, is a "big believer" that good data is critical for effective and efficient truck maintenance programs. The company is not only beefing up its offering in that space with the rollout of Insite 2.0 but also just issued a white paper to help further educate the industry regarding the reasons why "big data" helps support truck uptime.

SAF Holland's Roger Jansen highlighted the weight savings of the company's new CBX23 AeroBeam suspension, aimed at flatbed and tanker trailers; a 45 lbs. savings versus the company's current offering for such fleets. It's designed for vocational applications and offers "significant improvements in strength" despite its lighter weigh, Jansen said.

SAF-Holland's Ron Froese talked about the company's new FW35TT terminal tractor fifth wheel, which is made from a "higher strength" steel alloy compared to the previous model, with an "auto lock" feature that helps prevent "bounce out" of trailer kingpins.

Bobby Humphrey, director of telematic sales for Quality Companies, described the features of the new "street smart elog" electronic logging device (ELD) it is crafting in partnership with Gauge Telematics. This device will be offered as part of a kit that will cost $500, with a $39.99 monthly charge thereafter, with $10 per month added on if the fleet wishes to get "Class 8 truck navigation" service as well, he said.

Mike Roeth, executive director of the North American Council for Freight Efficiency (NACFE) unveiled the group's latest "confidence report" at TMC, one focused on the viability of eight vehicle engine accessories.

Josh Butler, president of FlowBelow, returned again to the press conference stage at TMC to highlight the company's latest two offerings: an AeroFender for tandem tractor axles and a Trailer AeroKit for trailer axles.

Chris Villavarayan, president of the Americas for Meritor, closed the first day of TMC out with a high-energy bash to introduce the company's new 14X HE tandem tractor axle, with 'HE' standing for 'high efficiency.'

Villavarayan told Fleet Owner that the "long and short" story of the 14X HE is 1.5% to 2% more efficient operation and less weight, which should help drive fuel savings for linehaul fleets in highway operations.