Wow, lots of news last week in the trucking industry. We, of course, announced the launch of Run on Less, our three-week one-of-a-kind cross-country roadshow to measure fuel economy in real trucks carrying actual loads.
But then Swift and Knight announced a merger into Knight-Swift Transportation, a $5 billion company. And Eaton and Cummins formed a joint venture, Eaton Cummins Automated Transmission Technologies, to manufacture automated transmissions for medium- and heavy-duty commercial vehicles.
Seems to me there is a common theme here and that is about taking what is already good and making it better.
Craig Arnold, Eaton chairman and CEO, said, “Customers are focused on powertrain solutions that provide the best combination of technology, performance and quality.”
Knight CEO Kevin Knight said, “We look forward to learning from each other’s best practices as we seek to be the most efficient company in the industry.”
With Run On Less we are hoping to spread the word about best fuel efficiency practices.
The interesting thing about all these announcements and about much of the other things that go on in the trucking industry is there is no one right answer. Our industry is filled with lots of creative people who continue to experiment, test, alter and tinker with the end goal of improving their operation. And that could be a fuel economy improvement — which we are happy to help with — or a driver comfort improvement or a safety improvement or one of a dozen other things that they are trying to make better.
Seeing other big companies like Eaton, Cummins, Swift and Knight coming together to improve what they are doing makes me proud to be in this industry. It seems like whenever one of us moves the needle we all get pushed forward.
Just like these recent announcements have inspired me, I am hoping that Run On Less will inspire some of you to figure out to squeeze that extra tenth or even hundredth of a mile out of a gallon of fuel.
