Virtual threats and opportunities Consider the state of today's service network. Waits are long. Customer productivity is suffering. Consistency does not exist, and transient customers tend to be viewed as a meal-ticket rather than a long-term business partner of the total network. ... There is a fundamental inconsistency between what our customers would like and what we are currently providing. In other words, there is a market opportunity. ...What if a third-party provider created a virtual service network? Would fleets jump on board with the concept? I believe they would." - Marc F. Gustafson, president and CEO of Volvo Trucks North America, speaking to the Heavy Duty Manufacturers Assn.
Are you in or out? Technology will reshape everything that you and we do. From the impact of e-commerce on retail distribution, to the flow of and access to information, to the electronics technology onboard and connected to our trucks, it will be information and technology that will create the platform for competition among companies, communities, and countries in the future." - James L. Hebe, Freightliner Corp. president and CEO, at the Truckload Carriers Association's annual meeting
A recent survey of the nation's motor carriers on technology adoption yielded the following results: 43.1% use the Internet for business purposes; 56.9% do not. Of the carriers presently not on the Web, 53.7% say they have no plans to get 'hooked up.' " - 1998 survey by Data Transmission Network, a major provider of weather services to the motor carrier industry ]
Only in Vegas... Las Vegans who call the construction crane the city's official bird can be forgiven for fearing divine retribution had arrived when ConExpo/ConAgg roosted in Sin City this spring. The construction extravaganza filled acres outside the Convention Center with a multitude of sky-grazing cranes and other job-site behemoths. Innocent denizens of the Strip got a free show when a "Dancing Diggers" parade of mobile equipment took to the streets. And jaded local newscasters horned in on the action. Among their reports was a hard-hitting piece that breathlessly uncovered the difference between cement and concrete.
"Get used to it. You ain't seen nothin' yet." - Adrian Dillon, Eaton Corp.'s exec. vp, chief financial and planning officer, on the current prosperity of the trucking industry, in a speech at the American Truck Dealers conference on April 12
Freight is falling from the sky Shippers are indicating a mode shift from air to ground for both parcel and heavy-weight freight in the U.S.," reports BTAlex. Brown. "We expect this trend to continue as ground parcel and heavy-weight products should grow at a faster pace than deferred air freight over the next few years. This represents a reversal in the growth rates of the last several years. Over the next five to ten years, we expect third-party supply chain logistics to remain the fastest growing transportation-related product. Only 26% of our shippers ... outsource more than 10% of their supply chain needs. In two years, this number is expected to almost double to 46%."
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