Announcements

The following request comes from ATA's Kevin Grove:

ATA and TMC need your help to address this underride labeling issue we're having with FMCSA. Long story short FMCSA denied a petition from CVSA to remove the labeling requirement on underride guards from the regulations, which means it will become a roadside violation for these labels to be damaged or missing.

We had a meeting with FMCSA yesterday where we got both good and bad news.

The bad news is that the book is closed on the denied petition and they won't reconsider their decision.

The good news is that they were receptive to our message and said CVSA should submit another petition with additional information.

It kicks the can down the road, but at least there is a path forward and some more time to try to fix the issue. CVSA has extended their deadline to start enforcing this reg until the end of the year.

 In the meantime, we need documentation that we can share with FMCSA, anonymously if needed:

•     Written documentation from ICC / RIG suppliers or trailer suppliers that they will not provide replacement labels if they are damaged or missing

•     Examples of worn or missing labels from a variety of equipment. We need to document that this issue is not limited to one manufacturer, and that it is not only an issue on the oldest trailers

•     Confirmation that this will affect a large portion of trailers. We don't need exact numbers, just a ballpark or confirmation that what you see aligns with the data collected by CVSA

•     CVSA did a 1-week pilot back in 2019. Out of 10,000 trailer inspections, over 2,000 violations related to the label were issued, meaning over 20% of the trailers had missing or damaged labels.

We expect CVSA to file their new petition ASAP, and any information you can share is greatly appreciated.

Kevin Grove

Director, Safety & Technology Policy

kgrove@trucking.org

Office: 703-838-7980

Cell: 717-491-7812

National Technician Appreciation Week #NTAW24
It's time to celebrate technicians! National Technician Appreciation Week (NTAW) is here, running from September 22-28, and we couldn't be more excited to honor the dedicated professionals who keep America moving.

Professional technicians play one of the most demanding and important roles in trucking. Let's take this week to say THANK YOU for their hard work and commitment.

Check out our special video tribute and join us in celebrating their incredible contributions to our industry.

#NTAW24 #ThankATechnician

FedEx Freight’s Nickles Repeats as TMCSuperTech Grand Champion

Transwest Truck’s Jonathan Cecil Wins 2nd Place; Hogan Truck Leasing’s Carl Diehl Places Third; Hogan Truck Leasing Wins Team Competition

Raleigh, N.C – Doug Nickles, a FedEx Freight technician from East Moline, Illinois, was crowned TMCSuperTech Grand Champion for a second consecutive year here at the American Trucking Associations’ Technology and Maintenance Council's National Technicians Skills Competition. 

“Being named Grand Champion at TMC's National Technicians Skills Competitions is a tremendous honor,” said TMC Executive Director Robert Braswell. “Doug demonstrated the kinds of skills, technical knowledge and professionalism we have come to expect from our members. Congratulations to him, and to all our competitors who displayed extraordinary talent during this competition.”

Transwest Truck’s Jonathan Cecil, placed second and Hogan Truck Leasing’s Carl Diehl placed third. Hogan Truck Leasing won the team competition with Carl Diehl and Clyde Weathers. Elsewhere in the competition, Maxwell Chatman, a student at Ferris State University, won the TMCFutureTech National Student Technician Skills Competition, with John Connor, Des Moines Area Community College finishing second and Jack Lorenz, University of Northwestern Ohio placing third.

A full list of station winners will be available at: https://tmc.trucking.org/news

TMCSuperTech and TMCFutureTech 2024 are officially in the books!  Today's competition was tough and challenging and now we're looking forward to a day of training in advance of Tuesday evening's Awards Banquet where we will announce the winners of the various skills stations and the top three overall winners in both the Professional and Student Tracks!

Day 1 of TMCSuperTech is in the books. We're here in Raleigh, NC and are pumped for Day 2 tomorrow!

Today is the first day of the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance’s (CVSA) weeklong brake-safety inspection and enforcement initiative. During Brake Safety Week, commercial motor vehicle law enforcement personnel in Canada, Mexico and U.S. will conduct their usual vehicle inspections with a focus on brake systems and components.

From Aug. 25-31, CVSA-certified inspectors will collect and submit inspection and violation data on brake systems and components, including brake linings and pads, to CVSA. That data will be gathered and analyzed, and the results will be released later this year.

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In addition, jurisdictions with performance-based brake testers (PBBT) may use those machines to conduct brake-safety inspections. A PBBT assesses the braking performance of a vehicle. Data from PBBT vehicle inspections will also be submitted to CVSA and included in the final Brake Safety Week results.

TMC Fleet Members Top Maintenance Concerns Continue to Shift in 2024 

The things that keep fleet managers up at night continued to shift through the middle of July 2024, according to a summer survey conducted by ATA’s Technology & Maintenance Council’s (TMC)— at least when it comes to TMC fleet members’ top maintenance worries. 

More than 400 TMC fleet members were asked to share their current top five fleet maintenance concerns, based on a wide-ranging list of 85 possible choices from which to select. Of those responding, the following were identified as the top reported concerns in descending order, even though the list did not prove to be a clean top five:

1.  The top maintenance issue identified in the summer 2024 survey was Inflation (Economic).

2.  Brakes and Cost Containment were identified as the number two maintenance issue facing fleets (tie).

3.  Technician Training was identified by fleets as number three.

4.  New Technology Challenges and Labor Rates were identified as number four (tie).

5.  Technician Retention and Technician Staffing were tied as number five.

Warranty Awareness just missed the top five coming in at sixth place.

Inflation and Brakes appeared in the TMC top five list for the first time in the ongoing series, significantly placing as first and second top concern respectively. Dropping from the top 5 since the last survey was conducted in the fall of 2023 were Aftertreatment, Roadside Breakdowns, Data Management and Vendor Reliability.

The list changed from the last time TMC surveyed fleet members on this question in November 2023. At that time, members said their top five concerns were:

1.     Technician Staffing

2.     Aftertreatment

3.     Roadside Breakdowns

4.     Data Management, New Technology Challenges,
and Vendor Reliability (tie)

5.     New Equipment Availability

— Robert Braswell, TMC Executive Director

Below is the link to the webinar from July 2024 "Chats With the General Chairman" featuring TMC's General Chairman and Treasurer,  Amanda Schuier.

ATA’s Technology & Maintenance Council (TMC) has released an updated version of its Troubleshooting Ride Complaints manual.  The newly revised manual features 100-pages of information on how to identify, evaluate and troubleshoot ride complaints. 

TMC’s Troubleshooting Ride Complaints manual is based on TMC Recommended Practice 648A, Troubleshooting Ride Complaints, and features expanded ride condition diagnostics, updated flowcharts and a new vibration and ride diagnostic quick reference guide. It also standardizes the terminology associated with these issues to improve communication between drivers and technicians.

During the past 15 years, trucks and tractors have evolved into complex vehicles with many variations. Both fleet and driver expectations have risen dramatically during this time and companies now often specify premium vehicles to encourage driver retention. Many design and component changes have improved vehicle performance. But while overall ride quality has improved, elevated expectations have helped increase ride complaints.

TMC’s Troubleshooting Ride Complaints manual helps equipment users and maintenance operations pinpoint issues that cause driver discomfort and reduced equipment performance such as vibration, shimmy, harsh ride, poor handling, pitch/backslap, instability, bounce/hop and vehicle hard to recover. Developed by TMC members and industry experts, the manual is the definitive guide for diagnosing commercial vehicle ride complaints. 

Discounts available for multiple quantities/bulk orders. Customized covers also available upon request.

Below is the link to the recording from 5/15/24 of the debut "Chats with the Chairman" episode with TMC General Chairman and Treasurer, Amanda Schuier.

Chats With the Chairman - RP Process-20240515_150101-Meeting Recording.mp4

Taki Darakos, PITT OHIO’s fleet manager who oversees the acquisition and maintenance of 1,550 company-owned tractors and box trucks, testified before Congress on the technological, operational, and financial challenges fleets face as federal and state regulations mandate the adoption of battery-electric trucks. Darakos chairs the Technology & Maintenance Council's (TMC) S.11 Sustainability & Environmental Technologies Study Group.

The American Trucking Associations’ Technology & Maintenance Council (TMC) has conducted a survey on behalf of its S.1 Electrical Study Group to assess fleet preferences regarding performance and characteristics for the next generation (NextGen) of tractor-trailer electrical and data connector(s) to be recommended as the successor to the current industry standard SAE J560 connector.

The results of the survey were collected from a representative cross section of fleet operations. The fleets responding to the survey indicated a high-priority need for development of a NextGen connector that maintains backward compatibility with existing SAE J560-equipped vehicles, as well as a need in the short-to-medium time frame for new features and technologies that would be enabled by whatever is ultimately selected as the NextGen connector.

A Recap Video from TMC's 2024 Annual Meeting Now Available. Click below to view and share.

Download available presentations from TMC's 2024 Annual Meeting, recently concluded in New Oreleans.

Link follows:

https://tmcconnect.trucking.org/communities/community-home?CommunityKey=b18fd71d-e5bc-4020-b79b-018adc4643f0

Just a few days more until TMC's 2024 Annual Meeting & Transportation Technology Exhibition.  If you haven't downloaded the mobile app from Google Play or the Apple App store, do it now.  Search keyword ATA Events.

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A PDF of the onsite meeting program is also available here at this link in TMC's 2024 Annual Meeting Presentation Library

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https://tmcconnect.trucking.org/communities/community-home?CommunityKey=b18fd71d-e5bc-4020-b79b-018adc4643f0

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See you in New Orleans!

As part of the TMC 2024 Spring Meeting the S.5 VMRS Codes Committee will conduct a public meeting on Monday March 4, 2024 from 8:30am to 9:00am local time.

The Agenda will be as follows:
1. Introduction - P. Moszak
2. Review ATA antitrust guidelines - P. Moszak
3. VMRS Update - P. Moszak
4. Open VMRS Discussion - ALL

To register for the TMC 2024 Spring Meeting go HERE

TMC has published S.1 ELECTRICAL STUDY GROUP POSITION PAPER: 2024-3 — RECOMMENDATIONS REGARDING TECHNICAL NEEDS FOR NEXT GENERATION TRACTOR/TRAILER ELECTRICAL AND DATA CONNECTIVITY.

This position paper lays out the technical performance needs for a new tractor/trailer electrical interface for both power and data, so as to provide a set of technical characteristics to facilitate advancement of trailer technology through modernizing the truck/trailer interface in a way that minimizes the burden on fleets and individual owner/operators, and allows for the best opportunity for successful industry adoption without causing unnecessary business disruption yet still provide the necessary expansions to accommodate future truck/trailer functionality.

The S.1 Next Generation Tractor/Trailer Electrical Interface Task Force is utilizing these criteria in its continuing work to evaluate various proposals for the NextGen Interface for potentially replacing the SAE J560 connector with a new standardized interface.

The Position Paper is availalble for download at:  https://ata.msgfocus.com/c/19Ph8moVoJZt8a4iip

TMC and Universal Technical Institute (UTI) have partnered to offer a total of four (4) one-half scholarships in 2024. The four (4) half-scholarships will be awarded for UTI's diesel technology program or the combined automotive/diesel technology program, with attendance to one of the following UTI locations — Avondale, AZ, Long Beach, CA, Rancho Cucamonga, CA, Sacramento, CA, Austin, TX, Houston, TX, Dallas, TX, Lisle, IL, Exton, PA, Orlando, FL, Miramar, FL, Canton, MI, Bloomfield, NJ, NASCAR Technical Institute, Mooresville, NC. Scholarship award to be used for tuition only. These are post-secondary programs and the scholarship must be used within one year of issuance. 

The things that keep fleet managers up at night continued to shift through the end of 2023, according to a survey conducted by ATA’s Technology & Maintenance Council (TMC) — at least when it comes to TMC fleet members’ top maintenance worries. 

More than 400 TMC fleet members were asked to share their current top five fleet maintenance concerns, based on a wide-ranging list of 85 possible choices from which to select. Of those responding, the following were identified as the top reported concerns in descending order, even though the list did not prove to be a clean top five:

1. The top maintenance issue identified in the fall 2023  survey was technician staffing.
2. Aftertreatment was identified as the number two maintenance issue facing fleets.
3. Roadside breakdowns was identified by fleets as number three.
4. Data management, new technology challenges, and vendor reliability were identified as number four (tie).

New equipment availability was identified as number five.

 
Roadside breakdowns, data management, new technology challenges, and vendor reliability appeared in the TMC top five list for the first time in the fall of 2023. New equipment availability returned to the top five list after being absent in the summer of 2023. It appeared in the top five in the spring of 2023.

The list changed from the last time TMC surveyed fleet members on this question in the summer of 2023. At that time, members said their top five concerns were:

1. Cost Containment
2. Aftertreatment
3. Technician Shortage
4. Technician Staffing. Parts Shortage/Availability, and Emissions (tie)
5. Outsourcing, Reliability, Technician Recruitment (tie)
   
               — Robert Braswell, TMC Executive Director
   
   

As an important reminder note to all: Recording of any TMC meeting, including on platforms like Zoom, TEAMs, etc. is strictly prohibited by ATA/TMC legal/procedural policies and antitrust concerns unless specifically authorized by the TMC Board of Directors.