Fleet Maintenance magazine

Decisiv, Inc. and Technology & Maintenance Council (TMC) of American Trucking Associations, Inc. have found that parts and labor costs dropped 1.6% in Q4 2024, according to the organizations' North American Service Event Benchmark Report. Reportedly , this drop reflects the anticipated decline in service and repairs after the pre-holiday freight volumes in Q3. “Lower parts and labor costs are good news for service providers and fleets after last quarter’s increase,” said Decisiv CEO Dick Hyatt. “While they indicate that parts supply chains are more stable and there is improved continuity in the ranks of technicians, the data also show that service operations are handling an increase in events more productively and efficiently. With more effective service management, communication, and collaboration practices between their in-house operations and dealers, fleets are realizing how best practices can lead to a better bottom line.” However, vendors are also likely to increase their prices due to incoming tariffs, which may not decrease once in effect. That said, the service costs for main and manual transmissions, rear axle driven, and drive shaft(s) decreased from 6-9% depending on the item. For more details on the report, see Lucas Roberto's story below. #truckingindustry #parts #service #labor #costs

President Trump has amended the 25% tariffs against Canada and Mexico to exclude automotive products complying with USMCA until April 2. U.S. Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told the press that the goal of the temporary exemption was to make sure autos coming through USMCA would not be at an "economic disadvantage." The tariffs have thus far been framed both as a way to force Canada and Mexico to stop illegal immigrants and drugs from entering the country and to establish a level trade balance. “Other countries have used tariffs against us for decades, and now it's our turn to start using them against those other countries,” the president asserted in a speech on March 4. For more on the tariffs and their impact on the trucking industry, see John Hitch's piece below. #truckingindustry #tariffs #economy

Cummins Inc. has added its next engine, the B7.2 diesel engine, to the HELM platform, following the B6.7 Octane engine. Reportedly, the B6.7 is built for medium-duty and vocational applications, including bus, pickup and delivery, utility trucks, and towing. “The B7.2 brings the latest technology and advancements to one of our most proven platforms," said Brett Merritt Merritt, vice president and president, engine business. "Combined with the rest of our medium-duty lineup, our customers will have the right engine choices to fit their business needs, with the power and dependability they have come to expect from Cummins.” For more details on the B7.2 and X10 engine, see Lucas Roberto's coverage below. #truckingindustry #engine #technology

CarriersEdge recently named the winners of its 17th annual Best Fleets to Drive For program, highlighting Decker Truck Line Inc., K & J Trucking, Inc., and Garner Trucking Inc. Decker Truck Line won in the large carrier category, K&J Trucking was named the Best Overall Fleet in the small carrier category, and Gerner Trucking received the Stratosphere Award. For Tamara OTool, VP of administration at Decker, fleet culture is a key tool in making drivers part of the team, including hiring "driver leaders." They "do everything for our drivers, and they know them inside and out— it's really important that they help [our drivers] succeed,” O'Tool noted. To see the full list of the 2025 Top 20 Best Fleets to Drive For and the 2025 Best Fleets to Drive For Hall of Fame, see Lucas Roberto's piece below. #truckingindustry #drivers #fleets

Cracked or broken windshields aren't just a safety hazard, but a regulatory problem, too, with fleets and drivers paying fines or possible incurring jail time for violations. One way to tell if a windshield needs a repair is if the 12"-wide section centered on the driver's position has a crack that could obscure the driver's vision. Then, technicians need to not only repair the glass, but re-install dash cams and any other mirror camera systems. “It’s like an optometrist setting a new eyeglass prescription,” said Auto Glass Safety Council President Jacques Navant. For more tips on safely replacing truck windshields, see Banning K. Lary, PhD's piece below. #truckingindustry #equipment #safety

Just like most aspects of the transportation industry, lubricants and engine oils are always evolving to better serve the trucks of today. The closest update for heavy-duty vehicles is Proposed Category 12 (PC-12) engine oils, which may be licensed for use in early 2027. But even if we're not sure what exactly PC-12 oils will provide yet, they're still likely to play by the rules of current oils, which are made of a base oil, additives, and a viscosity modifier and pour point depressant. Together, all three of these elements impact an engine oil's efficacy and price for fleets. "For example, base oil availability and pricing can be inconsistent, and access to the highest-quality options is not always a guarantee—and that can pose a formulation challenge," explained Padu Sreenivas, product manager at The Lubrizol Corporation. "Lower-tier base stocks may not always be adequate for formulating finished fluids to meet today’s elevated standards, like those of GF-7 and PC-12." For more details on lubricants and engine oils, see the rest of Sreenivas' story below. #truckingindustry #engineoil #lubricant

Technicians don't always find themselves working at the roadside or in the shop. Sometimes, depending on the equipment, they may find themselves out in the woods instead. For tree maintenance equipment, technicians and operators may need to address some PM items more often than they would on a truck, such as greasing. “If we grease the saw every four hours, or the undercarriage just once a day underneath the machines, that extends the life of those components before they actually need to be replaced,” said Mark Walser Walser, director of engineering and R&D at Jarraff by Prinoth Careers. In addition, operators need to keep an eye out for any hydraulic drips and teeth wear on a regular basis, as well as regularly clean their equipment. For more on how to maintain tree maintenance equipment, see Alex Keenan's story below. #equipment #truckingindustry #maintenance

It's rare to find an employee who's excited about performance evaluations. But in this column, our editor-in-chief, John Hitch, grappled with his relationship to this HR task, and how it can create anxiety in all involved or help point the way forward. "Performance check-ins, be they weekly, quarterly, or yearly, are simply tools to loosen your internal pressure valve suppressing all your anxiety, stress, and doubt," he concluded. "If you take them as a challenge and not busy work—and they’re done more as a dialogue than a diatribe—they can lift you up to that 30,000-ft. view successful executives always talk about." For more on how managers use performance evals to take a big-picture view on their own processes (and how those impact those around them), see below. #truckingindustry #performanceevaluations #hr

A strong preventative maintenance program is all well and good, but there has to be some paperwork and record keeping paired with wrenching for a shop's success. This is why so many fleets use digital systems to track and schedule their inspections and maintenance. “At NationaLease locations, both basic and component schedules are flagged when a service interval is reached,” said Joe Puff, VP of truck technology & maintenance. “We base this on truck year/make/model, usage, idle time, fuel efficiency, terrain, weather, load type, and duty cycle factors. In other words, even two of the exact same truck can have vastly different inspection schedules if they’re used and driven differently.” Most fleets set up similar alerts, while others also schedule alerts and follow-ups for deferred work. For more tips on keeping all the bookkeeping of PMs together, see Seth Skydel's story below. #truckingindustry #preventativemaintenance

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