GREENSBORO, N.C.  – Mack Trucks has released the fourth episode of its RoadLife series.

The episode, titled ‘Breaking the Mold’  shares the stories of two women blazing trails in the trucking industry, in which women make up just 12 percent of the workforce.

“I never thought my life would be with trucks,” said Raquel Renda, vice-president of Fort Worth, Texas-based Renda Environmental, a wastewater residuals management company. “But I fell into it here in Texas, and I’ve been in love ever since.”

Starting her day around 4 a.m. each morning, Renda’s responsibilities include keeping the 24/7 operation running smoothly and addressing whatever urgent issues might pop up. Instead of trying to fit the mold created by men in leadership positions, she has spent her career successfully applying her own style of running the business.

“Gender shouldn’t matter,” Renda said. “It’s all about the integrity of the work being done and the integrity of the person doing it.”

Professional truck driver “Killer” Bramer has taken a different path to success in the industry by following her dreams from an early age. After graduating as the top student – and only female – in her driving school class, she bought a truck and spent the next three years learning the ins and outs of the road. She also spent several years driving on tour with folk singer-songwriter Arlo Guthrie, who gave her the nickname “Killer.”

“Being a truck driver is not a 9 to 5 job, and it’s not for everybody,” Bramer said. “I didn’t do it because I knew I was breaking the mold, I did it because it’s my job and I do it really well.”

‘Breaking the Mold’ is available now on roadlife.tv and Amazon Prime Video. In addition, viewers can access RoadLife bonus content on Mack Trucks’ social channels: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube.

Source of article click here : Truck News

CACHE CREEK, B.C. – In a small town in the interior of B.C. a local truck show has been running for eight years now and has become a valuable part of the community of Cache Creek.

Scott McKenzie organizes the Cache Creek Working Truck Show, but not because he or his family are in the industry, but rather for a love of trucking that even he can’t explain.

“None of my family members are truck drivers, none are mechanics, so I just kind of fell into it,” said McKenzie. “I am a collector of the old stuff and wanted to find all the old Pacifics and thought, hey, let’s get the word out about these trucks, and then I started to realize there were a lot of guys who had these old trucks.”

Pacific and Hayes trucks are part of Canadian history, and a crucial part of B.C.’s identity, as both were manufactured in Vancouver, B.C.

McKenzie has a 1964 Pacific he’s currently rebuilding. He found the truck after it made its way to Prince George, where he works as a mechanical designer for ProGraph Solutions, saving the truck before it ended up in a scrap yard.

The original idea for the show in Cache Creek was to showcase Pacific and Hayes trucks. McKenzie started making some phone calls to gather as many owners as he could for his first show eight years ago.

The event takes place at Cache Creek Recreational Park, where a large enclosed pavilion houses the trucks and provides refuge from the sun for attendees, as the interior B.C. village can get quite hot in July – it was around 35 degrees Celsius the day Truck West visited the show.

“I thought I’d like to support a small community in B.C. that I remember going through as a child,” said McKenzie, “so I phoned up Cache Creek and they said they’d love to have us.”

Cache Creek has a history of being a transportation hub. Trucks traveling east and west along the Trans-Canada used to stop in the village for fuel. Many trucks traveling to or from Vancouver now take the quicker Coquihalla Highway (Hwy 5), which has lessened the number of trucks passing through Cache Creek.

“With this show we’re kind of unofficially working with (the village) to bring trucks back to town, both working trucks and old retired trucks,” said McKenzie.

The first year, the show had around 22 trucks on display, and as it has continued to grow, McKenzie said he’s torn whether he’d like to see that trend continue.

“I kind of want it to grow, but it’s kind of nice being smaller,” he admitted. “Everybody knows each other, you come in here as a new guy and make a whole bunch of new friends. It’s all about getting together and having a nice visit over the weekend, taking trucks and showing off your truck.”

Pacific Truck Manufacturing is a sponsor of the event and has been with the show since the beginning.

“This is our eighth year and it’s just gotten bigger over the years,” said Larry McNutt, export parts sales for Pacific Truck Manufacturing.

McNutt pointed out that McKenzie runs a website for Pacific and Hayes trucks enthusiasts, and is a great source of information.

“I actually use him for a lot of research,” said McNutt. “He’s out and about and travels and knows a lot of people, so I’ll phone him up and tell him if I’m on the hunt for something.”

A Pacific truck on display at the Cache Creek Working Truck Show.

McKenzie doesn’t do trophies or hand out any awards for “best in show” during the event to avoid any of the participants feeling like it’s a competition. He does offer Amazon gift certificates, which are provided by another of the show’s sponsors, SafetyDriven – The Trucking Safety Council of B.C., as well as some door prizes.

There is no registration fee to enter a truck in the show, nor is there a fee for vendors. Attendees can also go to the event free of charge.

If the truck show does continue to grow as it has, McKenzie said he has the support he needs from the community of Cache Creek.

“I have talked to the mayor and he said if it gets to be big enough, just take over the city,” he said. “Respectfully, of course.”

Source of article click here : Truck News

MONCTON, N.B. – Breadner Trailers has opened up a new location in Atlantic Canada.

The new facility is the country’s newest and largest Hyundai Translead dealer. It is currently offering a variety of Hyundai Translead dry vans and refrigerated trailers.

“We are excited to announce our newest location in Atlantic Canada, and continuing to grow with Hyundai to help expand parts, sales and service into this region for our customers,” said Robert Breadner, president of Breadner Trailers.

The new facility is located near Moncton at 66 Brenan Ave in New Brunswick.

Source of article click here : Truck News

MILTON, Ont. – TruckPro is expanding again in Ontario, announcing a new member in its network of service and parts shops across the country.

Diesel Brothers is bringing its eight service bays and seven mechanics to the TruckPro family.

The Milton, Ont. facility is a full-service shop and certified inspection station located just off Highway 401 – Canada’s busiest highway – with both in-shop and mobile repair capabilities.

The shop is open six days a week from 7 a.m. to midnight, while the mobile repair service available 24/7 – including Sundays when the shop is closed.

Diesel Brothers is a family-run business that was opened in 2014. Two lead mechanics have 30 years experience working with heavy-duty trucks and trailers between them.

Specializing in all things diesel, the shop has multiple preventative maintenance programs in addition to being an Ontario Ministry of Transportation inspection facility and conducting repairs.

The shop also repairs reefer trailers and trucks, as well as building custom reefer truck and trailer bodies.

Diesel Brothers’ full service listing can be found on their website here.

Source of article click here : Truck News

PLOVER, Wisc.  – Women In Trucking Association (WIT) and Freightliner Trucks are seeking candidates for the 2018 Influential Woman in Trucking award.

Created in 2010, the award honors female leaders in the trucking industry. Past recipients include Marcia Taylor, CEO of Bennett International Group; Rebecca Brewster, president and COO, American Transportation Research Institute; Joyce Brenny, president of Brenny Transportation, Inc./Brenny Specialized, Inc.; Rochelle Bartholomew, CEO of CalArk International; Kari Rihm, president of Rihm Kenworth; Ramona Hood, vice-president of Customer Operations, Transportation Logistics at GENCO, a FedEx company; and Daphne Jefferson, former U.S. Department of Transportation, FMCSA. 

“Across the trucking industry, we see women in ever increasing roles of importance and influence,” said Kary Schaefer, general manager, marketing and strategy, Freightliner Trucks. “Women in Trucking provides the network and structure needed to foster and promote this continuing diversification. Freightliner is pleased to be able to sponsor this award and to highlight the exceptional female leaders that help shape our industry.”

Now in its eighth year, the award recognizes women who make or influence key decisions in a corporate, manufacturing, supplier, owner-operator, driver, sales, or dealership setting. The winner must have a proven record of responsibility and have mentored or served as a role model to other women in the industry.

“The Influential Woman in Trucking Award honors female leaders who have been advocates and role models to others. Since the inception of this award, we have seen extraordinary women recognized,” said Ellen Voie, president and CEO, Women In Trucking.

Nominations will be accepted through September 1, at https://www.womenintrucking.org/influential-woman-in-trucking.

The winner will be announced at the WIT Accelerate! Conference & Expo held in Dallas, Texas, November 12-14. Each finalist will be asked to serve as panelist for the “Influential Women in Trucking” panel discussion. Those that nominate a candidate need to ask the nominee to save the date for this event if she is named a finalist.

Source of article click here : Truck News

ATMORE, Alta. – A new Alberta weigh station is setting the bar when it comes to technology.

At the top of its class in Canada, you’d have to travel south of the border to find a commercial truck weigh station comparable to the Atmore location, which opened a year ago this September to the tune of $11 million.

During the Alberta Motor Transport Association’s (AMTA) driver appreciation day July 18 at the Atmore site, Commercial Vehicle Enforcement (CVE) gave Truck West a tour of the facility, showcasing how officers are able to be more efficient with the new technologies at their fingertips.

One such tool, Intelligent Imaging Systems’ (IIS) Smart Roadside, is a military-grade thermal imaging device that helps officers detect a multitude of issues on a tractor-trailer, including flat or underinflated tires, cold brakes, proper weight disbursement, and the number of axles in a vehicle combination.

The technology uses cameras to take pictures of the truck, including each wheel to depict heat signatures. A properly trained officer can then determine if something is wrong, using their time more efficiently.

“It stops us from just picking on the next guy coming through,” said Leonard Chow, transport officer for the Lac La Biche District. “I might want to take the next guy coming through because I’m sitting there bored, and then I see someone else come through with a flat tire. I’m going for the guy with the flat tire over the other guy who has nothing wrong.”

In the thermal imaging, a white color indicates hot and black is cold. Chow explained how the front steer axle tires typically run hot with heat from the engine radiating onto the tire, and the fact that they are singles, not duals.
With duals, heat on the outside of the tire usually means the outer tire is flat, while heat on the rim means the inner tire is at fault.

Smart Roadside also scans the vehicle’s licence plate and checks the database to see if the truck is running on an expired safety inspection or operating authority, notifying an officer if there’s an issue.

“Technology is helping us do our job,” said Dan McCormack, CVE inspector for the Northern Region. “You’ll never beat just putting an office out and putting them in an area and checking vehicles, but it’s nice to have.”

McCormack echoed Chow’s sentiment on how the use of these new technologies boosts efficiency.

“It’s pretty cool to have this technology to start watching for this,” he said. “When an officer is working the counter, it’s pretty hard to stare at every wheel. You just can’t do it.”

Brian Heath, president and CEO of IIS and its sister company, Drivewyze, said a lot of forethought went into the design, location (in the median of Hwy 63 for both north and southbound traffic), and use of the new technology.

“Alberta became the first province in Canada to adopt our advanced thermal imaging system to automatically identify high-risk and problematic commercial vehicles from the roadside without disrupting the flow of traffic,” said Heath. “It’s also the first province to use our smart transponder-based weigh station bypass service.”

Alberta fleets that are part of the Partners in Compliance (PIC) program can utilize the bypass program through the Drivewyze PreClear weigh station application.

During the month of May, 56,000 PIC members received weigh station bypasses.

Jacquie Daumont, acting chief of Alberta CVE, said the new technology helps improve efficiency on one of the province’s business highways.

“Intelligent Imaging System’s advanced thermal imaging system, licence plate and decal readers, and Smart Roadside screening platform greatly enhance our officers’ ability to identify and remove unsafe vehicles from a highway, on which more than 1.5 million vehicles travel each year,” said Daumont.

Another piece of hardware at the Atmore station is a brake tester.

With disc brakes becoming the norm, it takes more than a visual inspection to tell if they are in proper working condition.

“This comes in really handy now with the disc brakes on vehicles because there’s no way we can actually check everything on those,” said Chow. “We can’t really measure pads on them, we can’t measure push rod strokes…the only way we can tell if they’re working is to throw them across (the brake tester) and this thing tells us.”

Visual checks can inspect issues like pushrod travel, a contaminated brake line, or listening for an air leak. The device can determine much more.

“It can tell us if the brakes need an adjustment, brake line is contaminated, bearings are seized up…it will pick up on stuff like that,” explained Chow. “It gives us a better idea of what the brakes are actually doing for stuff that we can’t see. It checks it mechanically and we check it visually.”

“Even if a vehicle is grossly overweight, or if the drums are worn out and there isn’t good contact,” added McCormack, “we wouldn’t see that visually laying underneath to inspect it.”

CVE officers can use the brake check technology at their discretion, but it is not something used to screen every truck passing through the Atmore station.

The brake check is housed in another new feature at the scale – a shed – which was first seen at the Balzac facility and is also in Leduc, Slave Lake, and Coutts.

The shed is convenient during inclement weather, and at the Atmore location it offers training rooms, lockers, washrooms, and a catwalk to check cargo securement at the top of the load.

“We often run into logs where they have to have so many tie-downs and so many have to be in contact with the load,” said McCormack. “We do our best to see from the counter or at roadside, but this allows you to go up top.”

There are also drop down floors in the shed, which makes it easier for officers to get under the tractor-trailer using a roller – referred to as “the bone creeper” – which, as McCormack said, is getting lower and lower to the ground with new aerodynamics.

“A lot of this new technology wasn’t there,” he said of older model trucks. “Twenty years ago you could probably crawl under a truck on your knees, and now you can barely get under it on your back.”

CVE can go mobile, as well.

With five mobile inspection units in the province, the vehicles are used during CVE checks and at mobile inspection stations to enable the location to be treated like a weigh scale.

“Just a truck isn’t bad when you’re by yourself,” McCormack said, “but you put a couple of officers in there and it gets a little tight after a couple of days.”

The units are also used by the province during disaster situations, such as floods and forest fires.

“They’re useful to the province when something happens and they cash in and use them,” said McCormack, “but the rest of the time, we look after them and use them at our checks.”

Mobile inspection units are equipped with diesel or gas generators, bathrooms, a kitchen, and work stations.

Alberta CVE operates under a mandates that identifies three key objectives: protect the infrastructure, which it does with its scales; public safety through mechanical inspections on vehicles, checking driver credentials, and patrolling for driver behavior; and the Alberta advantage to make sure it’s a fair and even playing field.

Officers are not only trained as commercial vehicle inspectors, but also for dangerous goods and invasive species.

There are approximately 140 CVE officers in Alberta, and in a perfect world, McCormack would like to see more.

“A lot of our problem is we seem to be able to hire in the hub areas – Edmonton and Calgary – but it’s sometimes very difficult to recruit up to these northern locations,” he said. “Fort McMurray is a primary example. A lot of the times you go up there, it’s like the Wild West…it’s like shooting fish in a barrel. You could be writing tickets all day, but we don’t have the manpower. We do our best.”

Though he says a good portion of carriers do a decent job, it’s that other percentage that makes it difficult to police.

“You can go on any trucking website and hear the negativity about the things we do every day, but I would like to think that’s a small portion of the industry and the credible carriers are happy to see us out there because it allows them to operate and not compete against that,” said McCormack. “If you run a reputable company, you do your job, and you’re diligent in your work, you really should have nothing to worry about.”

Source of article click here : Truck News