Solar and Energy Storage Go Corporate
Commercial solar is finally being paired with energy storage.
Lippert Components introduces somnum Discovery Latex Foam Mattress
Lippert Components is bringing a new line of truck mattress to market designed to exceed OE mattress standards and give drivers a mattress as good as the one they have at home. Lippert current builds 2,800 mattress each day for trucking and the RV market. During a press conference held in conjunction with the 2018 Technology and Maintenance Council Annual Meeting and Transportation Technology Exhibit, Lippert Components introduced their latest somnum Sleeper Series mattresses.
"Driver satisfaction is top of mind for the majority of OTR trucking fleets as they deal with the challenges of a current driver shortage facing the commercial vehicle industry," notes Mike Padrnos, business development manager at LCI. “A comfortable mattress is a relatively small investment to a truck's sleeper. A quality bunk mattress may entice a driver to join your company, stay with your company and might deter them from leaving. It's certainly an important factor for drivers who spend 200+ nights on the road every year.”
Padrnos likened some of the current mattresses found while doing market research to be like "prison mats."
"We talked to drivers about existing products and some of the health problems they experience stemming from poor quality mattresses," he said. "we also discovered that drivers have great difficulty finding sheets to fit the obscure mattress sizes."
Lippert is also offering a line of specially tailored sheet sets for trucks. The fitted bottom sheet is equipped with a drawstring to cinch it tightly around the mattress. They are designed to fit mattresses up to 10 inches thick and come in a single color that compliments many of today's truck interiors. One SKU will cover about 80% of the mattress product currently in the market place, said Padrnos.
The newest somnum mattress is the Discovery; a 10" latex foam mattress constructed with a combination core. It pairs ...Read the rest of this story
Rush Service Connect Now Allows Maintenance Tracking, Analysis
RushCare Service Connect now allows fleets to easily track maintenance costs.
">Mega truck dealer group Rush Enterprises is doubling down on fleet uptime with its RushCare Service Connect communications platform.
First announced two years ago, RushCare Service Connect gives fleet customers an online, on-demand, 360-degree view of the service process for vehicles in Rush Truck Centers' service departments. The latest enhancements have turned it into a tool fleets can use for tracking maintenance and warranty and analyzing many maintenance costs.
“The enhancements made to RushCare Service Connect make it even easier to monitor maintenance and warranty information, receive alerts and schedule service all in one place, when needed,” said Brian Mulshine, Director of Operations Technology and Innovation, Rush Enterprises.
Mulshine, who joined Rush several years ago after being in charge of Navistar International's telematics program, said his goal has been to create a “unified strategy on remote diagnostics,” he told HDT in an interview. “We support a lot of different brands, but every brand is going a different way, and we need to make sure as an organization how we support our customers.”
“This product here is scary, how much it will do,” he said. Rush has put in a lot of work to make the web interface intuitive and easy to use for fleet customer. A responsive design means it can easily be used whether a fleet manager is at their desk or using a smartphone or tablet.
Truck fleet maintenance and warranty tracking
RushCare Service Connect's new maintenance tracking module allows users to easily create custom maintenance tables for every asset type and apply them to any vehicle or trailer in the system. The system incorporates the TMC Vehicle Maintenance Record Standards (VMRS) with visual indicators for easy identification by users. The VMRS codes are easy to input, even if you don't know ...Read the rest of this story
SAF-Holland Unveils Tire Pilot Plus Tire Pressure Management System
SAF-Holland¹s new Tire Pilot Plus Tire Pressure Management System has been adopted from the company¹s European TMPS offering, which has been on the market since 2013. Photo: Jack Roberts
">SAF-Holland announced its new Tire Pilot Plus tire pressure management system at the 2018 TMC Annual Meeting in Atlanta, Sunday. The company says the new TPMS will allow fleets to protect tires by reducing wear and associated costs, improve fuel efficiency and optimize uptime.
SAF-Holland¹s new Tire Pilot Plus is designed to provide consistent and proper inflation pressures in tires. But, according to Roger Jansen, product manager, trailer axles and suspensions for the company¹sAmericas operations, the new system also maintains equal pressure across all wheel positions on a tractor-trailer. And additional feature is Tire Pilot Plus's High Pressure Relief function, which vents off excess pressure when tires become over inflated.
SAF-Holland said its new TPMS has a return on investment of less than one year, and can help fleets control maintenance costs by reducing time spent on tire repairs and replacements and eliminating the need for routine tire pressure checks.
Key features in the new design include:
- A robust design with durable components in a non-pressurized axle environment for a simpler, longer-lasting unit life.
- Knurled connections at both the cap and tire ends of the stainless steel air hose for easy, hand-tightened, connections without a wrench.
- A proprietary hubcab design with protective fins to keep the air-fitting connections from being damaged.
- A polished steel/flexible tubing insert shaft and internal double lip seal which provide a robust seal that allows for potential axial misalignment and long service life.
For easy installation, Tire Pilot Plus features customized, plug-in electrical harness to meet most applications which maintains tire pressure even when the system is not connected to to the tractor.
Follow <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://twitter.com/HDTrucking" ...Read the rest of this story
During Trump hotel strife, a 'Trump Mojito' but no water
PANAMA CITY (AP) — If you can overlook the intermittently running water, Friday's four-hour power outage and occasional police presence in the lobby, the Trump hotel in Panama City retains its status as one of the city's finest.
Here's Why Crispr Therapeutics AG Jumped Again in February
Offhand comments from Gilead Sciences helped gave the high-flying gene-editing stock more lift.
Dana Launches Spicer S172 Series Single & Tandem Drive Axles
Dana introduced its new Spicer S172 series single drive axle. Photo: Dana
">Dana introduced its new Spicer S172 series single drive axle for Class 7 and 8 vehicles during a press conference at the Technology & Maintenance Council annual meeting in Atlanta. According to Dana, the new axles retains the robustness and strength of the existing S170 drive axle while reducing weight by more than 60 pounds.
The axle is crafted for 4x2, 6x2, and 8x2 applications up to 25,000 pounds gross axle weight rating. It offers a broad range of gear ratios, from 3.07 to 6.14, and features a low hypoid offset with High-Power Density AdvanTek gearing to optimize efficiency. The high-strength pinion bearings allow for greater lifespan under heavy loads, improving durability and overall performance, the company says. In addition, a passive lube management system has been added that requires less lubricant overall while maintain optimum lobe flow.
"It uses a venturi-cover design to optimize the lube flow in the axle and to make better use of the available lubricant, so we require less lubricant that a standard axle," said Steve Slesinski, director of Dana's global product planning. "We coupled the venturi-cover with a patented lube meter that controls the amount of lubricant going in between the bearing system of the pinion. That helps reduce spin losses due to churning and thus improves axle efficiency."
The single drive axle can also be paired with the Dana tag axle as part of the Spicer EconoTrek tandem axle, a durable, lightweight 6x2 configuration that offers increased fuel economy, improved performance, and reduced maintenance for heavy-duty linehaul tractors. This system is up to 3% more efficient and up to 380 pounds lighter than typical 6x4 offerings.
The tandem version is more than 60 pounds lighter than existing D170 series ...Read the rest of this story