DowDuPont is announcing the names of the three businesses it will become when it breaks itself into three, eight months after the Justice Department approved a $62 billion merger between the chemical giants ...
As companies such as XPO Logistics go after the booming final-mile business triggered by e-commerce, they're finding that liftgates are an important part of a truck or trailer spec for this application. Photo: XPO Logistics
">A recent study by BigCommerce.com revealed that 51% of Americans prefer online shopping, with e-commerce growing by 23% every year. The research predicts this trend will pick up its pace as brands increasingly embrace omnichannel and voice platforms to simplify customers' digital shopping experiences.
As e-commerce escalates, so will last-mile logistics, defined as the final step in the delivery process from a distribution center or brick-and-mortar store to the shipment's destination, be it a smaller regional store, office building, or even a customer's residence. Though this last mile often involves the transport of smaller-sized packages by parcel or small package carriers, more and more shipments include larger items, such as furniture or appliances, that are ordered online and delivered directly to the customer.
The e-commerce explosion has presented both opportunities and challenges to retailers, as well as regional fleets, LTL and truckload carriers. One headache is getting products into areas that were never designed for Class 8 rigs. Once carriers successfully navigate narrow streets fraught with obstacles such as mailboxes, low power lines, trees and people, drivers then must move products off trailers, many of which have been spec'd to deliver shipments directly to docks rather than unloaded on city streets or in residential driveways.
Companies such as XPO Logistics have responded to these new demands by adding smaller straight trucks and updating their fleets with new technologies designed to meet the unique challenges of last mile logistics. XPO Logistics Chief Operating Officer Troy Cooper explains in a press release that as the shipper works to grow its last-mile footprint to 85 service hubs, it also has had to “make ...Read the rest of this story
The side-impact guard closes the gap ahead of Kenworth mixer truck's rear tandem to keep people from falling under the chassis and being run over. Photo: Walker Blocker
">Safety advocates pushing for side-impact guards say the devices save lives in several overseas countries where they're required, and in fact there's a bill in Congress that would mandate them in the U.S. Whether we see such a rule or not, Seattle's Department of Transportation sees value in side guards and has begun using them.
“We're trying to stay ahead of the game,” says the city DOT's fleet manager, Ricardo Sahagun. “We're trying to increase safety for pedestrians and bicyclists. We encourage the use of bike lanes and for people to do a lot of walking around the city. Knock on wood, so far we haven't had any accidents, but we have heard of incidents in other cities.”
Such devices work by physically covering the open space between the front and rear wheels of a truck. They keep people from blundering under the chassis and being run over by its rear wheels. Side guards can also protect auto occupants by preventing a complete underride of the truck or trailer.
The fleet experimented with homemade metal guards on a pair of flatbed trucks, Sahagun said. But they're heavy, so he obtained lighter-weight products from Walker Blocker, a year-old arm of a long-established local manufacturer, Allied Body. First to get them were a dozen Ford F-series flatbed trucks and a Kenworth T800 mixer. The guards have aluminum frames and composite panels, and are in several lengths to fit between varying wheelbases and underbody equipment.
Cost was about $15,000 for the 12 sets of Ford guards and $2,500 for the Kenworth guards, he said. They weigh 20 to 30 pounds each. Side guards were also applied to the long tongue of ...Read the rest of this story
Photo via Bernard Gagnon/Wikimedia.
'>A Utah bill aimed at adopting rules that would allow autonomous cars and trucks on roads in the state passed a House committee on a unanimous vote on Feb. 21. The proposed legislation will now proceed to the full House for consideration.
The bill (HB371) introduced by Rep. Robert Spendlove (R-Sandy), would allow for driverless vehicles on public roadways, according to the Deseret News. The bill outlines some essential requirements for autonomous cars to become road-ready including licensing, registration and insurance, which was left vague for the time being.
It also establishes a tiered system of five levels of automation. Level 1, for example, is a vehicle with no computer-controlled assist mechanisms, whereas Level 5 is a fully autonomous vehicle requiring no human supervision.
Similar legislation has passed in Michigan, California, Nevada, Florida, Louisiana, Tennessee, and North Dakota.
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The sheriff's deputy assigned to guard the Florida high school that was the scene of a mass shooting never entered the building to confront the suspect because he believed the gunfire was coming from outside, ...
