Stemco Names New Senior Level Staff Members

Stemco Names New Senior Level Staff Members

Commercial vehicle component manufacturer Stemco has announced the promotions of Jim Reis and Doug Hix to senior-level staff positions.

Reis has been named the vice president of strategy. He will lead Stemco's overall strategic efforts, specifically in the areas of inorganic growth. He will partner with business and functional leads to develop new market opportunities for growth and future development.

Hix has been promoted to vice president and general manager of Stemco's Brake Products group. He will work on the group's established strategy to effectively strengthen and further grow the business. Hix will report directly to Reis and work closely with him to transition into the new role.

Both men assume their new roles effective immediately.

Reis has more than 30 years of heavy-duty industry experience, most of it with Stemco, having lead the Brake Products group as vice president and general manager for the past five years.

Hix has 10 years of experience in the heavy-duty industry and has held positions in both operations and finance. At Stemco, Hix served as finance director for the past two years and served as vice president of finance.

“On behalf of Stemco, I am extremely pleased to see Jim and Doug excel in their respective positions and congratulate them on this well-deserved promotion,” said Todd Anderson, president of Stemco. “I am confident based on their tremendous amount of knowledge and credibility that these new leadership appointments will allow us to further pursue our strategy to strengthen, grow, and expand our diverse line of products within the commercial vehicle industry.”

Related: Stemco Stengthens Capabilities of Wheel End Division

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Cross-Border Truck Freight Value Falls Again

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U.S.-NAFTA freight value percent change from previous year over the last 24 months. Graphic: U.S. DOT

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U.S.-NAFTA freight value percent change from previous year over the last 24 months. Graphic: U.S. DOT

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Trucking and two other freight transportation modes carried less U.S. freight by value with North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) partners Canada and Mexico in October 2016 compared to the same time a year earlier, according to a new Transportation Department report.

This happened as total cross-border freight moved by all modes fell by 3.6% to $93.2 billion, marking the 21st monthly drop out of the past 22 months beginning in January 2015. The only increase since was a hike of 0.7% this past August.

The value of commodities moved by truck decreased 6.1%, vessel by 7% and air by 12.7%. The value of freight carried on pipeline and rail increased 21.8% and 6.2%, respectively

Trucks carried 65.3% of U.S.-NAFTA freight and continued to be the most heavily used mode for moving goods to and from both U.S.-NAFTA partners. Trucks accounted for $31.9 billion of the $50.3 billion of imports, or 63.4%, and $29 billion of the $42.9 billion of exports, or 67.6%. Rail remained the second largest mode by value, moving 15.8% of all U.S.-NAFTA freight.

U.S.-Canada Freight Falls 2.5 Percent

From October 2015 to October 2016, the value of U.S.-Canada freight flows fell 2.5% to $46.5 billion due to decreases in the value of goods moved by vessel, down 31.1%, air 8.8% lower and truck down 3.1%. The value of freight carried on pipeline and rail increased 21.7% and 2.5%, respectively.

During this 12-month period, much of the mineral fuel freight between Texas and Canada shifted from vessel to pipeline as the value of mineral fuel shipments carried by vessel between Texas and Canada decreased while the value of pipeline shipments rose, according to the report. Texas-Canada mineral fuel trade made up about 25.5% of all U.S.-Canada mineral ...Read the rest of this story

Hardware Report: Seats

A more comfortable ride leads to improved driver health, retention

“Truck seats have definitely developed for the better and provide more comfort and better ride performance,” says Ronald Mock, director of aftermarket division-North America at Sears Seating. “Seats can lower a driver's exposure to whole body vibration (WBV), resulting in reduced fatigue, more precise visual acuity, improved awareness, faster response times, and improved driver health. In the future, truck seats must keep evolving to be a valuable driver recruitment tool and also for driver retention.”

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Vocational Profile: Oversized experts

Berard Transportation is up to the task of hauling heavy loads

A 65-ton electrical building needs to be transported from Texas to North Dakota. A 200,000-lb. skid must travel over 80 mi. in Louisiana. Two vessels weighing 250,000 lbs. each and reaching 28 ft. in loaded height need to be transported over public roadways.

What these moves and many more like them have in common is that they were all handled by Berard Transportation, a New Iberia, LA-based heavy hauler with over 70 years of experience in moving and rigging procedures.

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Balancing privacy and safety

Changes in recordkeeping requirements challenge fleets in the digital age

With regulations as the catalyst, changes are on the way for the records trucking companies keep, including a new national information data­base and electronic logging devices, or ELDs, and related files and documentation. Regulations are also bringing new filing processes and already allow for digital record changeovers instead of controlled-access file cabinets holding papers for various lengths of time.

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