Women In Trucking Seeks to Accurately Count Women in Trucking

FMCSA Administrator Scott Darling and professional driver Stephanie Klang. Photo via Women in Trucking

The Women In Trucking Association has created the WIT Index in an effort to more accurately track the number of women working in the trucking industry.

WIT partnered with the National Transportation Institute to obtain more accurate data after it found issues with the way the Department of Labor was reporting the number of women in the trucking industry.

After DOL reported that the percentage of female drivers had dropped to 5.1%, WIT began to examine who the department was including and excluding from the category. It found that, in some cases, jobs that were counted as truck drivers were not accurate descriptors of a traditional, over-the-road driver, making the data less reliable.

“We know that women represent a largely underdeveloped minority group in our industry,” said Leah Shaver, NTI's COO. “We also know, from recent conference discussions and media coverage, that benchmarking gender distribution in our industry is necessary to quantify progress. We're going to help trucking companies do just that.”

NTI directly surveyed carriers for data regarding driver wages, benefits, and retirement plans and, in the past year, added two questions about the employment of women within fleets.

Over the course of three quarters, NTI found that the average percentage of female drivers at these carriers was 7%. NTI also found that women comprise 24% of management at the carriers surveyed as opposed to the 18.1% reported by DOL for supervisors of transportation and material moving workers.

Among carriers surveyed, Prime led respondents with women drivers making up 12% of its driver population.

WIT and NTI are still looking for more submissions to the WIT Index to show the growth of women in the trucking industry and would like all carriers to participate in sharing company statistics as the index is ...Read the rest of this story

CAT Scale Celebrates 40th Anniversary

Photo courtesy of Cat Scale

CAT Scale is scoring a company milestone in 2017, hitting 40 years of operation since it began in 1977.

When it launched, CAT Scale, founded by truckstop entrepreneur Bill Moon, introduced a totally automated, full-length platform sale. The technology gave drivers access to scales that could weigh the entire truck and trailer at one time.

CAT Scale now operates internationally with over 1,750 locations in 47 states and seven Canadian provinces. It also offers the Weigh My Truck app that allows drivers to weigh trucks and pay from a smartphone or tablet.

The biggest change in its 40 years of operation is the advent of near-instant communication allowing the company to ensure accurate and open scales remotely from its offices in Walcott, Iowa, according to a CAT Scale representative. The company can check on any of its scales and view important diagnostic data and check weights on load cells. This has also allowed the company to speed up processes for drivers through the Weigh My Truck app.

“My dad talked with drivers every day and was always trying to figure out ways to make their job easier,” said Delia Moon Meier, senior vice president at CAT Scale. “We understand that time is money for drivers and fast, accurate weighing it is important. That is why we invest so much in technology and preventative maintenance.”

Related: CAT Scale Adds Payment Options to App

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Eaton Brings Flex Reman Transmissions to Canada

Photo: Eaton

Eaton brought its lineup of Flex Reman transmissions into the Canadian marketplace for the first time as of Jan. 1, 2017, the company has announced.

Canadian OEM dealers will be able to offer two tiers of Eaton Factory Reman products – the standard remanufactured transmissions with clutch housings and Flex Reman transmissions with no clutch housings.

The Flex line also includes a shipping cover and gasket that allows dealers to reuse existing housings to increase inventory flexibility for stocking and servicing a range of North American heavy-duty vehicles. The 18 Flex part numbers make up around 90% of the replacement transmission models sold in Canada, according to Eaton.

“Flex eliminates the need to stock the entire portfolio of Eaton replacement transmissions yet still allows participants to maintain a healthy inventory with a wide range of available torque ratings for multiple trucking applications,” said Bill Fouch, manager, aftermarket marketing, Eaton. “Fleets also benefit from the Flex program's competitive pricing and enhanced access to the many models that are available through the program.”

Same day and next day shipments will take place from Eaton distribution centers in Airdrie, Alberta; Moncton, New Brunswick; and Ottawa and Brampton, Ontario.

Flex transmissions feature a standard warranty in Canada, providing nationwide coverage of two years/ unlimited mileage. The warranty can be extended to three years/ unlimited mileage with the purchase and installation of a Genuine Eaton clutch and Eaton-approved lubricant under the Eaton Bundled Warranty program.

For more information, click here.

Related: Eaton Showcases Near- and Far-Future Technology

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Economic Watch: Manufacturing Best in 2 Years, Construction Highest in 10 Years

Manufacturing in the U.S. ended 2016 on a high note, hitting its best level since 2014, according to two new reports, while separate data reveals construction spending in the country hit its highest level in a little more than a decade.

A survey of the nation's purchasing managers by the Institute for Supply Management shows manufacturing activity increased for the fourth straight month in December. Its Purchasing Manager's Index (PMI) registered 54.7%, up 1.5 percentage points from November's reading. This is the highest level in two years and better than a consensus estimate from analysts.

A reading above 50% indicates expansion. Below 50% generally means contraction. The index has been above the 50% level for 10 straight months.

"The past relationship between the PMI and the overall economy indicates that the average PMI for January through December of 51.5% corresponds to a 2.6% increase in real gross domestic product (GDP) on an annualized basis,” said Bradley J. Holcomb, chair of the ISM Manufacturing Business Survey Committee. “In addition, if the PMI for December is annualized, it corresponds to a 3.6% increase in real GDP annually."

The New Orders Index registered 60.2%, an increase of 7.2 percentage points above the November reading. The Production Index registered 60.3%, 4.3 percentage points higher than the month before. The Employment Index registered 53.1%, an increase of 0.8 percentage point from the November reading. All three came in at their highest levels of 2016.

A separate report from the financial information services provider IHS Markit was nearly as bright, showing U.S. manufacturing in December hitting a 21-month high.

Its U.S. Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index registered 54.3 in December, up slightly from 54.1 in November. Like the ISM index, any reading above 50 is considered positive, thought it's not expressed as a percentage.

The latest rise in the headline index reading was largely ...Read the rest of this story

APL Logistics appoints Villalon as president

APL Logistics announced the appointment of William Villalon as president of the company, effective Jan. 1, 2017. He served as acting president since Nov. 2, 2016.

Immediately prior to this role, Villalon served as the global leader for APL Logistics' Automotive vertical, and the regional leader for the company's North America region. “Under his leadership, the automotive vertical has grown organically and through joint-ventures into a leading automotive logistics services & solutions provider in North America, China and India,” the company said.

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Worldwide Annual Electric Truck Sales May Reach 332,000 by 2026

Photo of Frito-Lay electric truck charging at Clipper Creek charging station courtesy of Clipper Creek

A new report from Navigant Research forecasts sales of medium- and heavy-duty trucks for each major world region, segmented by electrified powertrain type, including hybrid, plug-in hybrid, battery electric, and hydrogen fuel cell, through 2026. Global annual electrified powertrain medium- and heavy-duty truck sales are expected to grow from about 31,000 vehicles in 2016 to nearly 332,000 by 2026.

As local and national governments impose stricter emissions targets for commercial vehicles, they are also looking for ways to incentivize fleets to invest in medium and heavy-duty fuel efficiency technologies as well as cleaner-burning fuels, according to Navigant. Though conventional diesel-powered vehicles are becoming cleaner and more efficient, the added initial and operating costs associated with these changes are helping to reduce the incremental cost of moving to electric-assisted and all-electric powertrains.

“New and established suppliers are starting to offer alternative powertrains as well as complete electric vehicles for niche applications,” said David Alexander, senior research analyst for Navigant Research. “Limited daily range and a drive cycle featuring a lot of stopping and starting are applications that benefit most from electric drive capabilities, and delivery and refuse collection vehicles are expected to be the primary targets in the short term.”

Technology advances and production experience in the bus market can be transferred readily to trucks, and the growing demand for electric cars has stimulated investment in battery manufacture that has resulted in falling battery pack costs, according to the report. However, even with these positive factors, electric drive trucks are still expected to remain a niche market, at around 5% of sales in 2026.

The report, Electric Drive Trucks, breaks the forecasts for the global truck market into medium duty trucks and heavy duty trucks for each major world ...Read the rest of this story

Where the people go, the freight should follow

If the 40th annual National Mover Study compiled by United Van Lines is any guide, more freight is going to be flowing into South Dakota, Vermont and especially Oregon and those represent the top states more Americans moved into than anywhere else in 2016 – with Oregon a top “inbound” state now for four years.

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