The Next Generation: HDT’s Emerging Leaders

My father was a trucker, my grandfather was a trucker,” says Leigh Ann Frederick, who bought Michigan-based Northfield Trucking from her father. “That was the tradition. But it's not that way anymore.”

Although many of HDT's inaugural Emerging Leaders do indeed have family in the business, they say following one's parents' footsteps into the trucking business is not as common as it once was.

“I think it'll take creative minds and new innovations to get through the changes coming up,” Frederick says.

When you go to trucking industry gatherings, “you see this kind of 15-year gap,” says Dustin Koehl – “the people with the gray hair and the people with the long hair.” Vice president of sales and marketing for Total Transportation of Mississippi, Koehl revitalized a management trainee program a few years ago. He visits classes at the University of Tennessee and other southern schools.

“We tell our story,” he explains. “Trucking's got an image issue, especially to these supply chain students who think of Coke,

Clorox, Amazon and Unilever [for careers]. We tell them you can work for a trucking company and work with all those companies.”

Echoing a common stereotype aimed at much of his generation, Justin Griffith, operations manager for Tennessee-based

Conard Transportation, says, “I think a lot of today's society wants instant gratification and instant money; you have to start at the bottom and work your way up. And I think that scares a lot of people off.”

Even though Michael Polachek with Dutch Maid Logistics grew up around trucking, if you had asked him 20 years ago, “I wouldn't have told you I'd be working for a trucking company. It's tough to attract younger people.”

Yet that mix of old and young can deliver great benefit to a company, says Anthony “Tony” Thompson, maintenance and repair manager for Illinois-based Hub Group Trucking. “Just ...Read the rest of this story

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FMCSA Again Delays Rollout of Online DOT Registration System

Image: U.S. Department of Transportation

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has again delayed implementation of the final stage of its Unified Registration System for new motor carriers.

Completion of the URS rollout had last been scheduled for January 14, 2017, a date announced back in July. Prior to that, the implementation date had been set for Sept. 30, 2016.

Now, the agency has instead announced it will publish a notice in the Federal Register early next month that will state the newly revised URS compliance date.

By way of explanation, FMCSA said it recently completed a “complex migration” of its IT systems to a cloud environment. “This mitigation effort was a necessary step in order to provide a foundation to successfully implement URS.”

However, the agency said the new implementation delay is necessary “because additional time is needed to securely migrate data from multiple legacy platforms into a new central database” and to conduct further compatibility testing with its state-agency partners.

“By moving the implementation date, FMCSA is providing its State partners more time to develop, update, and verify data connectivity and system reliability,” the agency said. “The additional time will also enable the Agency to conduct more thorough training and to implement broader outreach and education activities that will provide for a seamless transition.”

URS is a simplified online registration process. It combines multiple legacy reporting forms into a single, online “smart form” that is designed to streamline the registration and renewal process.

When fully implemented, URS will allow FMCSA to identify unfit carriers and detect unsafe truck and bus companies that are trying to evade enforcement actions. Offending companies often attempt to regain U.S. DOT registration by registering as a different or unrelated business entity.

Since the December 2015 launch of the initial phase of URS, FMCSA estimates ...Read the rest of this story

Stemco Launches Zip-Torq Axle Fastener

Heavy-duty vehicle component manufacturer Stemco has released the Zip-Torq single-piece axle fastener designed to streamline wheel end bearing adjustment.

With its single-piece, unitized design, the Zip-Torq eliminates special tooling and loose components like clips, keepers, snap rings or screws.

The Zip-Torq's heavy-duty self-locking mechanism prevents inadvertent back-off to improve safety. Consistent locking force is maintained by the high-strength wave spring, preventing unwanted back-off.

“Zip-Torq is the natural result of our safety culture and decades of progress developing wheel end systems,” said Chip Stuhr, director of Stemco wheel end products. “The Stemco Pro-Torq nut revolutionized the way a wheel end was adjusted and set, and Zip-Torq is the next step in our mission of making the roadways safer.”

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