Purkeys: PAC helps batteries charge through the cold

Purkeys, a company focused on providing electrical solutions for the heavy-duty trucking industry, announced it has developed the 100 amp Pack Accelerated Charger (PAC) to quickly and safely charge batteries in nearly half the time of other chargers.

It is well known that cold weather makes it harder to crank a motor. This, added to the extra loads from heaters and other equipment, can strain heavy-duty vehicle batteries.

read more

How CNI’s Intermodal Volumes Compared with the Industry

Third Time the Charm for Rush Tech Rodeo Champ

SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS -- The 11th Annual Rush Truck Technician Rodeo is in the bag. More than $250,000 in cash and prizes has been handed out, and the new Rush 2016 Technician Rodeo Grand Champion has been named.

CEO Rusty Rush addressed the large crowd on hand at the Texas Ballroom in the San Antonio Grand Hyatt Hotel, consisting of Rush technicians and suppliers, and reiterated his annual message and firmly held belief that it is service that ultimately sells trucks.

"This is a competitive business that is on track to be down 40% next year in Class 8 sales," he told attendees. "And the only way we can address that issue is by service - keeping our customers' trucks on the road and making money. And if we can do that for them in a down year, they will remember us when things turn around and get better."

The Grand Champion, Lucas Manlief, a technician at Rush Truck Center, Indianapolis, Indiana, has competed in two previous Rush Tech Rodeos, placing as a finalist. Manlief described his win as Grand Champion as "very tough but still very surreal" and said he was having a hard time processing the experience.

"But overall, my participation in this event has made me a better technician," he said, because it has shown him the importance of working through technical issues methodically and following the documented procedures to resolve an issue.

Rusty Rush noted that Manlief took a job at Rush as a technician right out of trade school and has been with the company ever since -- for over 15 years. "People need to understand that being a diesel technician is not the old job they imagine it to be," he said. "It' is a well-paying job that demands a great deal of expertise and is always challenging and ...Read the rest of this story

Rush reveals 2016 technician rodeo winners

SAN ANTONIO. With the final test scores in hand after two days of intense competition, the 2016 Rush Technician Skills Rodeo came to a close with Lucas Manlief of Rush Truck Center-Indianapolis named “all-around champion” and taking home total winnings (including cash and prizes) adding up to $17,100.

read more

Rush Truck Center CEO Predicts Mixed Year for Truck Sales

SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS -- Rush Truck Center CEO Rusty Rush said he expects to see a flat year in Class 8 over-the-road sales in 2017, but predicts that certain market segments and medium duty sales will remain strong.

Rush spoke to journalists in San Antonio ahead of the company's 2016 Tech Rodeo Banquet Dinner and said he thinks current projections putting 2017 Class 8 sales down by 20% are accurate. "I think that number is pretty close to being right," Rush said. "We're looking at around 154,000 units next year."

Rush said low used truck values are pushing fleets to extend purchase terms and hold onto vehicles longer.

"I don't see used truck values getting any better in the first half of next year," Rush said. "Maybe by the end of the year. But, if the electronic logging device mandate comes into play, it could take even more trucks out of the market and those could turn into used trucks. And we need the import market to improve. We need to be chewing up a lot of inventory right now -- and there's a lot of it sitting on the sidelines right now."

Rush thinks certain Class 8 segments, particularly construction, refuse and housing, will be strong next year, as will the medium-duty market of Classes 4 through 7.

Looking at his own company, Rush said continued growth, including some limited expansions, will be the mission.

"We feel pretty good from a facility perspective today because of the investments we made in 2014 and 2015," he said. "And we'll continue to expand our footprint where it makes sense. We want to put more dots on the map and create a larger service network to support our customers. So we continue to look for opportunities that make sense. And that includes opening some small stores in smaller ...Read the rest of this story

Over-the-road market is going to be tough in 2017

SAN ANTONIO. W. M. "Rusty" Rush – chairman, CEO and president of Rush Enterprises – believes the over-the-road Class 8 truck market “is going to be tough” in 2017, but Class 4-7 medium-duty sales should remain steady heading into next year.

read more

Rush Truck Centers Pushes the Telematic Frontier Forward

A Rush Call Center technician in San Antonio, TX, works a repair problem for a customer with a truck down in Indianapolis. Photo: Jack Roberts

I'm on record saying that telematics will be the next big game-changer in trucking - one of those advances where, in 5 to 10 years, you'll wonder how you ever managed to keep a truck fleet rolling without it.

Telematics as been building at a slow boil for several years now. And we're getting close to the point where it's about to really take off. To this point, almost all of the ground work in getting dedicated — and workable — telematics systems up and running has come from the truck OEMs. And that makes a lot of sense - they are the entities with the money, expertise, and eventual payoff once vehicle telematics reach their full potential in fleet operations.

But the reality is that regardless of how good an OEM's proprietary telematics system is, it will be the dealerships that make or break the technology. It's the dealers who will buy in and deliver the enhanced service with decreased downtime.

And while most dealerships are content to adopt their OEM's system and training, a strong signal that telematics are truly going to be big is that fact that some larger dealerships are developing their own systems to better support their customer base.

Rush Truck Centers is a case in point. I was able to tour Rush's new Call Center on the outskirts of San Antonio in mid-December and came away deeply impressed with the company's all-in commitment to using telematics as a way to take customer and vehicle support to the next level.

Brian Mulshine, director of operations, technology, and innovation, has been on the forefront of telematics technology dating back to his days with International. Today he's helped ...Read the rest of this story