Q&A: TMC Chairman Jeff Harris to Focus on Technicians
By Jack Roberts
Jeff Harris, vice president of maintenance at USA Truck, has been in trucking for almost three decades, since graduating from the Nashville Auto Diesel College in 1988. Today, the newly named chairman of the American Trucking Associations’ Technology & Maintenance Council says he wants to build on the work of his successors while making even greater strides to promote diesel technicians as a career of choice for today’s young people. HDT caught up with him shortly after the TMC annual meeting in Atlanta.
“I’m a firm believer that we have to get our technicians back to the basics in trucking. Because if we can’t make it from one oil change to the next, we’re going to be in trouble.” – Jeff Harris
HDT: How long have you been involved with TMC?
Harris: I’ve been an active member since 2006. I entered the trucking industry when I got a job at a small fleet – MS Carriers in Memphis, Tennessee, – 14 days after graduating from Nashville Auto Diesel College. We had 200 trucks at the time. And 13 years later, we’d grown that to 5,000 tractors. In 2001, we were bought out by a larger fleet, and the number of power units grew to 17,000. So I’ve been based out of the same office for 29 years, and just came on with USA Truck as vice president of maintenance last September.
HDT: What do you see as the primary challenges facing the trucking industry?
Harris: The need to fill positions on the maintenance side of things. Everybody talks about the driver shortage – which is a very important issue. But we’re having a tough time filling any maintenance position you can think of, from parts techs, to external breakdown technicians, to shop techs. We’re really struggling to find people.
HDT: How do …Read the rest of this story
