Success in the trucking industry requires an active desire for change. Those who rely on your services rely on you to keep those services relevant to their changing business imperatives. As a Fleet Owner reader, you are our customer, and we can only serve your business needs if we show the same responsiveness to change.
In 1928, we began as a monthly magazine for people who ran bus fleets and soon expanded to all commercial vehicles. As the industry grew in size and sophistication, so did Fleet Owner's coverage of the business.
Deregulation, in particular, brought new emphasis on business strategies that rewarded innovation, flexibility and strong management skills. My involvement in trucking as a journalist coincided with that change, and it's been exciting to report on the rapid evolution of the industry and our readers, its executives and managers.
Information technology is the current agent of change in trucking. For Fleet Owner, it's not only shaping what we cover these days, but how we deliver that coverage. In the past five years, daily business news provided through the Internet has become a large part of what we consider essential service for readers, complementing the monthly magazine by adding timely reporting to the in-depth analysis of the print magazine.
This month, I'm proud to announce the next major step in Fleet Owner's evolution as the information source for trucking. Combining our editorial knowledge of trucking with the production and development skills of a new partner, Big Truck TV, we are introducing Volume 1, No. 1 in what will be an on-going series educational “eLearning” DVDs created specifically for executives and top-level managers at truck fleets.
The purpose of this subscription-based video project is to provide another source of targeted business intelligence in a format that accommodates busy schedules and new training expectations. Using a case-study approach, each disc will address one core topic by offering four detailed examinations of best practices.
For example, this first disc provides four case studies that look at how innovative fleets have taken advantage of wireless technology. One examines how a private fleet re-engineered its entire operation based on wireless access to data from its drivers. Another outlines cost justification for replacing a first-generation wireless system with new technology. A third offers insight into trailer tracking, and the fourth details the advantages that come from integrating wireless systems with back office functions.
The next disc in the series will provide a high-level examination of driver management issues, and subsequent DVDs will cover maintenance management, maximizing productivity, training and environmental regulation. Each year, subscribers will get six more discs offering the latest business intelligence on the core issues driving fleet management.
If you'd like to see excerpts from the four initial case studies, go to fleetowner.com and look for “The Learning Center.” The video clips will give you a good idea of what subscribers to the series can expect. I've grown up considering myself a word guy, but this is one time pictures do a much better job of showing why we're so excited.
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Web site: fleetowner.com
