Photo: NACFE
Michael Roeth, executive director at NACFE.
Michael Roeth, executive director at NACFE.
Michael Roeth, executive director at NACFE.
Michael Roeth, executive director at NACFE.
Michael Roeth, executive director at NACFE.

Ten years of service with more to come

Dec. 11, 2019
It’s hard to believe that it has been 10 years since a charrette hosted by the Rocky Mountain Institute lead to formation of NACFE.

It’s hard to believe that it has been 10 years since a charrette hosted by the Rocky Mountain Institute led to the formation of the North American Council for Freight Efficiency (NACFE). Speaking at our 10th anniversary celebration at NACV, Don Baldwin, founder and first chairman, recalled that market conditions in 2009 were pretty grim.

A lot of fleets were going out of business, and fuel prices were high. Fleets were struggling with how to save money and still do their jobs. They wanted to make sure they were spending money on the right things, and it was difficult to get people to take action on investing in efficiency technologies. The charrette attendees knew the only way to get fleets to make these investments was to make sure they had credible unbiased information.

Enter the United States Council for Freight Efficiency, the original name of the organization. The name was changed to NACFE because meeting attendees realized transportation doesn’t stop at the borders.

It has been exciting to be part of the trucking industry for the past 10 years.

Krista Toenjes, general manager of field sales and support at Cummins, also spoke at our anniversary celebration. “In the past 10 years," she said, "technology has changed the way the industry looks at freight efficiency.” She went on to say that people on her team and in the industry have used NACFE data to learn more about improving freight efficiency and to make decisions about which technologies to develop and invest in. In fact, Cummins consistently has the highest readership of NACFE’s monthly newsletter.

She added that improving freight efficiency is a journey, and NACFE plans to keep helping fleets, manufacturers, and suppliers as they navigate the constantly changing landscape of trucking.

In what we called NACFE 2.0, we made a commitment to broaden the scope of the work we do; toward that end, we are getting ready to publish our fourth Guidance Report on electric and other alternative-fueled vehicles.

Our recent Run on Less Regional fuel economy roadshow had us trying to establish efficiency benchmarks for this growing segment of the trucking industry, and in 2020 we will continue our work in the regional haul arena.

I am proud of the work we have done in the past 10 years and look forward to continuing to ensure the industry gets the unbiased information it needs to continue to push for better freight efficiency regardless of what is powering the vehicle.

Who knows where the next 10 years will take us? There are many options, including improving fuel efficiency in highly automated operations, for smaller trucks, in Asia, in Europe, in intermodal.

One thing is certain, with your support, NACFE will continue to be the voice that helps fleets improve fuel efficiency and reduce carbon dioxide emissions while at the same time operating in a profitable manner.

Thanks to all of you who have put your faith in us and the work we do. Here’s to 10 more years of making a difference.

About the Author

Michael Roeth | Executive Director

Michael Roeth has worked in the commercial vehicle industry for nearly 30 years, most recently as executive director of the North American Council for Freight Efficiency (NACFE). He serves on the second National Academy of Sciences Committee on Technologies and Approaches for Reducing the Fuel Consumption of Medium and Heavy-Duty Vehicles and has held various positions in engineering, quality, sales, and plant management with Navistar and Behr/Cummins.

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