It’s been quite a week here in Orlando at the annual Technology & Maintenance Council, with a ton of interesting stuff going on – some I’ve written about already, more yet to come (hey, my brain can only process information just so fast, you know – despite the beefed up coffee intake!)
Obviously, the down economy and how to survive it from a trucker industry perspective dominated the conversations here among both fleet managers and suppliers. Yet that didn’t crowd out other important issues, such as dealing with the impending 2010 emission standards, safety technology advantages vs. costs, the viability of biodiesel, corporate environmental sustainability programs, plus a long overdue debate between fleets and dealers over vehicle maintenance and repair services.
That hot topic – co-hosted by longtime industry veteran Darry Stuart – brought a lot of long-simmering issues out into the open and you’ll read about it a little later on in this space.
For now, though, I think I’ll take a break and leave you with some of the sights from this year’s show – set to music, of course – sights that include several of the ride and drive opportunities made available to the cabal of trucking reporters (myself included) covering the event. And an extra special thanks to Richard “The Dude” White, general manager for FleetOwner’s sister publication American Trucker (of which I’m the editor). He graciously agreed to serve as the ‘master of ceremonies’ for this week’s musical tribute to TMC (brief as those duties are).
Until next time!
