My wife is a people person, not a techy-type. She complains that all my technology is making life more difficult and confusing for her, not less. She has a point. I just spent two days without television in our home because a power supply for the whole-house amplifier quit. I knew what the problem was because it has happened before. But, it took two days to get a serviceman out to my house. It was a short call to fix things. I suggested next time I could just go to the service facility nearby and exchange it, but he did not think they would have it there. So, he was nice enough to give me a second power supply this time, so when it fails again, I’ll have one handy. My wife asked me why it failed—again. Unfortunately, I cannot give her an adequate answer.
I know this story is familiar to many of you when you take a truck in for repair. OEMs are focusing on getting information from the vehicle to be able to diagnose problems in the here-and-now. We continue to hear the promise of predictive diagnostics that will allow us to schedule maintenance before a truck-down situation occurs. It cannot come fast enough for some of you.
The trucking industry has become very different as a result of technology being added to the business to improve productivity, reduce costs and increase the safety of operating trucks. Yet, as I said at the ATA meeting in Philadelphia, quoting what some of you have told me, “A truck that is in the shop gets exactly zero miles per gallon in fuel economy.” The OEMs are advertising Up Time on the internet, in their brochures and in the trade press. Let’s get those trucks Up, Up and Away delivering the goods and moving America forward.
Paul Menig • CEO
