Article

By Jim Beach

You probably have a pretty good idea what a telematics system is, even if you don't know it by that name. You may know it as a fleet management system or GPS fleet management system or GPS vehicle tracking system.

Tags: telematics, GPS, technology

By Deborah Lockridge

John Lamonica knows pizza. He can tell you why Brooklyn water makes great pizza dough, and how he has worked to get the same level of great flavor in his California operations using high-quality ingredients and filtered water. The president and CEO of Lamonica's Pizza Dough Co. is also proud of his three bright-red Kenworth trucks that deliver pizza dough to Costco and other customers in southern California.

Tags: technology, Driver Shortage, NPTC, Safety and Compliance, Private Fleets

By Jim Beach

Truckstop operators have always used technology to meet customer needs and remain competitive. From relatively low-tech devices such as pay phones and fax machines to high-tech services such as wireless Internet access, shore power connections and smart phone apps, truckstops remain places drivers can connect — with both the office and home.

Tags: Comdata, technology, Telogis, NexTraq, Z-Con, Truckstops, diesel, Fuel and Oil

By Jim Beach

Whether truckload, LTL, local delivery or any other type of operation, all fleets want the same thing: to get their work done as quickly and as safely possible while burning as little fuel as possible.

Tags: technology, ALK Technologies, Rand McNally, Routing, NexTraq, Carrier Logistics, Cadec, Prophesy Transportation Solutions, Paragon Software, Navigation

By Jim Beach, Contributing Editor

Cloud computing has been getting a lot of attention in the information technology space. Before you put your head in the cloud, though, there are some things you should understand about the concept of cloud computing

Tags: technology

By Jim Beach, Contributing Editor

When a driver pulls a truck into a service shop for a repair, scheduled or not, a service writer must bring together a lot of information before a work order can be generated. At the bare minimum,

Tags: technology

By Deborah Lockridge, Editor in Chief

As sophisticated electronics move from the engine to other parts of the truck, such as multiplexed dashboards, antilock brakes, stability and traction control and transmissions that talk to the engine, it becomes an ever more challenging tas

Tags: technology

By Jim Beach, Contributing Editor

A decade ago, selling truck parts was mostly a face-to-face (or least voice-to-voice) business. Distributors used outside salespeople to call on fleets, independent repair shops or other service providers to build typical sales relationships

Tags: technology

By Jim Beach, Contributing Editor

It's a rare heavy-duty service shop or parts warehouse/distributor that doesn't use some kind of computer software in its operation. It might be as simple as an accounting package such as QuickBooks, or as complex as a full-feature

Tags: technology

By Jim Beach, Contributing Editor

Why is a website important? Because if you don't have one, you don't exist to a very large number of potential customers

Tags: technology

By Jim Beach, Contributing Editor

For anyone selling truck parts, managing inventory is the most basic part of the business. Automated inventory systems have been in use in the aftermarket business for year

Tags: technology

By Jim Beach, Contributing Editor

We all have received those emails with the little tagline at the bottom urging us to think about the environment before printing that message

Tags: technology

By Diana Britton, Managing Editor

Before W.W. Williams adopted a customized version of the Decisiv Service Management Platform, the Detroit Diesel and Allison Transmission distributor would keep repair quotes in an Excel file or on a Post-it note

Tags: technology

By Diana Britton, Managing Editor

Gary Courtwright, president of Frey Heavy Duty, an upstate New York-based independent distributor, says he doesn't work 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. But Courtwright's work schedule is now a moot point, because the company's customers can place an order anytime they want through an online ordering syste

Tags: technology

By Diana Britton, Managing Editor

Pak West Paper & Packaging, Santa Ana, Calif., used to have a major problem with the amount of overtime hours its delivery fleet drivers were racking up

Tags: technology

By Steve Sturgess, Executive Editor

'Aftermarket companies will be the primary drivers of many all-new product and service opportunities for both the consumer and commercial-vehicle industries," predicted the Automotive Aftermarket Industry Association in a detailed report published late last year

Tags: technology

By Diana Britton, Managing Editor

When Eric Adkins, president of Nationwide Truck Service, goes on vacation to Cancun, Mexico, he'll certainly be at peace sitting on the white beaches, watching the sunset and the waves

Tags: technology

By Deborah Lockridge, Editor, and Jim Beach, Contributing Editor

Back in the late '60s, some people in the trucking business got together and decided to come up with a system that used numbers to describe parts and maintenance activitie

Tags: technology