One of the most important North American truck show/conferences kicked off this weekend in Atlanta, Georgia, as the 2018 Technology & Maintenance Council’s annual meeting and exhibition got under way with a slew of press conferences and product announcements. The meeting will run through Thursday, March 8, and include a host of fleet maintenance sessions detailing best practices, as well as seminars on emerging technology, safety and legislative issues.

TMC, part of the American Trucking Associations, has been a leading voice of North American fleet equipment and maintenance professionals since its founding in 1957. And for many years, its spring and fall meetings were largely filled with technical sessions on commercial vehicle systems and maintenance practices geared toward professional engineers who manage truck fleets.

Over the past decade, TMC has grown and expanded its offerings to include a vibrant trade show floor for industry exhibitors in the spring, the SuperTech technician contest in the fall, and seminars detailing the latest legislative and technology trends – as well as its focus on in-depth maintenance and troubleshooting sessions aimed at keeping fleets up and running.

TMC’s Recommended Practices handbook remains the industry’s maintenance bible, spilling over with detailed diagnostic, troubleshooting and repair information for virtually every commercial vehicle maintenance issue imaginable.

The coming days will see big product announcements and news from major industry players such as Mack, Volvo, Navistar, Meritor, Eaton, Allison, Dana, SAF Holland and the North American Council for Freight Efficiency, as well as emerging technology companies like TMW and Decisiv.

This news will be coupled with TMC’s traditional focus on maintenance issues as well as Technical Sessions highlighting current and future industry issues, including:

• How Last Mile Delivery Solutions Are Transforming Fleet Maintenance Management

• The Coming Impact of Automated Vehicle Technology

• Evolving Career Pathways for Today’s Fleet Maintenance Executives

Featured speakers at TMC this week will include Carlton Rose, president, global fleet maintenance and engineering, United Parcel Service, and Tom Nichols, author, “The Death of Expertise.”

A committee of trucking magazine editors will present the Jim Winsor Memorial Technical Achiement award to one of these finalists:

• Eaton Cummins Automated Transmission Technologies’ Endurant automated transmission

• The Hyliion 6x4HE System electric drive axle

• The Truck-lite Road Ready trailer monitoring and communication system

• Volvo’s LED headlamps, which feature a reverse-flow fan that helps defrost the lens in winter conditions

• XStream Truck Wings auto-deploy trailer gap system

HDT will have editorial staff in Atlanta covering the show from start to finish. So stay tuned for the latest news on products, technology and maintenance in trucking with full reporting on Truckinginfo.com