Trucking is about more than trucks, and in the last several years we’ve made a real effort to bring you more stories about things like cutting business costs, improving safety, analyzing data and more.

Yet equipment is still at the heart of trucking. Trucks and trailers are what actually deliver the freight. Without them, you don’t have a business.

To keep those trucks delivering the freight on time, you need parts and service – and the right parts and service to fit your needs, your operations.

The right parts and service decisions can help you meet on-time delivery goals with customers, improve your cost per mile, reduce downtime, improve utilization, better your CSA scores, even help retain drivers and cut turnover.

The wrong parts and service decisions, of course, could mean the opposite. They could even land you in court, if a defective part causes a fatal crash and the plaintiff’s attorney can make a case that you’ve been negligent in your parts-buying procedures.

Because parts and service is so important to a successful trucking operation, we’re pleased to add Denise Rondini to the HDT editorial team as aftermarket editor.

Denise has reported and commented on the truck parts and service market since 1982. As the former executive editor and publisher of Successful Dealer magazine and executive editor of Truck Parts & Service magazine, she’s very familiar with what goes on in the parts and service business. She has spoken at dealer meetings and given presentations for trucking industry manufacturers and suppliers on aftermarket topics.

Now she’s sharing that inside insight with HDT readers.

October marked the debut of Denise’s new column, “Aftermarket: The Fleet Perspective.” Every other month, Denise will offer a look at aftermarket parts and service trends and how they affect fleets. She kicks off the column with a sort of “Aftermarket 101,” explaining how the aftermarket industry has been changing and the different channels through which you can buy parts.

(We’re adding another new department that will run on the months in between, which you’ll learn about in January.)

Going forward, we’re also going to have a maintenance article every month (we had been alternating maintenance topics with new-equipment topics).

You’ll see Denise’s byline on many of those, starting with this month’s feature on whether premium engine oils and lubes are right for your fleet. Some future topics to look for include remanufactured parts, what to look for in an outside service provider, aftermarket fuel economy solutions, and OEM aftermarket parts programs. Plus we’ll have a major cover story on best practices in buying aftermarket parts.

Denise had already been in the business for about a decade when I met her at the Mid-America Trucking Show in the early ‘90s. She quickly became one of a group of fellow trucking journalists from other publications who I admired and respected. I’d hang out with her in the press room, trying to absorb some of her knowledge while enjoying her wry sense of humor and keen observations about the industry.

I think you’ll enjoy Denise and learn from her as much as I have.