I have promised many of you that the blog I deliver is “uncensored.” So, in keeping with the theme of full disclosure, I want to acknowledge that sometimes planning a SuperTech competition isn’t all fun and games.

One day, you may not get a sponsor lined up. Another day, you may not see things the same way as your fellow committee members. And, there may be a rare day when you think if you hear the words “SuperTech” one more time, you’re going to need to plan an escape route.
But when all of these things happen, it’s important to remember why we wanted to be involved with SuperTech: it is a truly important event that will recognize and reward our technicians for what they do best.

If I’m feeling worried or overwhelmed, I try picturing the dealership I work for without any technicians in the shop. Can you imagine? Now that is truly a scary thought.

So my challenge to you is that when you are feeling overwhelmed or worried about your SuperTech planning, remember your technicians and the hard work they do for your company every day. Keep working hard for them!

I have barely unpacked my bags from three straight weeks of traveling to industry events (The National Biodiesel Conference, the TMC Annual Meeting & Expo, and Heavy-Duty Aftermarket Week) and already I have to start packing for NTEA’s Work Truck Show and the Mid-America Truck Show! If there’s a slow-down in the trucking industry, the show schedule certainly isn’t reflecting it. Yes, some vendors are bowing out of Mid-America this year, but the show will still go on.

I have a lot to look forward to at both shows. First of all, I’ll be attending a seminar at the Work Truck Show that will explore the implications of 2010 emissions systems on body/chassis interfaces. I’m expecting there to be input from several OEMs and body-builders, and I’m sure they will raise as many new questions as they answer. Further on, at the Mid-America truck show, all the engine and truck OEMs will be making statements on their 2010 emissions system technologies, trying to convince the industry why they made the right choice and their competitor made the wrong choice.

All in all, both shows promise to be eventful, and I’ll be reporting on them here and on the pages of Fleet Maintenance. I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait to see what the future will bring!

I just got back from the Heavy Duty Aftermarket Week (HDAW) event in Orlando, hosted by the Heavy Duty Manufacturers Association (HDMA) and several other trade organizations, and I am happy to day that I was surprised by the climate. The climate on Orlando itself was brisk, even cool on some days, which came as a shock (especially since I was fighting off a bad cold, and hoped that some warm sunshine might do me good–that didn’t exactly work out). The business climate, on the other hand, was much nicer. HDAW tailors its seminars to business issues, and the speakers by and large were confident that we would likely see an upturn in the economy by the third quarter of 2009, and things would definitely be on the mend by the fourth quarter.

Conversations at the trade show booths were positive as well, with vendors showing off new products and services just like always. The emphasis was on seizing opportunity and ficusing on long-term growth, and it was a welcome message. Hats off to Tim Kraus and everyone at HDMA for giving the industry a shot in the arm and a healthy dose of optimism!

I wasn’t sure what to expect at the Technology and Maintenance Council’s annual meeting and exposition down in Orlando, but I am so glad I had the opportunity to attend. There were numerous seminars I attended that will help me be better at my job.

Additionally, a lot of my week was spent networking and meeting people who are helping with the first Nebraska SuperTech competition. Once again, I was amazed at the willingness of people to help support our endeavor. Roger Maye of ConMet and Brian Thompson of Delco Remy both approached me to say they would be more than happy to help us out.

During the expo, the Professional Technician Development Committee booth gave everyone a chance to try some of the SuperTech skills challenges. I am happy to report that I tried the electrical station, the service information station and the wheel end station. I learned how to use a Fluke Meter for the first time in my life and even did a torque to 300 ft. lbs. I poured over the service information station, and only asked for help once or twice!

Now that I’m back in Nebraska, the reality of the fact that the competition is only five months away is starting to hit me. I am also working hard on my company’s own internal competition. I joked in Florida that my middle name is “SuperTech,” but I’m beginning to think it actually is. I am thankful I had the opportunity to attend the TMC conference.

I just got back from the Technology & Maintenance Council’s (TMC) Annual Meeting and Expo in Orlando, and of all the presentations and discussions I heard or took part in during the week, one stands out in particular. In the “Shop Talk” session, a fleet maintenance manager got up and asked the assembled crowd of about 250 whether anyone had any experience taking out their diesel particulate filters for cleaning yet. The response? Silence.

If you recall, when DPFs came on the scene in time for the EPA 2007 diesel emissions standards, the EPA declared that they must be able to go a minimum of 150,000 miles before needing to be physically removed from the truck and cleaned of their accumulated ash deposits. At the time, the truck OEMs assured us that the DPFs could easily go 250,000 before needing to be cleaned, but no one really knew what to believe, because the devices weren’t in use yet, and it would be several years before the first operating DPF reached even 150,000 miles.

Well, when the question came up at the TMC Meeting, representatives from three different diesel engine OEMs got up and responded that their testing had revealed that DPFs on long-haul trucks will exceed even the 250,000 mile interval. The three representatives gave numbers as high as 500,000 miles, and these numbers were based on real-world experience; they were not estimates.

It’s kind of nice to deliver good news every once in a while. i could get used to this.

This will be my last blog before I will see many of you down in sunny Florida. I can’t wait to catch up with a lot of you face-to-face and expand my growing network within the trucking industry.

The editor of Fleet Maintenance, Mark O’Connell, recently blogged about networking. He said, “…but the first thing it suggests to me is that most of our readers are not interested in professional networking.”

From the perspective of both a reader and a person who is trying to plan her state’s first-ever SuperTech event, I’m going to disagree with Mark and say that at least one reader is interested in networking.

Professional networking is part of the reason SuperTech will make its debut in Nebraska. I can’t imagine trying to plan this event without the many contacts I’ve made in a short amount of time.

A large part of the reason I am going to the Technology and Maintenance Council’s annual meeting is to further enhance my networking. I can’t wait to swap stories with you all, and tell you more about the awesome things we have planned for SuperTech in Nebraska. See you next week!

I just got back from the National Biodiesel Conference in San Francisco, and I have some good news for fleet managers who have held back on using biodiesel because they’re afraid of cold-weather performance and clogged fuel filters. While at the meeting, I met a guy named Joe Montesano who works for Greeneck, an excavating company in Driggs, Idaho, population 1,100, elevation 6,109 ft. Driggs is in the shadow of the Grand Teton mountains, and lies just outside of Yellowstone National Park. They are no strangers to cold weather.

So it surprised me when Joe said his company has had no cold weather performance problems with biodiesel. “You just have to be smart about it,” he said, meaning that you need to be flexible: maybe you use a B5 blend in the winter and a B20 blend in the summer. Doesn’t sound too hard to me.

I think more fleet managers could stand to think like Joe. More fleets could be benefitting–and benefitting our country–by running on biodiesel. They just need to be smart about it.