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Ford, VW to make about 8 million commercial vehicles Reuters / June 10, 2020 The automakers will collaborate on a city van built by Volkswagen, a 1-ton cargo van developed by Ford, and a Volkswagen mid-sized pickup built on the Ford Ranger platform, starting in 2022. Ford Motor Co. and Volkswagen Group said on Wednesday they would make up to 8 million units of medium pickup trucks and commercial vans during the lifecycle of the vehicles as part of an alliance announced last year. The automakers will collaborate on a city van built by Volkswagen, a 1-ton cargo van developed by Ford, and a Volkswagen medium pickup built on the Ford Ranger platform, starting in 2022. The No. 2 U.S. automaker will also make a new electric vehicle for Europe by 2023, built on Volkswagen's Modular Electric Drive toolkit, and could deliver more than 600,000 units over several years. Ford and VW announced their partnership plans in January 2019, as carmakers around the globe join forces to invest in electric and self-driving technology to help save billions of dollars. VW CEO Herbert Diess and Ford CEO Jim Hackett formally announced their companies' partnership in July 2019.

Owners sue Ford over faulty Mustang transmissions Michael Martinez, Automotive News / June 10, 2020 DETROIT — Owners of 2011-2019 model year Ford Mustangs are suing the automaker for what they allege are defective manual transmissions that have caused the pony cars to slip, jerk and clash gears while shifting. A suit seeking class-action status, filed last year in California and transferred last month to U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, alleges Ford knew about defects in the Getrag MT82 six-speed manual transmissions for a decade. Since 2011, the lawsuit says, Ford has issued seven special service messages and technical service bulletins related to shifting issues and other defects. "The transmission is defective in its design, manufacturing, and or materials in that, among other problems, the transmission slips, jerks, clashes gears, and harshly engages; has premature internal wear, increased shift efforts, inability to drive, and eventually suffers a catastrophic failure," the lawsuit says. "Ford repeatedly failed to disclose and actively concealed the defect from class members and the public and continues to market the class vehicles without disclosing the transmission defect." A Ford spokesperson said, "We typically do not comment on pending litigation." The automaker has faced legal issues for years surrounding its DPS6 manual transmissions used in Focus and Fiesta sedans. Last year it extended the warranty on certain 2014-16 model year Focus and Fiesta cars with dual-clutch transmissions by two years and 40,000 miles, and this year reached a new settlement in a class-action lawsuit affecting nearly 2 million customers. Ford began using the Getrag MT82 transmission in the Mustang for the 2011 model year, when it replaced the Tremec T5 and TR-3650 manuals. It began receiving complaints shortly after the MT82 transmission's launch. The lawsuit highlights a 2011 investigation into the MT82 transmissions by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. NHTSA found 364 complaints related to the gearbox but eventually closed the case after Ford took action to correct the problems, and it concluded there was "no unreasonable safety risk associated with the alleged defect." The plaintiffs include Brandon Lemons, who purchased a pre-owned 2014 Mustang GT in late 2018. He took the vehicle in for service in July 2019 complaining of a "grinding noise and a vibration through the shift knob." The problem has gone uncorrected.

Ford recalls 2.15 million vehicles for faulty door latches Reuters / June 10, 2020 WASHINGTON -- Ford Motor Co. said Wednesday it will recall 2.15 million U.S. vehicles with potentially faulty door latches. The automaker said the recall covers many Ford and Lincoln vehicles from the 2011-15 model years. The recalled vehicles may not have had all door latches replaced or correctly replaced when repaired by dealerships under recalls issued in 2015 and 2016. Ford said a recalled vehicle with a faulty latch may unlatch while driving, but said it is not aware of any reports of accidents or injury related to the condition. The company previously recalled more than 5 million vehicles for varying door latch-related issues since 2015 and has booked hundreds of millions of dollars in costs. The recall covers some Ford Fiesta, C-Max, Focus, Mustang. Fusion, Escape, Transit Connect, Lincoln MKZ and MKC vehicles. Ford said the latches have a part susceptible to cracking that in some circumstances can lead to doors failing to close. If motorists repeatedly attempt to close the door, it may temporarily close but could open during driving.

Ford F-150 EV, Transit EV coming by mid-2022 Michael Martinez, Automotive News / June 10, 2020 DETROIT — Ford Motor Co. will offer battery-electric versions of its F-150 pickup and Transit van by mid-2022, COO Jim Farley said Wednesday. It's the most detailed timeline yet for the company's electric vehicle plans and comes as Ford faces increasing competition in the EV space. The automaker previously said only that the Transit EV would be a 2022 model year vehicle and that the F-150 EV would be available in "the next couple years." Both products are key to Ford's strategy of increasing its focus on high-margin, commercial vehicles. They face challengers on all sides, including electric startups such as Rivian and Bollinger Motors as well as traditional rivals such as General Motors, which is planning its own electric van, according to Reuters. "With our knowledge and know-how, I like our chances against all comers as we go all-electric," Farley said at the Deutsche Bank 2020 Global Auto Industry Conference. Farley and Ford CEO Jim Hackett used their conference presentation to highlight Ford's business strategy and update wary investors as it emerges from the COVID-19 pandemic. Wall Street in recent days has continued to place high value on EV makers. Tesla Inc. stock has continued to soar, despite CEO Elon Musk recently signaling trouble ramping up Model Y production. And Nikola Corp., an aspiring EV commercial truckmaker, now has a higher market cap than Ford despite producing no revenue. "I see opportunity for Ford," Farley said Wednesday on CNBC when asked about Nikola's market cap. Production, sales updates Farley said that in the three weeks since Ford resumed North America production May 18, the automaker has hit roughly 96 percent of its planned volume. It's in the process of adding shifts and overtime at plants around the country and expects to be at pre-coronavirus patterns by July 6. Ford has said it expects to lose $5 billion in the second quarter because of the pandemic. Hackett and Farley reiterated that Ford's upcoming launches of high-profile vehicles including the Bronco SUV, F-150 pickup and Mustang Mach-E electric crossover will be delayed by about the two months that its factories were shut down, but the automaker does not envision further setbacks. Ford is preparing to unveil the next-generation F-150 this month, and it will reveal the Bronco in July. Both reveals were upended by the pandemic. While Ford no longer publicly reports monthly sales, Farley said the company's May U.S. new-vehicle sales rose 44 percent compared with April — a sign that demand was returning following statewide shutdown mandates. He said F-Series sales were up 5.3 percent year over year in May and that Ford gained an estimated 2.4 percentage points in pickup market share. Farley said Ford had a roughly 73-day supply of F-Series pickups and has flipped "lots of units" from fleet to retail to keep up with a shortage of inventory on dealership lots because of the production halt. The automaker is preparing to ramp down production of the current model as it changes over to the next generation, due out this year. "We feel great about where we are on F-Series," Farley said. VW deal signed Ford earlier Wednesday announced that it had officially signed off on a partnership with Volkswagen Group to jointly develop a midsize pickup and commercial vehicles in Europe that it announced last year. The two companies expect the alliance to yield about 8 million vehicles. The automakers will collaborate on a city van built by Volkswagen, a 1-ton cargo van developed by Ford and a Volkswagen medium pickup built on the Ford Ranger platform, starting in 2022. Ford will also make a new EV for Europe by 2023, built on Volkswagen's modular electric drive toolkit, and could deliver more than 600,000 units over several years. "In light of the Covid 19 pandemic and its impacts on the global economy, more than ever it is vital to set up resilient alliances between strong companies," Volkswagen Group CEO Herbert Diess said in a statement. "This collaboration will efficiently drive down development costs, allowing broader global distribution of electric and commercial vehicles, and enhance the positions of both companies."

Ford, VW Partnership Will Develop Commercial Vehicles Heavy Duty Trucking (HDT) / June 10, 2020 The global alliance between Ford and Volkswagen announced plans to strengthen the commercial-vehicles businesses of both companies as early as 2021 with the development of a city delivery van and medium pickup truck. The alliance said it will develop a city delivery van based on the latest Volkswagen Caddy model, developed and built by Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles and will also later develop a one-ton cargo van created by Ford, according to the companies. There are also plans to produce a medium pickup truck engineered and built by Ford, for sale by Volkswagen as the Volkswagen Amarok starting in 2022 within the Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles lineup. “Commercial vehicles are fundamental to Ford today and an area where we will accelerate and grow, and working with Volkswagen on these platforms will provide both of us significant financial advantages in things like engineering, and plants and tooling,” said Jim Farley, Ford chief operating officer. “Separately, Ford will add battery electric versions of Transit and F-150 in the next 24 months for commercial customers who increasingly need zero emissions and the power of connectivity, data and artificial intelligence.” Plans were also announced to develop a new Ford electric vehicle for the European market by 2023 built on Volkswagen’s Modular Electric Drive (MEB). “The collaboration with Ford is a key building block of our GRIP 2025+ strategy and part of the current transformation of Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles,” said Thomas Sedran, chairman of the board of management of Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles. “This long-term cooperation with Ford will strengthen our very good position in area of light commercial vehicles, especially in our core European markets, and is proof that we are successfully implementing our plan step by step.” The companies said they anticipate continued growth in global industry demand for commercial vehicles and for high-performing electric vehicles to add valuable scale to their individual product portfolios. “This alliance comes at a time of tremendous enthusiasm about the intersection of increasingly intelligent, connected vehicles in an ever-smarter world,” said Ford CEO Jim Hackett. “This creates a huge opportunity to innovate and solve many of the world’s transportation challenges and deliver extraordinary benefits to customers – even as companies need to be selective about how they use their cash.” During the lifecycles of the products, the companies expect to produce up to a combined 8 million of the medium pickup truck and both commercial vans included in the commercial relationships. Additionally, the companies will both work on Ford’s Argo AI autonomous vehicle platform to form an autonomous-vehicle business based on its self-driving technology. The Volkswagen/Ford alliance does not include cross-ownership between the companies, which will remain competitors in the marketplace.

Tesla's Musk Tells Employees it's Time to Push Semi Production Heavy Duty Trucking (HDT) / June 10, 2020 Tesla shares topped $1,000 for the first time on June 10, as reports surfaced that the company is pushing to ramp up production of its electric heavy-duty Semi truck. According to Reuters, Tesla chief Elon Musk told his staff in an email Tuesday before the market opened that it was time to “go all out” to bring the Tesla Semi commercial truck to “volume production,” but he didn’t specify a time frame. Just a month and a half ago, Musk said in an earnings call that the long-awaited battery-electric truck wouldn’t be in production until 2021. Tesla’s shares rose about 6% to hit $1,000 on Wednesday after Reuters reported Musk’s email. Reuters noted that Musk’s message coincided with a surge in the share price of rival electric-truck maker Nikola. Nikola on Wednesday announced it had hired former Tesla executive Mark Duchesne to head its manufacturing and former Caterpillar exec Pablo Koziner to head its hydrogen fueling and battery recharging business. Apparently in response to the latest news about the Semi, Nikola founder Trevor Milton tweeted, “I love the competition!” and touted the Nikola fuel-cell truck’s lighter weight. The two companies also appear to be in a battle as to who will have a zero-emissions pickup on the market first, the Tesla CyberTruck or the Nikola Badger. Nikola recently announced it is opening up reservations for its Badger electric pickup truck on June 29. “This is Elon making noise because of Nikola,” Ben Kallo, an analyst at Robert W. Baird, told Bloomberg. He said other factors are fueling the Tesla stock’s gain, including strong sales in China and the anticipation of a "Battery Day" event. Initially, when the Tesla Semi was introduced in 2017, Musk announced production would begin in 2019. Companies such as Anheuser-Busch, J.B. Hunt, Fedex and UPS put in orders. Over the next year, Tesla Semis were spotted along highways and details started to emerge on an electric truck charging network. Then, in April 2019, during Tesla’s first-quarter earnings call, company officials indicated that production would begin in 2020. This was pushed back further in January, when a leaked email sent by Tesla to a company that had reserved one of the Semis reportedly said production would begin in the second half of 2020, with a limited run.

As always, it all had to do with requirement. In the US with the standard 6-cylinder engine, the 11-inch Donaldson underhood unit was adequate. And it could fit. The optional cowl mounted air cleaners, available single or dual, in 13 or 15 inch diameter canisters, were necessary for extended service intervals, larger engines and/or harsher conditions. An inline pre-cleaner was also an option (not available with the inside-outside air intake option).

Nikola emerges with $26 billion market value and no revenue Automotive News / June 9, 2020 Tesla Inc. shares are at an all-time high. Hertz Global Holdings Inc.’s are well above where they were before the company went bankrupt. But no stock in the automotive sector is a better indication of equity-market exuberance than Nikola Corp. The aspiring battery-electric and hydrogen fuel-cell truck maker debuted on the Nasdaq last week following a reverse merger with a blank-check company headed by a former General Motors executive and board director. It’s forecasting zero revenue for 2020 and its first $1 billion year won’t be until 2023. Ford Motor Co., by comparison, is expected to report about $115 billion of revenue for this year. And yet Nikola, whose stock more than doubled Monday, traded up another 24 percent to as high as $90.71 in early trading Tuesday, giving the company a richer market capitalization than the almost 117-year-old maker of the F-150. Skeptics have long questioned the market’s valuation of Tesla, which has yet to post an annual profit. But by pushing Nikola’s market cap to $26 billion at Monday’s close, investors have taken appraisals of zero-emission vehicle manufacturers named after a celebrated Serbian-American inventor to another stratosphere. “Nikola’s No. 1 goal is stable growth over time,” Trevor Milton, Nikola’s executive chairman, said in an emailed statement. The 38-year-old said several factors could be behind the stock’s gain and cited examples including his tweeted announcement that the company will start taking reservations for its Badger pickup. Starting five years ago, when Milton founded Nikola, through the end of last year, the Phoenix-based company has lost about $188.5 million. It’s planning to start delivering the Tre battery-electric semi truck next year, followed by two fuel cell-electric models in 2023. The Badger model that Milton said may have gotten the market excited on Monday might not actually make it into production. In Nikola’s public-offering filing, the company said it is focused on making Class 8 heavy-duty vehicles and doesn’t expect to build the Badger unless it finds an established manufacturer to partner with. A spokesperson for the company said Nikola will announce a partner in the near future, without giving more specifics. Last week, Milton ceded the CEO job to Mark Russell, a former COO of metals manufacturer Worthington Industries Inc., who has been president of Nikola since February 2019. VectoIQ Acquisition Corp., the company Nikola merged with, is led by Steve Girsky, a former GM vice chairman who helped lead the carmaker out of bankruptcy. Little cash Nikola had about $86 million in cash at the end of last year. Prior to the stock listing, it had raised more than $500 million of private capital, though that includes a $150 million in-kind contribution from CNH Industrial NV, the truck maker linked to Italy’s billionaire Agnelli family. CNH also invested $100 million cash in Nikola last year. The partnership with CNH includes a 50-50 venture in Europe that aims to start producing battery-electric trucks in Germany in the first half of next year and a North American alliance that Nikola will fully own. Nikola is planning to build a 1-million-square-foot facility south of Phoenix and start making trucks in 2021. It’s expecting to reach full production of about 30,000 fuel cell-electric vehicles in 2027 and 15,000 battery-electric vehicles the following year. Although Nikola touts reservations for 14,000 fuel cell-electric trucks that it says are worth about $10 billion of sales, those are far from done deals. The company told prospective investors in April that it was negotiating with strategic fleet partners to convert pre-orders into binding contracts with deposits. While times are good for Milton -- his fortune now stands at $9 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index -- he still covets something Tesla’s CEO Elon Musk has: a blue check mark on Twitter. Hi @verified @twitter, how about verifying my account and our company's account so people stop asking if we are the real accounts of Nikola. I've waiting patiently for a year and no verification. Help a company out. @nikolatrevor and @nikolamotor — Trevor Milton (@nikolatrevor) June 6, 2020 Then again, Milton may want to be careful about seeking notoriety on Musk’s favorite social-media platform. The account @TESLACharts, which has accumulated roughly 26,400 followers by incessantly trolling Musk, has taken notice of Nikola’s rise. Nikola, which has **zero revenue**, now has a market cap greater than $30B. But the Fed has nothing to do with this asset bubble mania. Amazing times. No position. $NKLA pic.twitter.com/0S6yOsfHn7 .

Think about this for a moment. Have not the powerful and wealthy always been in control? From day one? Do you not think they're still in control now? Almost everything happens for a reason........so as to steer the majority of the masses. "They" put money into the hands of the masses, and then profit from how the masses spend that money. They have it down to a science. We, who think and question, are a minority and thus no threat to their agendas.

The R-400 series was the predecessor to the "Baby 8's" we have today.

Thank you and Congratulations to Champion Concrete Pumping Inc with their new premium Autocar ACX84 tandem steer chassis, and Alliance Concrete Pumps, Inc. 47M pump. Additional congratulations from everyone at Autocar to Champion’s Roy and Dawn Thompson for receiving the prestigious American Concrete Pumping Association’s 2020 Pioneer Award! Always Up - Autocar Trucks .

If I recall correctly, 1985 was the last year. All of the Morgan Millwork R487P box trucks, for example, had 5-speed transmissions.

Fuel lines are metal, between the fuel injection pump and the injectors. Is that what you mean? Or do you mean the fuel hoses to/from the fuel injection pump? Fuel lines would be Mack part numbers: 203GC3221A 203GC3222 203GC3191 203GC3192 203GC3193 203GC3194

GM plans electric commercial van Reuters / June 4, 2020 General Motors Co is developing an electric van aimed at business users such as Amazon.com Inc and United Parcel Service. That multibillion-dollar strategy could enable GM, Ford and at least two EV startups to build and deliver more electric vehicles at a time when consumer demand for battery-powered models is still a small fraction of overall industry sales, while targeting a potentially lucrative market segment that Tesla Inc has yet to address. GM’s plan to develop an electric van has not previously been reported. The No. 1 U.S. automaker did not confirm the van, but has said it plans to introduce at least 20 new all-electric vehicles by 2023, in a variety of body styles including sedans, trucks and crossovers. Suppliers familiar with such plans at GM and Ford told Reuters the Detroit automakers, which count trucks and commercial vehicles among their most profitable businesses, “don’t want to leave the door open for Tesla” as they did in consumer passenger cars. Scott Phillippi, UPS senior director of fleet maintenance and engineering, said electric vans have the potential to disrupt the commercial market. The GM van – code-named BV1 – is due to start production in late 2021. It is believed the BV1 van will share some components with GM’s future electric pickups and SUVs, including the automaker’s new Ultium advanced battery system. It is expected to be assembled alongside the electric trucks at GM’s Detroit-Hamtramck plant. GM is considering whether to offer the electric van through its traditional truck brands - Chevrolet and GMC - or market it under a different brand such as Maven, the sources said. GM’s first electric pickup truck, due in late 2021, will be sold by GMC dealers under the Hummer brand. In a statement, GM said it is “committed to an all-electric future and is implementing a multi-segment, scalable EV strategy to get there. At this time, we do not have any announcements to make regarding electric commercial vehicles.” The GM electric van project is aimed at an important segment of the emerging EV market – commercial delivery vehicles. For established players, this is a hugely profitable business segment driven by cost of ownership, not fancy tech or star power. It is also a segment in which Tesla and its high-profile CEO, Elon Musk, lack an entry to compete for sales and CO2 credits, which allow automakers to offset the sale of non-electric vehicles including high-margin pickups and SUVs. “Buyers of commercial vans want reliability and not necessarily a flashy brand name,” said Sam Fiorani, vice president of global vehicle forecasting at AutoForecast Solutions. “The reduced maintenance and fuel use of electric vehicles become very attractive to a business customer, where the current limitations of EVs make the price premium less attractive to individual consumers.” In February, Ford said it would introduce an electric version of its Transit van for model year 2022. “The most critical bet we will be making over the next several years will be our commercial vehicles,” Ford’s chief operating officer, Jim Farley, told Reuters at the time. Ford also is an investor in Michigan-based startup Rivian, which is scheduled to begin building the first of 100,000 mid-size electric vans for Amazon next year. Amazon rival UPS has commissioned 10,000 mid-size electric vans from British startup Arrival, which is backed by Korea’s Hyundai Motor Co and its sister company Kia Motors Corp. The combined value of the Amazon and UPS contracts with Rivian and Arrival is estimated at $4 billion or more. And more players in the segments will likely follow, including Daimler AG, Volkswagen AG and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV, said Samit Ghosh, chief executive of the Americas for consulting and engineering firm umlaut. “The delivery vans is a volume not to be underestimated,” he said. “I would not just call it a niche segment.”

https://www.bigmacktrucks.com/tutorials/article/8-clariben-hood-brochure-aftermarket/

I think P6 is spray cans, and P2 is gallons.

It seems to me there is no way that all of these protests, happening nationwide simultaneously, couldn't have been organized within four days of the event in grassroots fashion. I suspect the protests were organized.

Heavy Duty Trucking (HDT) / June 1, 2020 Daimler Trucks North America (DTNA) is recalling approximately 2,987 model-year 2019-2021 Western Star 4700 and 5700 vehicles. A particular wire in the ground harness may be undersized, possibly resulting in a melted connector in the ground circuit harness, according to the recall. If the connector becomes damaged, under certain circumstances, the engine may stall without the ability to restart. DTNA will notify owners, and dealers will replace the ground harness, free of charge. Owners may contact DTNA customer service at (800) 547-0712. This recall is expected to begin July 16, 2020. DTNA's number for this recall is FL-852.

The dramatization of it all by CNN makes me hate the post Ted Turner news organization even more (if that is at all possible). News should only be a reporting of facts, without opinion. Opinions are reserved for editorials.

Ryder severs exclusive hydrogen electric truck partnership with Nikola Jason Cannon, Commercial Carrier Journal (CCJ) / May 31, 2020 Ryder System and Nikola Corporation announced Friday the termination of their more than three-year-long exclusive partnership on Nikola’s forthcoming hydrogen electric semis. Ryder in late 2016 inked a deal to serve as the exclusive distribution and maintenance provider for Nikola Motor Company (NMC), which unlocked Ryder’s North American network of more than 800 service locations to lessors and owners of Nikola tractors. That deal has been mutually called off, enabling both companies “to explore emerging opportunities within the rapidly growing commercial transportation industry,” Nikola said via release last week. “As the market evolves, each of us are now free to expand our operations to other partners,” said Nikola Corporation CEO Trevor Milton, “something the previous agreement did not allow us to do. We look forward to finding ways to continue to work with Ryder in the future as a customer and have found them to be a great partner.” Milton said his company will now be working with “major truck dealerships” to sell and service Nikola trucks. Nikola this week expects to complete a merger with VectoIQ Acquisition Corp., a publicly-traded “special purpose acquisition company” [????], that once closed will see the hydrogen and battery electric truck maker listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange under the ticker NKLA. Milton will serve as Executive Chairman of the combined company.

The rear suspension appears to be a 4-leaf Volvo RADD-TR1 with Volvo planetary hub reduction axles (26 tonne RTH2610F or 32 tonne RTH3210F?).

Bloomberg / May 30, 2020 One farm in Tennessee distributed Covid-19 tests to all of its workers after an employee came down with the virus. It turned out that every single one of its roughly 200 employees had been infected. In New Jersey, more than 50 workers had the virus at a farm in Gloucester County, adding to nearly 60 who fell ill in neighboring Salem County. Washington state’s Yakima County, an agricultural area that produces apples, cherries, pears and most of the nation’s hops, has the highest per capita infection rate of any county on the West Coast. The outbreaks underscore the latest pandemic threat to food supply: Farm workers are getting sick and spreading the illness just as the U.S. heads into the peak of the summer produce season. In all likelihood, the cases will keep climbing as more than half a million seasonal employees crowd onto buses to move among farms across the country and get housed together in cramped bunkhouse-style dormitories. The early outbreaks are already starting to draw comparisons to the infections that plunged the U.S. meat industry into crisis over the past few months. Analysts and experts are warning that thousands of farm workers are vulnerable to contracting the disease. Aside from the most immediate concern -- the grave danger that farmhands face -- the outbreaks could also create labor shortages at the worst possible time. Produce crops such as berries have a short life span, with only a couple of weeks during which they can be harvested. If a farm doesn’t have enough workers to collect crops in that window, they’re done for the season and the fruit will rot. A spike in virus cases among workers may mean shortages of some fruits and vegetables at the grocery store, along with higher prices. “We’re watching very, very nervously -- the agricultural harvest season is only starting now,” said Michael Dale, executive director of the Northwest Workers’ Justice Project in Portland, Oregon, and a lawyer who has represented farm workers for 40 years. “I don’t think we’re ready. I don’t think we’re prepared.” Unlike grain crops that rely on machinery, America’s fruits and vegetables are mostly picked and packed by hand, in long shifts out in the open -- a typically undesirable job in major economies. So the position typically goes to immigrants, who make up about three quarters of U.S. farm workers. A workforce of seasonal migrants travels across the nation, following harvest patterns. Most come from Mexico and Latin America through key entry points like southern California, and go further by bus, often for hours, sometimes for days. There are as many as 2.7 million hired farm workers in the U.S., including migrant, seasonal, year-round and guest-program workers, according to the Migrant Clinicians Network. While many migrants have their permanent residence in the U.S., moving from location to location during the warmer months, others enter through the federal H2A visa program. Still, roughly half of hired crop farm workers lack legal immigration status, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

City of Tulsa, IC Bus Announce New 20-Year Agreement For Bus Manufacturing Plant TULSA, Oklahoma, May 28, 2020 -- The City of Tulsa, Mayor G.T. Bynum and IC Bus announced that a new 20-year agreement has been reached to keep the IC Bus school bus manufacturing facility at Tulsa International Airport. The new agreement builds on the City's efforts to grow and expand its economic base of manufacturing operations. "This agreement establishes a win-win partnership between the City of Tulsa and IC Bus for decades to come," Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum said. "The industry leader in school bus manufacturing will have a home to build products that are trusted all around the world, while local jobs are secured and the taxpayers' facility is properly maintained for the long term. I am excited for the future of IC Bus in Tulsa." The nearly mile-long, 1-million-square-foot plant is the world's leading producer of school buses. Bus production is currently at its peak, and approximately 75 vehicles are typically produced daily. "We'd like to thank Mayor Bynum for his personal involvement in resolving these negotiations," said Phil Christman, president of Operations for Navistar International Corporation, the parent company of IC Bus. "Thanks to his leadership, we have a decades-long framework to stay, invest and grow the IC Bus plant and our supply chain in Tulsa and the state of Oklahoma. Tulsa is a great community with a talented workforce. We're very pleased to be remaining in Tulsa, and look forward to keeping it what it is today – the school bus capital of the world." Mayor Bynum's agreement with IC Bus retains the following economic benefits in Tulsa for years to come: More than 1,600 men and women have careers manufacturing and assembling the safest, most technologically advanced school buses ever made. Manufacturing jobs provide economic opportunity and stable careers for Tulsa families, and the IC Bus plant provides annual direct income of more than $60 million annually. The average team member has worked at the plant for 6.5 years. The IC Bus plant spends $750 million each year on vendors and suppliers, including more than 100 Oklahoma-based businesses. An IC Bus supplier, IMMI, is building a 45,000-square-foot greenfield manufacturing plant, specializing in the manufacturing of seating systems, in Tulsa to support the assembly of school buses at the IC Bus Plant. The new lease prioritizes current and long-term investments in plant maintenance and improvements and creates an automatic process for establishing a multi-year investment program every 5-years of the lease.

Ford Trucks International / May 27, 2020 F-MAX’s smart connected vehicle technology: ConnecTruck Save time and money with Cloud-Computing technology that collects driver and vehicle data. #SharingTheLoad #ConnecTruck #FordTrucks