kscarbel2

I have no problem with migrant workers entering the country legally, on 6-month short-term work-related visas. But they must enter the United States "legally", which enables authorities to document and track them. Individuals who enter the United States illegally, for one day or forever, are criminals who must be removed and forever banned.

Wade looks like such a happy, gung-ho Volvo guy. He's seen the light.

Renault Trucks Press Release / November 12, 2015 Jost Group has just received shipment of 100 Renault Trucks vehicles. A leader in Europe's transportation and logistics industry, Jost will add these vehicles to its fleet for international hauling. This shipment contained Renault Trucks T 460 models built with a 4x2 tractor configuration. As part of its fleet renewal program, Jost Group, a key player in European transportation and logistics, has turned to a trusted partner in Renault Trucks by acquiring 100 vehicles from the "T" Range, making the truck manufacturer one of the Group's leading suppliers. These Renault Trucks T 460 models, whose delivery was just completed, were specially configured to meet Jost Group's needs on international transport routes. "As regards engine specifications, we feel the 460 horsepower version to be a perfect compromise between required performance and the Total Cost of Ownership, especially when considering the kinds of international hauling conditions these vehicles will be experiencing," says Joseph Schmitz, Head of Group Purchasing. "These vehicles have all been identically fitted with the Fuel Eco Pack in order to optimize the fleet's overall fuel consumption." This Fuel Eco Pack combines a whole host of smart technologies that serve to reduce vehicle consumption, including: an inhibited power mode, an eco cruise control setting with Optiroll-controlled free wheel action, a clutch-activated air compressor, a variable-speed power steering pump, and an automatic engine shutoff switch set at 3 minutes. The vehicles delivered to Jost also feature a differential locking mechanism on the rear axle, a speed reducer, aluminum air and fuel tanks, deflectors on both the roof and sides, air conditioning, a Bluetooth/MP3 docking station and a refrigerator beneath the bunk. The Renault Trucks T 460 models will cover 120,000 kilometers a year, primarily across Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and France. They have been equipped with a hydraulic system adapted to the use of skips and semitrailers. Photo gallery - http://corporate.renault-trucks.com/en/press-releases/2015_11_12_renault-trucks-delivers-100-vehicles-to-the-jost-group.html

Heavy Duty Trucking / November 12, 2015 Prices for Class 8 used trucks should begin declining as large numbers of vehicles begin coming in on trade next year, said Steve Clough, president of Volvo Group subsidiary Arrow Truck Sales, during a November 12 webinar. The trade-ins were bought new in 2011, a fairly healthy production year for new trucks, and are due for replacement by fleets using a five-year cycle. Those model-year 2012 trucks sold in ‘11 on three-year trade cycles are already in and others are following. Sales of the ‘12s represented a revival following the sales slump during the Great Recession. The question now is, will demand be high enough to absorb the greater supply? Healthy demand now for used trucks is driven by high freight tonnage being tendered to fleets, and comparatively low sales in 2007 through ’10 restricted the supply more recently, he said. Tonnage is down slightly from last year and fleets report having a bit more difficulty finding loads. Supply, demand, condition and specifications determine prices, Clough reminded the webinar audience, with the actual price of any particular truck determined by “what someone is willing to pay for it.” The reputation of a fleet for maintenance will cause prices for its trucks to be higher than those from fleets which aren’t so good on maintenance. He said premium trucks like “the Paccar brands” still command premium prices in the used-truck market, and the higher price usually reflects what’s paid when the trucks were purchased new. But condition and proper specifications for given hauling jobs are important to buyers, too. Freightliners with Detroit DD15 diesels tend to command a premium because they’ve built good reputations, and will cost more than those with Cummins engines, Clough said. “No premium value is put on a Cummins engine,” he added. Automated manual transmissions were initially slow sellers and lost their upfront price premium. But they now return some of their price premium as second buyers understand their advantages in fuel economy, driver retention and quick new-driver training due to the AMTs’ ease of operation. Exhaust emissions equipment had a big effect on the used truck business in the last 10 years, he noted. 2006 was the strongest year as 284,000 trucks were sold during the “pre-buy” by customers avoiding the then-upcoming diesel particulate filters, which were expensive and suspected of being troublesome. The sales declined steeply, then slumped further as the recession took hold. Values of early DPF-equipped trucks were low. However, California’s regulations requiring DPFs created “an artificial demand” for DPF trucks, he said, and that created a shortage elsewhere in the country. This pushed up prices for them. Although the recession had ended by 2010, the economy was recovering only slowly and freight movement showed no surge, and meanwhile buyers stayed away for fear of selective catalytic reduction equipment that was being added to exhaust systems. SCR offered better fuel economy, but boosted new-truck prices and caused concern; buyers generally didn’t want the first production year of SCR engines, but now accept it, Clough said. Troubles with various diesels in recent years have been addressed, mostly with software changes, by the time they’re traded in, he said. However, Clough said that Internationals with Navistar MaxxForce diesels are difficult to sell due to their history of problems, and Arrow generally doesn’t handle them. Natural gas-powered trucks raise questions about reliability, engine life and residual values. They’ve not been run long enough to provide solid answers, but as well-run fleets gain more experience with natural gas equipment, their values will become more clear. “We haven’t seen any liquified or compressed natural gas-powered trucks or sold any,” Clough said. For now, they seem to be most successful in “close-loop” operations in which they return home regularly where mechanics know how to fix items peculiar to them. Although glider kits have become popular among some buyers, “We avoid glider-kit trucks because there are too many open issues,” he said. “They seem to be bought by those who want to avoid emissions regulations. I prefer to avoid a business that seeks to avoid making the environment better.” An industry forecast of 262,000 North American Class 8 sales this year will be the strongest since the recession, Clough noted. And those trucks will begin coming in three to five years from now. That will create more supply and again the question is, will there be enough demand to absorb them? .

Déjà vu. The Mack Trucks’ Macungie plant union employees had wanted to make concessions so that on-highway production would remain in Allentown and not shift to Winnsboro, South Carolina. However, the UAW ignored the very people they represented and fought Mack Trucks, resulting in a lose-lose for all parties. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Philadelphia Inquirer / February 04, 1987 A Mack Trucks spokesman said the Allentown United Auto Workers membership had approved a new contract despite opposition from the international in Detroit. William McCullough, Mack vice president for corporate affairs, told United Press International yesterday that members of UAW Local 677 had approved, in a vote Saturday, the terms of a January 18th agreement between local union officials and Mack. The Allentown local, locked in a dispute with the union's international Detroit office, imposed a news blackout Monday on the progress of its talks with Detroit officials. The international, whose approval of contract terms is a required part of the ratification process, opposes the January 18th agreement because of wage and benefit concessions it contends are unprecedented. Before Saturday's vote, Local 677 officials had endorsed the tentative 6-year agreement with Mack Trucks primarily because of guarantees by the company that it would not close operations in the Lehigh Valley during the life of the contract. Mack also had promised job offers at a new truck plant in Winnsboro, S.C. to at least 600 Local 677 members who are laid off or facing loss of their jobs. But within a week after the terms of the tentative January 18th agreement were released, the international indicated it would oppose the contract no matter how Local 677 members voted. Local 677 has called its disagreement with the international a "family" matter and even declined to provide some details about the dispute to Pennsylvania Governor Robert Casey, who went to Allentown on Sunday to try to bring the parties closer. Casey also met with Mack chairman John B. Curcio. Robert Grotevant, a spokesman for Governor Casey, said one of the international's primary objections focused on Mack's refusal to give the UAW an open door for organizing workers at the new South Carolina plant. Wages at that plant are expected to be significantly lower than those at the Mack plant in Macungie, Pennsylvania.

Speaking of the new GM union contract............... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- UAW VP said to endorse ratification of GM pact Automotive News / November 12, 2015 A top UAW official is recommending to the union’s board that it ratify a tentative four-year agreement with General Motors, despite a “no” vote from skilled-trades workers. UAW Vice President Cindy Estrada, head of the GM department, told local union officials during a conference call this morning that she planned to recommend that UAW President Dennis Williams and the union’s International Executive Board ratify the pact, according to two people who listened to the call. Last week, the UAW said the tentative contract that was approved by a majority of GM union workers who voted couldn’t be ratified because the skilled-trades workers -- who represent about 15 percent of GM’s 52,600 UAW-represented employees -- voted it down. The UAW’s constitution requires approval by both production and skilled-trades workers. But under the rules, the union can seek to reopen negotiations with GM only if the workers’ objections center on work rules related specifically to the skilled trades -- the elimination of job categories, for example -- rather than on wages, bonuses or other economic aspects of the pact. Union leaders earlier this week visited GM plants across the country to meet with local union officials and skilled-trades workers to get to the bottom of their disapproval. That process wrapped up on Tuesday. Mix of issues Estrada said during today’s call that the skilled-trades workers’ complaints included a mix of economic issues -- being excluded from a $60,000 retirement buyout offered to some production workers, for example -- and non-economic ones, such as a consolidation of worker classifications that could require expanded duties, the sources said. She said GM has signaled that some of those work-specific issues can be hashed out at the local level, rather than set in stone in the national contract. A split vote between production and skilled-trades workers is rare: It happened at Ford in 1973 and again in 2011 when Chrysler’s skilled-trades workers voted down their tentative deal. The UAW ratified the Chrysler contract anyway, after determining that the workers objected to the deal’s broader economic aspects, not to the part of the agreement specific to skilled trades. If the UAW were to decide that the skilled-trades workers’ objections were legitimate, it could jeopardize the entire contract. The union could ask GM to reopen the talks to address some of those specific issues, but the company could refuse, raising the possibility of a strike. Voting on the UAW’s tentative agreement with Ford Motor Co. started today at some plants. Nearly 53,000 Ford workers will have a chance to vote on the deal through next week. Raise for Tier 2 The GM agreement would establish an eight-year grow-in period for Tier 2 workers, who were hired in recent years and are paid an hourly wage of about $16 to $19, slightly more than half what their Tier 1 counterparts earn. About 20 percent of GM’s 52,600 hourly UAW workers are in the lower-paid Tier 2 category. Under the unratified contract, new hires would start at $17 an hour and see wage increases each year through the eighth year of employment, when their wage will reach nearly $30. That would match Tier 1 workers, who also are getting their first wage increases in more than a decade: 3 percent raises in the first and third years of the contract, with lump-sum bonuses in the second and fourth years. GM also committed to spend about $8 billion across 12 U.S. factories over the life of the contract, the union said. That spending should “create and/or retain” more than 3,300 jobs, the UAW said. The deal also included an $8,000 signing bonus, to be paid in the second pay period after ratification. Workers also would be eligible for lump-sum performance bonuses of $1,000, in addition to an annual $500 bonus if GM hits vehicle-quality targets.

The Wall Street Journal / November 12, 2015 General Motors, fresh from agreeing to a new four-year union contract that is expected to drive up its U.S. labor costs, plans to become the first U.S. auto maker to sell a Chinese-made car in America. General Motors, fresh off agreeing to a new union contract that is expected to drive up its U.S. labor costs, plans to become the first major auto maker to sell Chinese-made cars in the U.S. The nation’s No. 1 automaker by sales early next year plans to start selling the Buick Envision, a midsize sport-utility vehicle made in China’s Shandong province. The move would add a third SUV to Buick’s U.S. lineup at a time when such crossovers are among the best selling vehicles in the market. Initially, the company expects to import a modest number—between 30,000 and 40,000—a year. But it signals the beginning of a strategic production shift for the Detroit auto giant and a bold experiment that will be closely followed by other auto companies that have said they would eventually consider such a move. Until now, GM has confined production in China to meeting that country’s demand. But as sales gains have moderated and Chinese tastes in cars converge with Americans’, the potential for more Chinese imports from GM and others could blossom. Global auto makers had been slow to ship Chinese vehicles to the U.S. and Europe, fearing Western buyers would shun them over quality concerns. Volvo Car Corp., now owned by China’s Geely Group, was the first to challenge that assumption when it started shipping Volvo S60L sedans from a plant in China to the U.S. this spring. The arrival of Chinese-made Buicks in the U.S. is likely to rile the United Auto Workers union, which has struggled to gain approval from its members for recent labor deals, in part over U.S. production guarantees. Over the summer, as rumors spread that GM was considering importing vehicles from China, UAW officials called the prospect concerning. However, the UAW and GM discussed the move during recent labor talks and appear to have come to an understanding. Union officials have been hit hard in recent months with news that production of some smaller, less-profitable passenger cars now built in the U.S. will move to Mexican factories over the course of the next four-year labor contract. In 2011, the UAW agreed to a wage contract that led to big bonuses for workers and the addition of tens of thousands of factory jobs. This year, union officials won much richer contracts that are expected to undermine those investment decisions and lead Detroit executives to look for lower-cost manufacturing options. GM officials say importing the Buick Envision would fill a gap in the brand’s product line, and isn’t a cost-saving measure. Buick’s U.S. presence has declined as the auto maker’s market share slid and Chevrolet took center stage as its mass-market brand. Buick’s U.S. volumes have recovered in recent years on more attractive models and a near-record pace for light-vehicle demand. In the U.S., Buick’s most popular offering is the small South Korea-built Encore SUV. Since acquiring South Korea’s Daewoo in 2002, GM has used its Korean plants to supply low-cost vehicles, but lately has been rethinking that strategy due to rising Korean labor costs. Buick’s second-best seller in the U.S. is the Enclave, a larger crossover built in Michigan. By adding a third crossover vehicle to the lineup, GM could accelerate Buick’s attempt to take on other premium auto brands, such as Honda’s Acura or Ford’s Lincoln.

Exactly. Much of today's generation doesn't grasp the concept of "responsibility", a character trait that played quite a role in building this country. When today's generation makes a mistake, there's no remorse. They don't care. If I make a mistake, fail in my obligations, or simply let someone down, it troubles me for a day to a week.....perhaps a month.

Particularly for those important jobs, there’s a lot to be said for character and integrity. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Secret Service officer arrested in child sex sting CNN / November 12, 2015 A Secret Service officer assigned to the White House was arrested after he was caught in a sting sending naked pictures of himself to someone he thought was a 14-year-old girl from Delaware. Lee Robert Moore turned himself in to the Maryland State Police Barracks on Monday, the same day the complaint was filed against him in the U.S. District Court for Delaware. The complaint details a series of online chats between Moore, 37, and a Delaware State Police detective posing as a 14-year-old girl from Delaware. Moore sent naked photos of himself to the undercover officer and requested to meet in person to have sex. While being interrogated by law enforcement. Moore said that he sent some messages while on the job at the White House and admitted to sending messages to what he believed was an underaged girl and other underage girls on a mobile messaging service. Moore was charged with the attempted transfer of obscene material to a minor, which carries a sentence of up to 10 years. The event comes after a series of high-profile controversies for the Secret Service. Julia Pierson, the Secret Service's first female director, resigned in October 2014, shortly after a man with a knife jumped the fence at the White House and made it deep into the White House before being caught. About a half year later, this past April, the Secret Service leaked a copy of House Oversight Chairman Jason Chaffetz's application to the agency. Chaffetz, who oversees the Secret Service as part of his duties, has been a sharp critic of the agency. An inspector general's report, released last month, found that the Secret Service leaked Chaffetz's failed application in retaliation.

"Education should be free,” they say. Why? Free college in the U.S., boy, make way for another wave of immigrants who want to milk America for its freebies. Foreign countries will shut down their institutions for higher learning and allow them to come here. Think of the money they’ll save. The U.S. doesn’t have the money anyway because we’re handing it out overseas in the form of economic aid and foreign military assistance. $15 an hour minimum wage so people can make countersales at McDonalds a career? I don’t think so. Today's generation.......they want to have their cake and eat it too..........and they don't want to have to pay for it. They want to zip up to the top rather than work their way up the ladder, or..........they have no ambition at all and are living at home with their parents, jobless, through their twenties.

Reuters / November 12, 2015 Students were set to walk out of classrooms across the United States on Thursday to protest ballooning student loan debt for higher education and rally for tuition-free public colleges and a minimum wage hike for campus workers. The demonstrations are planned just two days after thousands of fast-food workers took to the streets in a nationwide day of action pushing for a $15-an-hour minimum wage and union rights for the industry. Events for Thursday's protests, dubbed the Million Student March, have been planned at colleges and universities from Los Angeles to New York. Thousands of people signed up to attend on Facebook groups, though it remained to be seen how many would ultimately participate. "Education should be free. The United States is the richest country in the world, yet students have to take on crippling debt in order to get a college education," the movement's organizers said in a statement on their website. Organizers are demanding tuition-free public colleges, a cancellation of all student debt and a $15-an-hour minimum wage for campus workers. The total volume of outstanding U.S. student loan debt has more than doubled to $1.2 trillion, according to the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, compared with less than $600 billion in 2006. The bureau said there are some 8 million private and federal loan borrowers in default, representing more than $110 billion, while millions more are finding it difficult to keep up with repayments. Saddled with debt that can sometimes run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars, many college graduates have struggled to make payments amid an ailing economy and job market. Dealing with swiftly mounting student loan debt has been a focus of candidates vying for the White House in 2016. Democratic hopeful Bernie Sanders has vowed to make tuition free at public universities and colleges, and has pledged to cut interest rates for student loans. His rival Hillary Clinton has said she would increase access to tuition grants, let graduates refinance loans at lower interest rates, and streamline income-based repayment plans. Florida U.S. Senator Marco Rubio is the most prominent Republican candidate to lay out a concrete proposal, saying he would establish an income-based repayment system for federal student loans, and would simplify the application process for federal aid. "This is clearly an urgent crisis, but establishment politicians from both parties are failing to take action," their statement said.

Transport Engineer / November 11, 2015 Kemble, Gloucestershire-based fresh meat and palletised produce haulier Whites Transport Services has put five new Volvo tractor units on the road – four FH-500 6x2 tractors and one top-of-the-range FH16-750. All of Whites Transport Services new Volvos were specified with I-Shift automated transmissions, 700 litre fuel tanks, Bluetooth for cab phones and factory-fitted fridge freezers. The have also been equipped with Volvo’s Active Safety Package, which includes AEBS (Autonomous Emergency Braking Systems) and ACC (Adaptive Cruise Control) with Forward Collision Warning. In addition, these trucks feature Volvo’s Driver Alert Support System, Lane Support System, Lane Departure Warning System and Lane Change Support System. Director and transport manager Pete White says that fuel economy to date has been very good across all his Volvo trucks. “We monitor the economy via Volvo’s Dynafleet [telematics] app, which we also use for tracking,” he explains. “We’re consistently seeing nines from the two FHs we have had for a year... We’ve also had one truck record 10.1 mpg over a four-week period in which it covered 12,000km. The FH16-750 is also returning very good fuel figures.” As for why the choice of Volvo trucks this time – Whites’ first for almost eight years, he says: “We provide a top level service to customers... That requires the highest level of reliability from our trucks.” And he adds that Whites’ drivers, some of whom can be away from home for several weeks, are very important to the company. “That’s why we provide them with top quality trucks.” These Volvo trucks are expected to cover 150,000km each per year across the UK, Scandinavia and Europe, pulling Chereau refrigerated trailers fitted with Carrier fridges. Maintenance is being carried out on Volvo R&M contracts at supplying Volvo dealer Truck and Bus Wales & West, Swindon, during the first two years. .

Reuters / November 10, 2015 Volvo Group has won a case in the Arbitration Tribunal of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce relating to defective bearings supplied by NTN-SNR, the European business unit of Japan’s NTN Corp. In November 2012, Volvo Powertrain AB filed a request for arbitration with the tribunal claiming that bearings supplied by NTN-SNR did not comply with Volvo's specifications and caused damages. NTN-SNR argued that the bearings complied with Volvo's specifications and did not have any problem. The deliveries were made several years ago and the problem has since been corrected in the production process, Volvo said. Volvo said the ruling will have a positive impact of approximately SEK 800 million (approximately $94.2 million) on the Volvo Group’s operating profit in the fourth quarter. Related reading: http://www.ntn.co.jp/english/news/press/news201500079.html http://www.ntn-snr.com/group/fr/en-en/index.cfm?page=/group/home/marches_et_produits/automobile/clients_marches

Scania Group Press Release / November 11, 2015 Emissions from Scania trucks and buses are measured under real-life traffic conditions. The company has three mobile test labs for making sure all of its vehicles meet Euro 6 standards. The Euro 6 regulations (EU equivalent of EPA2010), which came into effect in December 2013, require tests to be carried out under normal traffic conditions. From the outside it looks like an ordinary trailer hitched to a Scania P 360 tractor. But the 10-foot container is crammed with equipment for measuring emissions. It is one of three mobile test labs operated by Scania. Emission tests carried out in real-time Sven Andersson, emission test engineer at Scania, says: “With these labs we can check the emissions from at least 50 vehicles per year. Most of the tests are conducted on tractor units to which we can attach the trailer with the mobile test lab. But we can also use these labs for rigid trucks as well as buses and coaches.” Previously, heavy vehicle manufacturers used stationary test rigs to check emissions. But the Euro 6 regulations, which came into effect in December 2013, require tests to be carried out under normal traffic conditions. Accordingly, the Scania trucks are also loaded with ballast corresponding to 50 to 60 percent of their payload. “We perform on-road analyses on at least one customer vehicle per month,” Andersson says. “Furthermore, we test vehicles during the development and production phases. We also test trucks in our own transport operations.” Tests designed to reflect real conditions Each test run takes between three to four hours and is designed to be as realistic as possible. “This means we drive on city, rural and highway roads,” Andersson says. “The idea is to measure emissions in normal traffic under normal conditions.” Once a test lab has been attached to a tractor it is connected to the vehicle’s on-board diagnostics system and an exhaust gas analyser is mounted on the tailpipe. Several parameters monitored “Using a laptop we then get readings on different emissions: carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxides,” Andersson explains. “We can also see the exhaust flow, exhaust temperature and exhaust pressure, as well as GPS data and weather data, such as temperature and humidity.” The test engineers can also access any other relevant data: engine speed, vehicle speed, engine temperature, torque, and fuel consumption. “Thanks to our mobile test labs we can guarantee that Scania vehicles meet Euro 6 standards for on-road emissions,” Andersson says. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7HuVxx8p6c

The Morning Call / November 11, 2015 The news surrounding Mack Trucks in the Lehigh Valley has seemed contradictory as of late. In mid-October, Lower Macungie Township's Board of Commissioners unanimously adopted a resolution of support for Mack's local operations. If Mack were mulling an expansion, officials wanted to make sure the heavy-duty truck manufacturer chose to grow in the Lehigh Valley. Then, this month, news surfaced that the local Mack plant will likely be hit with layoffs amid an anticipated 10 percent decline in the heavy-duty truck market next year. So an event Wednesday titled "Mack Trucks in the Lehigh Valley and in the World" came at a opportune time, giving Wade Watson, who started as vice president and general manager of Mack's Lehigh Valley operations in May, a chance to clear the air in front of 200 area business professionals. Watson didn't mince words. "We have been here for a long, long time," Watson said, tracing Mack's local roots to 1905. "We're here to stay." Don Cunningham, president and CEO of Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corp., said the group wasn't convinced that was the case three or four months ago. "We were a little worried that they might be looking outside of Pennsylvania, so we had to do some work," he said. Enter the resolution adopted last month in Lower Macungie, in which the board agreed to facilitate and execute permits and approvals related to construction and renovations of Mack's local operations in a "prompt and efficient manner." Mack is Lower Macungie's largest employer. Watson on Wednesday announced two proposed expansion projects at Mack's Lower Macungie plant, improvements aimed at boosting efficiency and customer experience. Now, Cunningham said, LVEDC is working with Mack on the acquisition of some pockets of land in the vicinity of the plant. "It's a very critical statement to have the new executive say, 'We've been here and we want to grow here,' " Cunningham said. "The people in the Lehigh Valley have to understand, the reality is that operations like Mack Trucks could go anywhere. So our first job as a region is keep what we have and keep it growing. "Because of the constraints at the plant physically, it takes a high level of cooperation to allow them to grow in place," he said. Watson gave a 40-minute presentation at LVEDC's Fall Signature Event, held over lunch at the Mack Trucks Customer Center in Allentown. While he started his presentation with a business overview and history, Watson's main message was Mack Trucks is alive and well in the Lehigh Valley, eager to make its operations here more efficient as it attempts to grab more market share, especially in the long-haul sector. That means determining how to better use its facilities, including its 1 million-square-foot plant in Lower Macungie, where all Mack trucks built for the North American market are assembled. That facility is pumping out 116 trucks a day. "We're reaching capacity," Watson said. "I wouldn't say that we're there. We're using the entire footprint today. There's some things that we can do inside the building to reshuffle how we build and to better use the space." According to Watson, the plant's layout creates complex delivery routes. So, he said, Mack wants to expand the building's south end by adding receiving docks, which would improve efficiency. Watson said the plant, now in its 40th year, requires some refurbishing, including a planned new facade. Watson said the civil engineering work on the two proposed improvements — the docks and facade — is done, and next is getting the "business case through the Volvo executive group." Sweden-based Volvo Group is Mack's corporate parent. If all goes according to plan, Watson said, he hopes to have both improvements completed by the end of 2017. "We're committed to the Lehigh Valley," Watson said. "We're looking at ways to invest and make it a more efficient operation here, so that's the intent." Higher efficiency can lead to higher production, and heavy-duty truck production is expected to peak this year. Volvo has said it expects the total North American retail market for heavy-duty trucks to approach 310,000 trucks in 2015. The company is anticipating lower — but still solid — demand of 280,000 trucks in 2016. "We're coming off of a peak, smoking-hot market and going to a very high market," Watson said. Watson said the anticipated local layoffs are due to Mack's "adjusting to the market." The exact layoff figure is not yet set, he said. The market is cyclical, Watson said, meaning "we're always going to be riding that wave up and down." As Watson pointed out, Mack Trucks had 812 employees in the Lehigh Valley in December 2009. Now Mack has 1,866 employees locally. Of those employees, 52 percent of them have less than eight years' experience, coming in with fresh, valuable ideas, Watson said. That meshes with Watson's outlook as a self-described "fixer" who moved with his wife and 3-year-old son to Zionsville this year. Or, as Watson, who helped bring in $70 million in investments at his last post at Volvo Group in Maryland, succinctly put it Wednesday: "I like to change stuff." .

‘Go long’ with shippers — recession likely before 2020 Commercial Carrier Journal (CCJ) / November 11, 2015 Speaking as part of the Truckstop.com Connected user conference Tuesday, Nov. 10, transportation analyst Noel Perry recommended carriers “go long” with their contracts with shippers, as another economic recession is already overdue. Perry, a forecaster for FTR, said the probability of the U.S. economy making it to 2020 without another downturn is “near zero.” “The longest recovery we’ve had since 1945 last nine years,” he said. We’re beginning year seven of the current recovery, though it’s been marked by fairly tepid growth by and large. “If we get to year 2020 we have to have an unprecedented historical event – a recovery lasted 10 years.” Now is not the time to put large capital expenditures into the business “unless you can get a return in two years,” Perry said. “Keep your cash flow solid – go long on relationships with your customers.” When the recession hits, you’ll be the “guy to get the freight, not your competitor.” Gail Rutkowski, who represents a variety of shippers as executive director of the NASSTRAC organization, echoed that sentiment. “Shippers have long memories,” she said. “They remember who helped them out, and who didn’t. All the technology in the world never places that relationship – and it works both ways. You’ll expect the same kind of respect and attention from the shipper as they would from you.” Perry’s gut feeling on the probability of recession, based on indicators he’s seeing in economic statistics, he put at 15-20 percent for year 2016. “By 2017, 60 percent. By ’18 – 80-90 percent. You should begin to think about it. Once we get into ’17 and ’18 it becomes a realistic issue.”

Roughly 450,000 carriers could lose business over highway bill’s ‘hiring standards’ Commercial Carrier Journal (CCJ) / November 11, 2015 The House’s recent passage of a long-term highway bill has been largely celebrated by trucking industry stakeholders, but one section of the bill is still giving pause to many in trucking, especially small carriers and owner-operators. As CCJ reported prior to the bill’s passage, broker and owner-operator advocacy groups were pursuing a change to the bill during the amendment process that would fix a portion of the bill that sets so-called “interim hiring standards” for those making carrier hiring decisions, such as brokers. The fix, however, was pulled from the House floor, and the bill subsequently cleared Congress’ lower chamber with the language intact. A fix could still come, however, in the Senate-House conference committee on their two respective highway bills. The standards set in the House bill could potentially exclude hundreds of thousands of carriers from being qualified as “hireable” in the eyes of the highway bill as-is. CCJ sister site Overdrive this week dug into RigDig Business Intelligence data earlier this week to show that the hiring standards could negatively affect roughly 440,000 carriers — those with either a “conditional” or “unrated” FMCSA safety rating. Here are the numbers: Safety Rating # of Carriers # of Power Units # of Drivers Satisfactory 35,940 1,494,021 1,598,373 Conditional 10,050 131,018 114,046 Unrated 428,108 1,390,693 1,449,523 The hiring standards named in the bill come parallel to the legislation’s call to remove CSA scores from public view. The problem is, however, unlike a standalone bill introduced earlier this year, one of the three carrier hiring criteria says shippers and brokers should make certain a carrier “has been given a satisfactory rating in FMCSA’s safety rating system.” That language excludes the 428,000 unrated rated carriers and the 10,050 conditionally rated carriers. And as the chart shows, many of those carriers are likely smaller carriers. The 428,108 “unrated” carriers have on average 3.25 trucks, where as the 35,940 carriers with a “satisfactory” rating have on average 41 trucks.

Heavy Duty Trucking / November 11, 2015 Class 6 GVW trucks now operating in commercial fleets now have an average 21.2-year lifespan due to their reliability, durability, and use in a variety of applications, according to IHS Automotive's commercial vehicle director Gary Meteer. Class 6 vehicles now have the longest lifespan of any commercial trucks in the U.S., where fleets are keeping their medium-duty trucks longer. The average age of commercial vehicles among Class 4-8 vehicles has reached 14.8 years, an increase from the 12.5 years in 2007, an 18.4% increase, says Meteer. At the other end of the spectrum, Class 5 trucks are now the youngest truck class with an average age of 11.8 years as a result of this segment of trucks having historically low demand. The truck market is at its highest levels since the 2008-'09 economic downturn with more than 7.9 million commercial vehicles on the road in the U.S. through June, including 3.5 million Class 8 vehicles, 1.5 million Class 7 trucks, and 1.4 million Class 6 trucks. Typical Class 6 trucks in operation are set up as a standard straight truck with a 20-foot box. These trucks are mainstream trucks for rental and daily lease trucks to move goods by businesses and individuals. Trucks configured this way often provide "many uses" once they leave the fleets of companies such as Ryder, Penske, and Enterprise such as construction storage units on site or for electrical supply and local retail.

Fleet Owner / November 11, 2015 An unprecedented capacity crisis, driven by the impacts of trucking regulations, will be followed by a revolution in transportation productivity, and the winners and losers in the supply chain will be sorted out based their preparations for the coming market upheaval, industry analysts explained at the Connected 2015 conference this week. “We are on the cusp of the biggest event in transportation since the invention of the superhighway in the ’50s. The size of the threats we have—or the opportunities—are bigger than they’ve been in a long time,” said economist Noël Perry, senior consultant for FTR. “The problem is that the precise timing of these events is not clear, even though the events themselves are. What it says is we have to get ready before. If we haven’t prepared, we’ll be left behind.” The supply and demand imbalance will initially tilt toward carriers, with the extent of the capacity shortage to be determined by how quickly the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration imposes its regulatory agenda, and tempered by the freight demands of the economy, Perry told the gathering of brokers and carriers. That conclusion is based on Perry’s analysis of the regulations now in the works or under consideration—led by the coming ELD mandate, speed limiters, hair testing as a drug screen, for instance—and how those rules will negatively impact productivity and, in turn, substantially increase the demand for drivers. “If FMCSA does what they say they're going to do, [the capacity imbalance] will peak at levels we’ve never experienced before,” he said. “So if you’re a broker, in 2017-18-19 your survival will depend on your ability to find trucks.” However, by the next decade new transportation technologies—specifically, automation—will reverse the trend. “The business of the 2020s will be finding loads,” Perry said. “The productivity of the industry will be increasing as rapidly as it did in the 1960s. So there’s this wrenching change from one crisis in one direction to a crisis and in the other.” Indeed, as transportation analyst and Stifel Managing Director John Larkin explained, efficiency improvement through automation in No. 1 in his list of the top 10 factors influencing transportation and logistics over the next 10 to 15 years. Automation will have a significant impact of manufacturing and distribution, including the growing use of autonomous trucks. “You may still need the pilot in the cockpit to monitor the systems, but the technology is not too far away,” Larkin said. “Whether the regulators will allow autonomous trucks is debatable.” And while the technology changes to transportation management systems rank second on Larkin’s list of the most significant future factors, the “Uberization” of freight will happen more quickly in some sectors than in others. “Given all the nuances in the truckload sector in particular, it will be interesting to see how this works,” he said. “Most of the people developing this technology are not freight guys or gals—they’re technology people who see it as a very simple problem. But they’re missing the complexity of most freight moves, and I think they’re going to lose a lot in the translation.” His list of influences also pointed to government policy, domestic energy production, industry consolidation, the shift to a service economy, changing demographics, shifting production trends and de-globalization, and changes in the way goods get to consumers. “These are the themes that are going to determine the winners and the losers in the supply chain Olympics,” Larkin said. “This is more important than even economic growth, which has been a little tepid of late. It’s important for all companies to do strategic and scenario planning. Think about how you plan would be affected if one of these big trends cam to reality.” But the problem for carriers and brokers, as NASSTRAC Executive Director Gail Rutkowski added, is that shippers aren’t committing the forethought or the resources to their transportation needs. “When I reach out to my membership, the shippers, what I find is that the things that are bothering them are much more tactical and much less strategic. But they’re down in the foxhole every day, fighting fires, getting trucks and moving freight,” she said. “It’s so difficult for a transportation person at a shipper to pull back and look at these issues that are so important, and are so going to affect how they’re doing business down the road. It’s a little scary.” Shippers’ main concern is “increased customer expectations,” Rutkowski noted, referring to the stresses caused by ever tighter schedules and more complex delivery requirements. “Customers really don’t care what the shippers face or what they’re dealing with—they just want it done,” Rutkowski said. “So the shipper then puts the pressure on the broker who puts the pressure on the carrier, and it just keeps rolling along.” And internally, despite the customer-caused headaches, transportation is often an afterthought in the boardroom—but expectations to cut costs year after year remain. “Its low tech and no tech,” she said. “When it comes to the IT department, transportation does not tend to come in high on the priority list.” On the other hand, shippers’ lack of market awareness and logistics expertise presents opportunities for brokers and carriers to solve some of these supply chain problems. “The need somebody to handle them and walk them through the process,” she said. “No one really wants to tell shippers how bad they’re doing, how bad their freight is—but shippers need to hear those things. They spend so much time looking over their shoulder, they don’t see what's in front of them. They don’t take that broader view of the marketplace.” Of course, carriers and brokers likewise can get caught up in the here-and-now—but a business-as-usual mindset is increasingly a formula for failure, Stifel’s Larkin concluded. “At the end of the day, the status quo doesn’t cut it,” Larkin concluded. “The pace of change is accelerating. It makes for a very exciting environment.”

Majority of Illegal Immigrant Households On Welfare The Washington Free Beacon / September 10, 2015 In 2012, 62 percent got benefits, while 49 percent of legal households also on public assistance More than half of households headed by illegal immigrants, or 62 percent, received welfare benefits in 2012, according to a report released by the Center for Immigration Studies. In the same time period, 49 percent of households headed by legal immigrants received welfare benefits, while 30 percent of households headed by natives received the same. The report evaluates data from the Census Bureau and found that illegal immigrant households benefit mostly from food programs like food stamps and Medicaid through their native-born children. “Welfare use by illegal immigrant households is certainly a concern, but the bigger issue is welfare use by legal immigrants,” said Steven Camarota, the Center’s director of research and author of the report. “Three-fourths of immigrant households using welfare are headed by legal immigrants.” “Legal immigration is supposed to benefit the country, yet so many legal immigrants are not able to support themselves or their children,” he continued. When households have children, the percentage of those receiving benefits increases. “Of legal immigrant households with children, 72 percent access one or more welfare programs, compared to 52 percent of native households,” states the report. And illegal immigrant households have higher use rates of government benefits than native-born households. “Households headed by immigrants illegally in the country have higher use rates than native households overall and for food programs (57 percent vs. 22 percent) and Medicaid (51 percent vs. 23 percent),” states the report. “Use of cash programs by illegal immigrants is lower than use by natives (5 percent vs. 10 percent), as is use of housing programs (4 percent vs. 6 percent).” The report also finds that some restrictions on government benefits are not enforced, and there are many exemptions or ways for these individuals to skirt them. “Restrictions on new legal immigrants’ access to welfare have not prevented them from accessing programs at high rates because restrictions often apply to only a modest share of immigrants at any one time,” states the report. “Some programs are not restricted, there are numerous exceptions and exemptions, and some provisions are entirely unenforced. Equally problematic, immigrants, including those illegally in the country, can receive welfare on behalf of their U.S.-born children.”

We can only have legal immigration, AND, the State Department and USCIS (U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services) need to be even more careful in how they screen immigration applicants. Waves of freeloaders, legal and illegal, are trying to arrive on our shores and milk our system. Millions are already here......and you're paying for it. Look at the chaos in Europe, and the EU countries that have gone broke, as the creators of their welfare systems never planned for waves of foreigners to come and milk the system. We need quality immigrants that will contribute to America's development, rather than collect welfare. It's fair to say that immigrants should be prohibited from collecting financial assistance until they have lived in the U.S. over 10 years. Remember, before foreigners are allowed to immigrate to the U.S., they must prove that they have adequate means of financial support (so they don't become a financial burden on the country). ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Majority of Immigrant Households Are on Welfare The National Review / September 2, 2015 Most immigrant households use welfare. That immigrants receive taxpayer-funded benefits at higher rates than the native-born isn’t a new finding. But previous research (including by CIS) has never found such a high rate. The data source is Census Bureau’s Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP), which provides the most comprehensive view of welfare use (a.k.a program participation). 51% of immigrant-headed households use at least one welfare program, as opposed to 30% for households headed by the native-born. But it’s only illegals! Actually, three-fourths of the immigrant households using welfare are headed by a legal immigrant. Illegal aliens are indeed included in the SIPP, and they do often receive welfare benefits on behalf of U.S.-born children, but this is not a problem that can be solved simply with a fence, a wall, or any other form of enforcement. But immigrants are hard workers! No doubt, but welfare and work are not mutually exclusive. Half of immigrant households with one or more workers still accessed the welfare system. Among those working-households headed by an immigrant who did not have a high school education, an astonishing 77% accessed welfare, as did 64% of working households headed by an immigrant with only a high school education. .

Friend, no one will disagree with you that the United States is a country built on immigration. However, at our country's mature state in the year 2015, we need legal immigration (whether they plan to pick fruit, do roofing or other). Every country has immigration laws/policies...........we're not alone here. We have immigration laws that were established for a reason. I know people that have been waiting four years to "legally" immigrate to the US. Why should people who criminally enter our borders illegally be allowed to stay??? Hey, if you hide out in a church long enough, we'll forget our laws and allow you to stay. Gee, what a country (http://news.yahoo.com/illegal-mexican-migrant-leave-arizona-church-sanctuary-461-173643545.html). Do you think that's sending the right message to foreigners who are of the demeanor to intentionally ignore our immigration laws and sneak in at night?