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Bloomberg / May 5, 2015 Volkswagen AG has created a holding company for its MAN and Scania heavy-truck units in the latest effort to kick-start cost savings and cooperation efforts after buying the former rivals. VW’s controlling stakes in Munich-based MAN SE and Sweden’s Scania AB will be pooled into the German automaker’s Truck & Bus GmbH subsidiary, the Wolfsburg-based company said Tuesday in a statement. “Bringing together our commercial vehicle brands under one roof means we can focus more strongly on the needs of the truck and bus business and can therefore accelerate the decision-making process,” Andreas Renschler, who will head the commercial vehicles unit, said in the statement. Volkswagen has been struggling to create a global heavy trucks business that can compete with industry leaders Daimler AG and Volvo AB. Europe’s largest automaker has reaped limited financial rewards for the billions of euros invested in the last decade to purchase Soedertaelje-based Scania and MAN. VW’s commercial vehicles unit, which makes delivery vans, will report to Renschler and be part of the company’s commercial vehicles group. But it will still maintain close ties with the namesake passenger car brand, where there are more synergies, VW said.

Volvo Dismisses Its CEO Wall Street Journal / April 22, 2015 Volvo AB dismissed its chief executive, Olof Persson, on Wednesday and said it would hire the boss of Scania to oversee efforts to boost profitability and restructure the world’s second-largest truck maker. During his four-year term, Mr. Persson was criticized for failing to halt an erosion in profit margins despite a 10 billion Swedish kronor ($1.15 billion) cost-cutting program from 2012-15 that has so far included nearly 4,000 job cuts. He will be replaced from October by Martin Lundstedt,who since 2012 has served as chief executive of Scania, the Swedish truck maker acquired by German group Volkswagen last year. In the meantime, Volvo Chief Financial Officer Jan Gurander,who worked closely with Mr. Lundstedt during his own tenure as CFO at Scania in the early 2000s, will take temporary charge, Volvo said. “The board has come to the conclusion that we’re better served by someone with longer experience in the truck industry,” Volvo Chairman Carl-Henric Svanbergtold reporters. Mr. Svanberg downplayed the board’s focus on cost cuts and margins in an interview with The Wall Street Journal and said Volvo will have to concentrate on getting all parts of its global organization to pull in the same direction. “You can’t reach world leadership through cost cuts alone,” Mr. Svanberg said. “It takes leadership skills to optimize the energy within an organization. You have to have a clear vision and people within the organization need to feel ‘this is what we try to accomplish’,” he added. In a statement announcing the shift in leadership, Mr. Svanberg highlighted Mr. Lundstedt’s 25-year-experience in the commercial vehicle industry as well as that “he is well known for his winning leadership style.” He rejected analyst and media speculation of a rift between the board and the outgoing chief executive and said that he still expects the company to deliver on its cost-cutting plan by the end of 2015 despite being 6.5 billion kronor away from that target. Swedish business newspaper Dagens Industri claimed last month that Mr. Svanberg was looking to replace Mr. Persson after growing frustrated with the company’s performance following three years of an overhaul to improve margins. After Volvo acquired a number of truck brands globally in the early 2000s, Mr. Persson had his work cut out in trying to streamline the company, which makes trucks under its Volvo, Mack, Renault, and UD brand, as well as in a joint venture with Dongfeng in China. Volvo also produces busses, marine engines and construction equipment. “The board has come to the conclusion that we’re better served by someone with longer experience in the truck industry,” Volvo Chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg told reporters. Mr. Svanberg downplayed the board’s focus on cost cuts and margins in an interview with The Wall Street Journal and said Volvo will have to concentrate on getting all parts of its global organization to pull in the same direction. In 2012, Mr. Persson told investors that he planned to improve Volvo’s operating margin by three percentage points from 8.7% in 2011. But, faced with weak demand for its overall construction equipment business and for trucks in Latin America, the margin instead fell consistently to 3% in 2014. Volvo said Wednesday that the margin had risen to 9.1% in the first quarter of 2015. Shareholders, including Swedish activist fund Cevian, have openly criticized the pace of restructuring under Mr. Persson’s leadership. Shares have gained 17% in the past two years, but sharply underperformed both the broader Nordic market and truck-making rivals. On Wednesday, shares rose 13%. “Martin Lundstedt will be key in taking Volvo to the next step, where focus will be on the whole business, costs as well as income,” Christer Gardell, founder of Cevian Capital which owns 12.9% of votes in Volvo, said. Speaking about Mr. Persson’s dismissal, a representative of one of Volvo’s institutional owners said the move came as a surprise seeing as the company has made progress with its effort to improve margins. “Sometimes your timing as CEO is just bad,” the representative, who declined to be named, said. ”He has faced challenges in the market that are not within his control, but I guess at some point you have to try something new.” Mr. Lundstedt is partly credited with maintaining Scania’s robust margins, which stood at 9.2% in 2014. Speaking about Mr. Persson’s dismissal, Handelsbanken analyst Hampus Engellau said: “It’s a bit surprising since he’s far into Volvo’s organizational change finishing this year.” Mr. Persson wasn’t immediately available to comment. Scania has previous experience in cutting costs and reshuffling its operations and is widely known for its robust margins, which stood at 9.2% in 2014.

You always bring some good thoughts to the table. But in this case, I must respectfully disagree with you. Martin (Lundstedt) has been with Scania for 25 years. He is not one of today's "musical chairs" executives. Rather, he's the kind of professional career truck man that Mack people were..........pre-Volvo. No doubt Volvo's board offered him generous compensation, but Martin is not a man about money. He's a passionate truck person. Obviously, he's looking at a choice, to be his own boss at Volvo at the high point of his career, or work under Andreas Renschler at Scania (Volkswagen's truck unit head previously with Daimler's Mercedes-Benz truck unit). I'm not aware of any ill feeling between Lundstedt and Renschler, but I can understand the human side of Lundstedt's decision. All that have followed Mack's management shuffles under Volvo know the business unit is full of unqualified incompetents from top to bottom. There's every reason to believe that the situation can improve under Lundstedt. Lundstedt is not a construction guy. Perhaps he'll have Denny Slagle run Volvo's construction unit (Denny's background is construction machinery..........not trucks). Problem solved.........if Denny is good at construction.

USPS Narrows List of Next-Gen Vehicle Builders Heavy Duty Trucking / April 22, 2015 The U.S. Postal Service has chosen 15 possible manufacturers to build its next-generation delivery vehicle, including Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, Ford, Nissan, and Freightliner (Daimler). The USPS released the list of prequalified vendors on April 14 as it takes another step toward selecting a vendor to build a vehicle to replace the Long Life Vehicle (LLV) that entered service in 1987. The USPS met with possible suppliers in early February, after releasing vehicle specs in a request for information. The list of suppliers under consideration also includes AM General, AMP Holding, Emerald Automotive, Karsan, Mahindra, Morgan Olson, OEM Systems, Oshkosh, Utilimaster, VT Hackney, and ZAP Jonway. The LLVs were assembled by Grumman. General Motors supplied the chassis, engine, and transmission. AM General supplied the frame. Several suppliers on the list specialize in vehicle modifications, including green-vehicle powertrains. Chinese-owned ZAP (zero air pollution)) Jonway specializes in battery-electric vehicle conversions. "ZAP Jonway is working with a couple of large truck manufacturers and is in the process of finalizing its partnerships to support the repurposing of the truck's body to meet the specifications for this USPS opportunity," according to a company release. "ZAP Jonway hopes to utilize this repurposed clean energy truck, which will have models in both electric as well as compressed natural gas (CNG)."

Heavy Duty Trucking / April 22, 2015 The Freightliner Cascadia is now available with the AeroSmart and SmartAdvantage Powertrain packages designed to enhance efficiency and performance. The AeroSmart package combines all of the aerodynamic components available for the Cascadia with the SmartAdvantage powertrain. The SmartAdvantage powertrain was developed by Cummins and Eaton and is designed to improve fuel economy by 1.5%. SmartAdvantage combines a Cummins ISX15 engine with SmarTorque2 with an Eaton Fuller Advantage 10-speed automated manual transmission. Freightliner said the engine and transmission share critical data with each other to determine the torque required to deliver the correct power, resulting in more efficient performance. The Cummins ISX15 with SmarTorque2 works well for on-highway applications. The engine delivers higher torque earlier in the RPM range enabling trucks to cruise at 1150-1240 RPM while still maintaining sufficient torque and power, said the OEM. The Eaton transmission has new features such as precision lubrication and lightweight components. The lubrication design reduces churning losses and eliminates the need for a cooler in most applications which improves fuel economy. Small gear steps enable downspeeding in overdrive and improved efficiency in direct drive and shifting is optimized based on grade, weight, engine torque and throttle position. The AeroSmart and SmartAdvantage powertrain packages are now available to order.

Press Release / April 20, 2015 Strong demand in Europe for Scania’s trucks in the first quarter resulted in a 46 percent increase in order bookings, compared to the first quarter of 2014 to 12,446 (8,500) trucks. Meanwhile, demand in Brazil and Russia weakened significantly. Scania increased its market share in Europe during the first quarter of 2015 to 17.2 percent, compared to 15.3 percent during the same period of 2014, continuing the positive trend which began last year with the transition to the Euro 6 emission standard. “Our customer offering was very competitive in early 2014, as we had proved the performance of the new engines and had introduced Scania Streamline. We also had the market’s broadest Euro 6 engine range. We have now built further on this and have introduced additional improvements,” explains Scania’s President and CEO Martin Lundstedt. Second and third generation Euro 6 engines have performed very well for our customers and in trade press tests and Scania’s position in the European market is very strong. Among other things, Scania has two engines with 410 and 450 horsepower, respectively, which only use SCR aftertreatment technology to meet the Euro 6 standard (EPA2010 equivalent). “We had high expectations for these engines and they are a great success. Meanwhile, the quality level of the trucks is high in general and we have entered new segments, which is driving sales growth of new truck applications that are based on Scania’s modular system,” says Henrik Henriksson, Head of Sales and Marketing. Order bookings in Europe improved during the first quarter, both compared to early last year and to the fourth quarter of 2014. “Demand is good in the major markets and the feedback we are getting from customers indicates that our performance is strong,” says Henriksson. However, demand in Latin America and Eurasia has weakened sharply, mainly related to Brazil and Russia. Economic activity is at a low level and the second half of 2014 was characterised by a temporary boost in demand in both markets. Order bookings in Latin America decreased by 56 percent to 1,768 (4,000) units and order bookings Eurasia decreased by 91 percent to 271 (2,879) units. Scania’s total order bookings amounted to 18,311 (19,032) trucks during the first quarter of 2015.

Press Release / April 17, 2015 Scania and Oshkosh Corporation, a leading manufacturer of specialty vehicles and vehicle bodies, have agreed to enter into a partnership under which Scania will deliver low-emission engines for airport product vehicles produced by Oshkosh. The partnership will cover a range of products to be launched worldwide. Scania will begin by delivering industrial engines that meet Stage IV and Tier 4 final standards without the use of particulate filters, as well as engines that meet less strict emission levels. The 550-770 horsepower V-8 engines will be incorporated into airport product vehicles. Meanwhile, Oshkosh is scheduled to launch a new fire apparatus – a firefighting vehicle based on a Scania chassis – at the Intershutz fire and emergency services fair in Hanover, Germany, in June this year. As the partnership progresses, Oshkosh will launch further vehicles based on Scania products. “As time goes by, we expect to find a range of areas where both parties can grow their businesses,” says Robert Sobocki, Senior Vice President and Head of Scania Engines. “This partnership has also strengthened Scania’s position on the growing North American market.” “We are excited to have access to Scania’s renowned low-emission engines for Oshkosh’s expanding lineup of emergency response vehicles,” said Jim Johnson, Oshkosh Corporation executive vice president and president, Fire & Emergency. “Providing our customers with more choices to better meet their needs is an important part of our growth strategy, and offering Scania power is another major step forward.”

Volvo lands a man who, as Zenon C.R. Hansen would say, "knows something about trucks." Volvo's never had a warm-hearted leader with integrity before (the characteristics of a Scania man). This should be interesting

Volvo names Martin Lundstedt from rival Scania as chief executive The Financial Times / April 22, 2015 Volvo Group has ousted its chief executive and replaced him with the boss of rival Scania as the truckmaker looked for somebody with “deeper experience” of the (truck) industry to help complete its turnround after a fall in profitability. Carl-Henric Svanberg, chairman of Volvo, said he had chosen Martin Lundstedt from Scania to replace Olof Persson as the Swedish maker of commercial vehicles and construction equipment needed to move on from cost-cutting to focus more on improving its truck business. “It is time to think: where do we go in the next phase of our development?” Mr Svanberg told the Financial Times. He pointed to Mr Lundstedt’s 25 years at Scania in roles including engine production and development, marketing and sales, and chief executive since 2012. “It’s a strength for Martin. Of course, if you have spent your life in trucks you know an awful lot,” Mr Svanberg added. Mr Persson, whose experience was in Volvo’s construction equipment and aerospace engine businesses, paid the price for the Swedish group’s consistent decline in profitability during his four years in charge. A restructuring programme designed to reduce costs by SKr10bn and cut more than 5,000 jobs has only just started to bear fruit. In the first quarter of this year, Volvo’s operating margin jumped to 6.1 per cent from 3.9 per cent. The better than expected results, combined with the appointment of the highly-respected Mr Lundstedt, led to Volvo shares gaining 14 per cent. However, Volvo’s operating margin was 9.7 per cent when Mr Persson took over as chief executive and 7.9 per cent later that year when he announced plans in front of investors to increase profitability by 3 percentage points. A combination of increased costs to launch its biggest product offensive in decades, difficult truck markets in Europe and Latin America, and problems in its construction business in China took their toll on the operating margin, which sank to 3 per cent last year. By contrast, Scania has long been the leading truckmaker in the industry for profitability, making an operating margin of 9.5 per cent last year. Mr Svanberg said Volvo and Scania, which has been fully taken over by Volkswagen in recent months, faced different issues. “Scania has been a truck company for a very long time and had the chance to optimise their business. They came to the end of the road because they were in a few markets only. We are in a different situation: we have acquired a lot but not optimised parts of our business,” he said. Mr Lundstedt, who will take over in October, will focus on how to get the best out of Volvo’s stable of truck brands including Renault, Mack in the US, UD in Japan, Eicher in India, and Dongfeng in China as well as improving its production and development work, Mr Svanberg said. Further changes at Volvo are possible: the Gothenburg-based group is looking to sell parts of its IT business while some investors are keen for it to exit from the construction equipment business that makes excavators, pavers, and backhoe loaders. Mr Svanberg said the core of both trucks and construction equipment was diesel engines and gearboxes. “It is very logical to have a construction equipment unit. It doesn’t mean we will abide by it,” he added.

Bloomberg / April 22, 2015 Volvo AB, under shareholder pressure to boost profit margins, ousted Olof Persson as chief executive officer, as the world’s second-largest truckmaker seeks to revamp strategy amid tougher competition. Martin Lundstedt, the top executive at rival truckmaker Scania AB, will succeed Persson in October, the Gothenburg, Sweden-based company said in a statement Wednesday. In the interim, Chief Financial Officer Jan Gurander will take over Persson’s responsibilities as of today. Volvo shares surged the most in more than six years. Volvo is seeking to finalize its business review by the end of this year, Gurander said during a conference call with analysts. “That’s our challenge, from which we’ll start fresh into 2016.” The sudden change in leadership follows efforts by Cevian Capital AB, the second-largest owner of Volvo’s voting rights, to lobby the truckmaker to streamline operations and boost margins. Volvo is intensifying a push for growth and increased profitability, as the world’s second-largest maker of commercial vehicles faces increased competition from Volkswagen AG, which bought Scania and Germany’s MAN SE in recent years. Persson led the truckmaker for almost four years. Scania’s head of production and logistics, Per Hallberg, will take over as acting CEO, the VW unit said in a statement today. Volvo’s CEO appointment “may now spark discussions about his new agenda and what it will mean for the group’s strategy,” Michael Raab, a Frankfurt-based analyst with Kepler Cheuvreux said in an report. “Considering that the fate of Volvo hinges on trucks, his strong background in this industry is clearly helpful.” Shares Surge Volvo’s shares soared as much as 16 percent, the biggest intraday jump since February 2009, and were up 14 percent at 115.30 kronor at 2:38 p.m. in Stockholm. That pushed the stock’s gain for the year to 36 percent, valuing the manufacturer at 245 billion kronor ($28 billion). Cevian, which holds 14 percent of Volvo’s votes, welcomed the management change. Co-founder Christer Gardell said Lundstedt is “very well suited” to take the truckmaker’s profitability to the next level. “There’s probably no one better,” he said in an e-mailed response to questions. In 2010, Gardell supported Persson as a successor to long-time CEO Leif Johansson. Persson had set a target of making Volvo the most profitable heavy-truck maker by realigning production of the European Volvo and Renault brands, cutting overhead costs and expanding overseas. The company didn’t make the executive available for comment. Fatter Margins The new CEO faces the challenge of restructuring a European production network that’s “too dispersed” in part because of past acquisitions and local political interests, said Kepler’s Raab. Still, Volvo’s operations have improved. In the first quarter, Volvo’s margin rose to 6.1 percent from 3.9 percent as operating profit, excluding restructuring charges and a gain from the sale of shares in Eicher Motors Ltd., climbed to 4.6 billion kronor. Including those items, operating profit was 7.07 billion kronor. Lundstedt has spent his career at Soedertaelje, Sweden-based Scania and has been president and CEO of Scania since 2012. Starting this year, he reported to Volkswagen’s new trucks chief Andreas Renschler, who previously led Daimler AG’s commercial-vehicles division, the biggest in the world. Renschler joined Volkswagen this year to push integration between Scania, MAN and VW’s delivery-van business. “After three years of focus on product renewal, internal efficiency and restructuring, the Volvo group is gradually entering a new phase with an intensified focus on growth and increased profitability,” Volvo Chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg said in the statement. Lundstedt is known for his “winning leadership style.” .

I completely agree. But in speaking on this subject, I suggest we need to separate big business from small and middle sized business. It's no secret that the government is in bed with most big business. That's how NAFTA came to be, a scheme set up at the request of big US business wanting to produce cheaply in Mexico without import tariffs. It wasn't, in fact, about creating more US jobs (it's amazing the government could tell the American people that with a straight face). Big business obviously doesn't have the best interest of the American people at heart, but it does have fairly solid control of the government. Until this situation is corrected............... Big US business has always had its own agenda, however in decades past, it generally resulted in a strong America. Now it doesn't, and a properly performing government would oversee American business in the best interests of the country, rather than the best interests of big business. And then you have the plight of the small and medium sized businesses, where our local, state and federal governments at times appear to be working unreasonably against them. Yes, we need regulation, however we also need a pro-U.S. business environment.

We need jobs in America, and we must manufacture here if we wish to remain a superpower. We must stop shipping manufacturing jobs overseas and once again make the words “Made in the USA” the world’s standard of excellence. However the American people, realistically, have little voice in the matter. Steered by big business and other, the government has its own agenda, apart from the will of a declining portion of the people that still recall the words "Government of the people, by the people, for the people."

I don't remember the exact number and year, but I seem to recall Mack's best year was 56,000 or 64,000 units, which was very good at that point in time. We were exporting 4,000 to 4,500 trucks to Iran alone in the 1975-1979 period. (Under Volvo ownership, I believe their best year was 2006 with 36,838 units sold........correct me if I'm wrong). In a perfect world, Mack and Scania would have deepened their relationship to create joint economy of scale, cutting edge partners that yet could still walk their own paths. And with that, I imagine Mack selling 60,000 to 70,000 units annually, as Scania does.

My friend, there's no need to extend gratitude to the Italians. I can assure you that a gem like Jeep would have been swept up by Ford, GM or other.............at the appropriate moment. Jeep, and Dodge, would not have faded away into history.........there's too much money to be made there. The US government allowed Fiat to buy Chrysler despite coming with empty pockets. The Fed literally placed Chrysler into the hands of a foreign aggressor, rather than ensure one of our industrial pillars remain American. Contrary to how government should be, politicians support the highest bidder.

9QT59302 (always fun to see those Mack Western part numbers) At this point in time, a dealer will probably have better availability than an auto glass shop. http://www.wattstruckcenter.com/portal/cab/windshields/ http://chicagomackinfo.tripod.com/windshields.htm http://truckparts365.com/windshields.html

Today, I’m troubled to see Prestolite Electric (holder of the Leece-Neville brand) has joined the long list of US companies acquired by foreign aggressors. It’s interesting to note the different schools of thought on the takeover of America’s industrial base. You have the supporters of foreign takeover who will tell you “it doesn’t matter that foreign truckmakers have taken over America’s heavy truck industry, everything’s going to be great!” Next you have today’s younger generation that has zero interest in their country’s state of affairs. Politicians are thrilled with this bunch that has no desire to oversee the employees of the American people in Washington and ensure they are acting in the best interest of the country. And finally you have the middle-aged and older group that realizes we’re in serious trouble, but is sadly aware that the American people have little or no control over the government’s direction (the Constitution’s core elements having been thrown to the curb, and elections and votes going to the highest bidders). The global economy is a real (I'm immersed in it every day). However, many confuse that development with the still present need to be protective of our national interests. Our government has been failing in this regard for about three decades. As one of the world's largest developed countries in both size and business opportunity, the United States can only have a solid economic foundation if American companies dominate our industrial base. The majority of Americans today do not realize we no longer do. Once-American companies owned by overseas aggressors - Germany's ZF has acquired TRW - Italy's Fiat owns Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep - China's Wanxiang has acquired over 20 U.S. businesses including battery maker A123, Dana’s coupled-products business, Neapco and D&R Technology. - Germany's Daimler acquired Freightliner, Western Star, Detroit Diesel and Thomas Built Buses - Sweden's Volvo acquired White, Autocar, GMC heavy truck and Mack Trucks - Germany’s Knorr-Bremse owns Bendix Commercial Vehicle Systems - Prestolite Electric, which includes the Leece-Neville brand, was acquired by Zhongshan, China-based Broad Ocean Motor Company and Beijing-based Ophoenix Capital. - Nexteer Automotive aka GM Global Steering Holdings LLC (formerly Delphi Steering and GM’s Saginaw Steering Division) was acquired by Chinese government-owned Pacific Century Motors - Korea's Doosan owns Bobcat - Aircraft and industrial engine maker Teledyne Continental Motors was acquired by Chinese government aircraft maker AVIC - Canada's Bombardier acquired Learjet Corporation - Mexico's KUO Group acquired Borg-Warner and Spicer transmissions - Italy's Fiat thru subsidiary CNH Global owns Case-IH and New Holland - Sweden's Volvo acquired the road construction equipment division of Ingersoll Rand - Japan's Bridgestone owns Firestone - France's Michelin owns Uniroyal and BF Goodrich - China’s Beijing West Industries acquired Delphi’s brake and suspension divisions - Netherlands-based Mittal Steel acquired (asset holder of Bethlehem Steel, LTV, Weirton Steel, Georgetown Steel and US Steel) - Mexico's Metalsa S.A. acquired 10 Dana plants that produce structural components for chassis and body structures in light and commercial vehicles - Germany's Siemens acquired Houston-based Dresser-Rand - China's Shuanghui owns Smithfield Foods - Belgium's InBev owns Anheuser-Busch - South African Breweries (SAB) acquired Miller Brewing - Germany's Merck KGaA acquired St. Louis-based Sigma-Aldrich - Switzerland's Nestle owns Gerber baby foods and Purina - Sweden's Electrolux owns Frigidaire - South Korea's LG owns Zenith - Netherlands-based Philips acquired Magnavox, Philco and Sylvania - China's Lenovo acquired IBM's personal computing and x86 server businesses - Japan's Seven & I Holdings owns 7-Eleven - The UK's InterContinental Hotels Groups owns the Holiday Inn and Crowne Plaza hotel chains, and Candlewood Suites - China's Wanda Group owns the AMC cinema chain - The Venezuelan government owns Citgo - Mexico's Bimbo Group acquired Sara Lee's bakery business and the following brands: Arnold, Ball Park, Boboli, Brownberry, Cinnabon Bread, EarthGrains, Entenmann’s, Francisco, Freihofer’s, Marinela, Milton’s Bread, Mrs Bairds, Oroweat, Roman Meal, Sara Lee, Stroehmann, Sun-Maid Bread, Thomas’ and Tia Rosa. - The British-Dutch conglomerate Unilever owns Ben & Jerrys, Vaseline, Hellmann's, Best Foods, Ponds, Good Humor and Breyers - Germany's Henkel owns Dial soap, Loctite, Orbseal and Bergquist - Germany's Bayer acquired Miles Laboratories and Cutter Laboratories (including Cutter insect repellent, Alka-Seltzer, One-A-Day, Flintstones vitamins and Bactine), and the consumer care business of Merck & Co. which included the brands Claritin (allergy), Coppertone (sun care), MiraLAX (gastrointestinals), Afrin (cold) and Dr. Scholl’s. - Bayer CropScience acquired biological company AgraQuest - Thailand’s Thai Union Frozen Products owns Chicken of the Sea and Orion Seafood International - South Korea’s Dongwon owns StarKist - The UK’s Lion Capital owns Bumble Bee Foods - Colombia's Cementos Argos has acquired the cement and ready mix producing assets of Vulcan Materials and LaFarge - UK-based Tarmac PLC acquired the cement and ready mix producing assets of Stamford, Conn.-based Lone Star Industries (for many years the largest U.S. cement maker) - Two-wheeled electric people mover Segway has been acquired by China’s Ninebot And the list grows longer, with increasing speed.

Commercial CarrierJournal (CCJ) / April 16, 2015 Two major federal regulatory changes looming for the trucking industry have been delayed again, according to the latest rulemakings report from the Department of Transportation. A final rule to mandate electronic logging devices, however, is still forecasted to be published in September, the report says. Here are the latest dates projected by the DOT and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration for significant rulemakings expected this year: Electronic logging device mandate: The forecasted date for a Final Rule mandating the use of electronic logging devices is still Sept. 30, a date FMCSA has gone back and forth on in recent months. The proposed rule for the mandate was published last March, and the Final Rule will take effect two years after its publication in the Federal Register. Speed limiter mandate: The DOT’s April report now projects a proposed speed limiter mandate rule to be published July 27, instead of the June 22 projection in its March report. The rule was sent to the Office of the Secretary of Transportation in August and has been awaiting approval there before sending to the White House’s Office of Management and Budget for its approval. The DOT does project it will send the rule to the OMB within the next week, however. Safety Fitness Determination: Yet again, a proposed rule to implement an absolute scoring system for motor carriers has been delayed, per the report. The agency’s Safety Fitness Determination rule is now projected to be published Aug. 17 — a one-month delay from the July 15 projection in the DOT’s March report. It is projected to be sent to the OMB May 5. CDL Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse: FMCSA’s rule to establish a database of drivers who have failed or refused a drug or alcohol test is still slated to be published as a Final Rule on Dec. 14. The agency published its proposed rule last year. Prohibition of driver coercion: The publication date for a rule to impose stiffer penalties on carriers, shippers brokers and others who coerce truck operators to drive in violation of federal safety also did not change in the April report. The DOT still projects a Sept. 10 publication date, with a June 1 date of submission to the OMB. The report also includes projections for trucking-relevant rules being produced by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration: Electronic stability control system mandate: NHTSA has had in the works for several years a rule to require all new trucks to be equipped with stability control systems, which help prevent rollovers and loss of control accidents. The rule hit the OMB Feb. 4, and it’s slated to clear the OMB May 4 and be published May 7 as a Final Rule. It would take effect for 2017 year model trucks. Fuel economy standards, Phase 2: NHTSA’s proposed rule to implement Phase 2 of its fuel efficiency and greenhouse gas was sent to the OMB late last month. The projected dates in the DOT’s April report appear to have not been updated relative to delays in the rule’s progression. Click here to read CCJ’s coverage of its submission to OMB. The new standards would be for 2018 and later year model trucks.

Stepping Inside the Freightliner SuperTruck At MATS 2015 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ofio9yp1lJA#t=16

Prime Mover Magazine / April 16, 2015 Penske Power Systems has extended the oil drain conditions for the Detroit engine platform. The new program, which extends oil drain out to 60,000 km (37,282 miles) without sampling, is available to DD15 customers who use approved oils, the company said. “The sample-free oil drain program … has been developed for operators of single trailer and B-double line haul operations – with a fuel burn of 33,000 litres or less or 750 hours of operation – who use approved oils only. “Operators of other applications – including short haul, wharf haul, tipper and dog, and more who use non-approved oils – will need to run individual oil sampling programs to evaluate the possibilities of extending oil drain periods.” Kevin Dennis, Director On-Highway Business, Penske Power Systems, commented, “These improvements all equate to a lower cost of ownership and increasing road time. What’s more, the change allows for seamless alignment with truck servicing periods.” Approved oils are Detroit Platinum Plus 1300 (API CJ-4 15W-40), Castrol Vecton (API CJ4 15W-40) and Mobil Delvac MX ESP (API CJ4 15W-40).

Isn't that a rebuildable tie-rod end?

The Detroit News / April 16, 2015 The U.S. House voted Thursday to repeal the 99-year- old U.S. estate tax amid a partisan clash over whether the government should break up concentrated wealth or make it easier to pass along assets to the next generation. The House passed the bill 240-179 Thursday. The tally was mostly along party lines; seven Democrats voted for passage and three Republicans voted no. The measure would make it possible for the wealthiest Americans to do what the other 99.8 percent already can do — pass their assets to their children without a federal estate tax. The measure would save taxpayers — and cost the U.S. government — $269 billion over a decade. “It is, at its heart, an immoral tax,” said Representative Kevin Brady, a Texas Republican. In Michigan, about 100 estates would face the estate tax in 2016, according to estimates by the nonpartisan Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Nationally, roughly 2 in 1,000 people who die owe estate tax. President Barack Obama has threatened to veto the bill, noting that the Republican budget plan adopted by the House in March relies on revenue from the estate tax. Democrats say repealing the tax is a giveaway to the rich, since the only families that pay it have many millions in assets. The bill now goes to the Senate where Democrats appear to have enough votes to block it. “It penalizes those who have worked all their lives and reinvested in their family businesses,” said Rep. Adrian M. Smith, a Nebraska Republican.

The Tundra Cat operated by Peak Oilfield Service Company, designed by Mark Tope at Tope Transportation in Anchorage, is the largest rolligon currently in existence. These machines are transporting limited supplies to Prudhoe Bay. Note the last generation Freightliner Argosy cab. .

International Business Times / April 15, 2015 Overflow from a runaway river has closed the Dalton Highway in Alaska, the famous "Ice Road" that truckers use to carry supplies to northern oilfields. Alaskans often refer to the Dalton as the road to the bank because 90 percent of the state's revenue comes from oil. Kristi Krueger drives three hours north from Fairbanks, Alaska, each morning to stand near mile 58 on the Dalton Highway next to where a crew is scooping out contaminated soil from an oil spill. Her job is to hold up a sign that signals to truckers when they can safely pass. But for the last week, traffic along the highway, which serves as the only artery from the state’s cities to the northern oilfields, has all but stopped. Krueger hasn’t had all that much to do. "It's eerily quiet right now," she says. “We have walkie-talkies and so we chitchat on those." Alaskans refer to the Dalton as the road to the bank because the vast majority of the state's revenue comes from taxes on oil produced at the end of the highway. A runaway river has caused massive flooding to form a giant ice sheet over the only route to the state's lucrative northern oilfields, threatening the supply chain that companies rely on to support workers and daily operations. Critical shipments of food, supplies and equipment have already been delayed by a week. An ongoing shortage may cause companies to pull back operations or turn to far more expensive ways to transport these goods. On a typical day, at least 100 truckers would make the 15-hour drive from Fairbanks to Prudhoe Bay to carry fuel, food, equipment and other supplies to workers who are staffing oilfield operations for BP, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil and a host of other companies. On Sunday, Krueger said she had directed only about 15 trucks over the past few days. The shallow, braided Sagavanirktok River flows alongside the highway that Krueger flags for the road’s final miles. But over the past few weeks, ice has uncharacteristically formed along its bottom and pushed the river’s flow up from the channel and onto the road. The overflow runs several feet thick in some places, and in other spots, it immediately froze into a thick mass of ice. The sudden flooding has made one of the state’s most critical highways virtually impassable. The road has been closed for most of the past week, forcing Gov. Bill Walker to declare a state of disaster to loosen up funds and permit requirements so the state’s Department of Transportation could double down on its efforts to carve a roadway out of the mess. The agency has already exhausted its emergency funds and plans to request federal money to cover the remaining costs. Alaska's Senate Finance Committee has committed $5 million to the cause. “You're standing on a road that is 3 feet of ice," Meadow Bailey, public relations officer for the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities, says. “It almost looks like you’re on a glacier -- everything is very blue, it's white and blues for as far as you can see.” Trucks that continued to drive the route as conditions worsened sloshed through several feet of water and at times drove alongside a rushing river that ran higher than the road itself. A crew of 28 state employees and private contractors has been working around the clock, using 26 pieces of equipment to stop the overflow. The crew is building berms along the road from snow and digging culverts through the ice to divert the water. Next week, crop planes will begin dropping large batches of black sand on the river to absorb heat and melt the ice so its flow may return to normal. In the meantime, truckers with hundreds of loads destined for the oilfields have been waiting in Fairbanks and along the road. “There are probably 100 to 150 trucks sort of stacked up along the roadway,” Aves Thompson, executive director at the Alaska Trucking Association, says. Two communities and the dozen oil and gas companies they serve wait at the other end, in Deadhorse, a town of roughly 2,000 people, and Prudhoe Bay, a community of around 5,000 whose name is synonymous with oil. Oil Keeps Flowing Amid low oil prices that have already gutted the state budget, a road closure that threatens to compromise oilfield operations is unwelcome news. About a dozen energy companies are exploring for oil in the region, which is home to America’s third-largest oilfield. Though not all of them are currently drilling for crude, even surveyors must be fully supported on the North Slope, where all supplies for daily life are flown or trucked in. “We need to be sure that the oil keeps flowing,” Thompson says. “We just want to do everything we can to be sure there is no interruption.” Crude oil is transported from Prudhoe Bay through the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System, which extends 800 miles to a port in Valdez, Alaska. Though the pipeline runs parallel to the Dalton, its flow is not directly jeopardized by the flood or the road's closure. The Dalton Highway's natural disaster comes at a bad time. There is a narrow window between January and May, when trucks can access remote sections of the oilfields by driving over temporary ice roads to places that typically are only accessible by barge or airplane. One of those areas is Point Thompson, where ExxonMobil has invested $2 billion to build a natural gas plant. BP and ConocoPhillips have both said they are using fuel and supply reserves to continue operations as normal while conserving the resources they have on hand. “It's been a problem for the better part of a month, and those reserves are only going to last so long," said Josh Kindred, environmental counsel at the Alaska Oil and Gas Association. "They've looked into alternative methods of getting fuel up there, which are of course more costly.” Some companies have started to fly fuel in or hire machines called rolligons, whose extra-wide wheels gently roll over the frozen tundra, to reach trucks with supplies that are stuck along the road. Caitlin Jelle, project engineer at Prudhoe Bay's Peak Oilfield Service Company, which operates a fleet of 14 rolligons, says it takes the machines 15 hours to make the 40-mile round-trip from Deadhorse to pick up the stranded loads. She says the approach is working so far, though slightly warmer springtime temperatures make the trek a challenge. “We're being very careful. It's not an ideal time to put in a tundra route,” she says. “We are definitely typically parking our rolligons this time of year, not bringing out every one we have.” So far, oil production has remained stable despite the closure of the Dalton Highway, and Kindred says he doesn’t expect that to change. Transportation Woes Meanwhile, Thompson estimated that 700 to 800 loads were waiting to be transported from Fairbanks to the North Slope by truck on Tuesday. For drivers who make a living on the road, a closure can wreak havoc on schedules and bottom lines. “The drivers on a company payroll are being paid. Some of the owner-operators are having to absorb that cost,” he says. “It's costly for everybody. It's been very, very disruptive.” Some truckers dropped off loads at staging areas alongside the highway so they could return to Fairbanks and pick up more cargo in an attempt to stay productive during the wait. The worst conditions remain between miles 390 and 405 of the 414-mile highway, allowing truckers to get most of the way to Prudhoe Bay before hitting the closure. A typical trip up the “haul road” from Fairbanks takes 10 to 15 hours, so they save significant time by retracing only a fraction of that distance. Truckers who regularly drive the haul road are no strangers to inclement weather -- their struggles against frigid temperatures and freak blizzards have been chronicled in the History Channel series “Ice Road Truckers” -- but Thompson says a closure of this length is extremely rare. “There will be times when there's a snowstorm, so you have to wait out the snowstorm for maybe a few hours, but in this case, it's a once-in-a lifetime event,” he says. While truckers are feeling the pinch, Everts Air, a Fairbanks airline that specializes in hauling cargo to remote locations throughout Alaska, has added four to 12 flights a day on its largest aircraft to Deadhorse and other airstrips that directly serve the oilfields. The company typically runs three to six flights a day, but business has picked up substantially since the overflow began, Robert Ragar, vice president of contractual business, says. Slow Progress Earlier this week, the Department of Transportation temporarily opened the Dalton to small convoys of about 30 trucks carrying critical loads to drive a single open lane in either direction at a time. Though the road remains closed, the department announced on Tuesday that it had allowed 204 vehicles to pass through by the end of the day. Krueger, stationed along the highway with her flag, had started to notice a slight uptick in traffic. Though the problem has not been fully resolved, opinions about whether the overflow will continue to impede normal operations are mixed. At Everts Air, Ragar is bracing for the long haul. “This particular road closing on the Dalton has not been experienced in anybody's memory -- never,” he says. “There seems to be a belief that this is going to go on for a while.” Photographs: http://www.ibtimes.com/trucking-along-alaskas-ice-road-northern-oilfields-freezes-halt-1883163

Press Release / April 15, 2015 International Truck announced today the availability of an additional fuel efficiency package for the International ProStar ES designed for the Canadian market with their need to operate up to 110,000 gross combined weight rating (GCWR). First introduced in December 2014, the ProStar ES, short for "efficiency specification," features industry-leading aerodynamics and powertrain/transmission combinations, and a number of other advanced technologies. "We are committed to technology, innovation, tools and services that deliver industry-leading uptime and low total cost of ownership," said Bill Kozek, president Truck and Parts, Navistar. "The ProStar ES continues to leverage the latest advancements and has established a reputation in the industry for being one of the most fuel efficient, highest quality trucks on the road." This new International ProStar ES spec features: The lowest wind averaged drag coefficient in the industry. Its supremacy in crosswinds makes it one of the most aerodynamic tractors, in real-world conditions, on the road todayEaton 16-speed UltraShift® PLUS LSE which pairs the Cummins ISX15, as well as Navistar's proprietary 13-liter engineXFE 75W-90 axle lubricant (available on the ISX15 and the N13), a new and innovative fuel efficient lubricant that reduces friction and spin losses, improves durability and drives further fuel efficiency improvements"The launch of the ProStar ES in late 2014 generated a lot of interest in Canada, but the 80,000 pound GCWR limited its appeal, as many Canadian fleets want the flexibility up to run 110,000 pounds and still achieve outstanding fuel economy," said Mark Belisle, president, Navistar Canada. "The ES 110 is the result of close collaboration among engineers at Navistar and key component suppliers like Cummins and Eaton, to quickly respond to customer needs and develop a solution for the Canadian market." This new ProStar ES spec is available for order today and will be in production this spring. The International ProStar ES will be on display this week at the International Truck booth (4215) at ExpoCam in Montreal, Quebec. Learn more by visiting www.internationaltrucks.com.