kscarbel

One of the reasons that Mack Trucks had the best parts people in the entire trucking industry is because the former Mack Trucks had the best part numbering system in the business. As many of us know, the Mack part numbering system, absolutely brilliant in its simplicity and effectiveness, told Mack people what the part was. Now, the arrogant Swedes have replaced the superior Mack part numbering system with Volvo global part numbers which have no meaning at all. Those Volvo Swedes, they know it all. (They'd never admit how dysfunctional their parts system is, nor admit that the Mack part numbering system was vastly superior to theirs) I can understand the newer trucks having Volvo part numbers because the parts are mostly Volvo. But why apply Volvo global part numbers to legacy Mack parts that were never used by Volvo?

Heavy Duty Trucking / May 16, 2014 The logistics operation of trucking industry giant Schneider has agreed to pay $21 million to settle a class action lawsuit filed that includes as many 1,800 employees over alleged wage and hour violations, according to published reports. The case was originally filed in 2011 by six workers at a Southern California warehouse complex operated by Schneider Logistics where they loaded and unloaded freight exclusively for Walmart stores. According to the law firm representing the plaintiffs, Taber & Voorhees, Pasadena, Calif., the workers claimed over a period of more than a decade they were not paid minimum wage and overtime or time they were required to be physically present at the warehouses while waiting for work to be assigned to them. It also alleged they were illegally paid using "piece rate" plan that did not compensate them fully for all of the work they performed. According to a story in the Los Angeles Times one worker said he earned no more than $100 to $150 per week at times, far below the minimum wage. Charges also included not getting meal and rest breaks, as required by law, and retaliation against employees who questioned their pay or complained about what they thought were illegal work practices. According to published reports Schneider will pay the entire settlement without admitting to any wrongdoing or any contribution from Walmart, who was later added to the lawsuit. The settlement faces approval by a federal judge, which is expected to be granted later this year. This follows a settlement that was approved earlier this month in a separate case in which Schneider Logistics agreed late last year to pay $4.7 million in class action over similar allegations and at the same warehouse complex.

Truck News / May 18, 2014 The US is modernizing its food safety regulations, introducing sweeping changes that will include new requirements for trucking companies. The aptly named Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) represents the first major overhaul of US food safety regulations since the current rules were written in 1938. The Act includes seven major proposed rules and the most recent of them to be introduced, covering the Sanitary Transportation of Human and Animal Food, will have the greatest impact on carriers. The rule concerning transportation was announced Jan. 31 and is open for public comment through May 31. “This proposed rule will help reduce the likelihood of conditions during transportation that can lead to human or animal illness or injury,” Michael Taylor, the US Food and Drug Administration’s deputy commissioner for foods and veterinary medicine said when the rule was announced. “We are now one step closer to fully implementing the comprehensive regulatory framework for prevention that will strengthen the FDA’s inspection and compliance tools, modernize oversight of the nation’s food safety system and prevent foodborne illnesses before they happen.” In an interview with Truck News, Mike Kashtock, consumer safety officer with the FDA’s Centre for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, said carriers that already apply Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP)-type principles to their operations won’t have trouble complying with the new requirements. However, trucking companies that are sloppy when it comes to cleaning, loading and maintaining their equipment will have to improve. The new rules will also place the onus on carriers and food companies to prove to FDA that they are safely handling food products throughout the supply chain. “The 1938 law basically says you can’t produce foods, store foods or transport foods under unsanitary conditions and then puts the burden on FDA to go out and do inspections and find violations and take actions,” Kashtock explained. “The FSMA changes the paradigm and requires the broader industry to go through the preliminary step of analyzing potential things that could go wrong and then put measures in place to make sure those things are monitored and controlled so they don’t go wrong, or if they do go wrong, they’re spotted very quickly and the food is taken out of the channels of sale. All the traditional requirements of the 1938 law remain but the preventive elements that were never as a matter of law the industry’s responsibilities, are now the industry’s responsibilities.” The proposed rule establishes requirements for vehicles and transportation equipment, transportation operations, training and record-keeping. As one example, shippers will be required to inspect a vehicle for cleanliness or contamination prior to loading food that is not completely enclosed by its container. Carriers will be required to establish written procedures, subject to record-keeping requirements, for cleaning their vehicles and equipment. The rules will apply equally to US carriers and Canadian fleets that operate there, as well as shippers, receivers and importers. “Many companies practice those elements voluntarily,” Kashtock acknowledged. “What the FSMA really has done is taken the current practices that have evolved since the 1938 law and made them not voluntary. A lot of what this new food safety law would require when the regulations get finalized, proactive firms have been doing for quite some time.” The three primary areas identified under the rules as the most likely causes of contamination during transport include: temperature control, the transportation of bulk product in tankers; and cleanliness of cargo bays. Rather than rewrite the rulebook, Kashtock said FDA opted to encourage the use of best practices that already exist within the food industry. “Best practices exist and they are quite stratified,” he said. “The juice industry has its unique best practices it has developed, the grain and feed industry has its own. There are best practices and model codes that have been around for quite some time and are actually in use, probably in the vast majority of situations right now.” Kashtock said incidences of food contamination during interstate transport are actually quite rare. It’s more of a problem on the local level. “One area where there have been some of these types of reports (of contamination) are deliveries to ethnic food restaurants where there have been some reports of deliveries taking place of perishables in non-refrigerated vehicles or stacking of loads in such a way that raw meat and produce were stacked in close proximity to one another,” Kashtock said. “This is very sporadic but it’s indicative of the challenge of trying to gain acceptance of these best practices, really at all levels of industry, down to the levels where there obviously needs to be more of an appreciation of proper handling and maintenance than there is right now.” Asked if the rules will eventually require the use of telematics solutions that remotely monitor the temperature of refrigerated food while in transit, Kashtock said the FDA doesn’t plan to mandate any specific technologies. “We haven’t proposed any specific type of technology to be used for temperature monitoring, nor have we proposed to require continuous, ongoing monitoring during shipments,” he said. The rules continue to be subject to public comment until the end of May, at which time the FDA will review the feedback that was provided and make any necessary changes to the regulations. The court-ordered deadline for the final rule to be published is March 31, 2016. Once published, it will be at least another year before it’s implemented, meaning carriers won’t have to comply with the new rules until 2017 (for large businesses, defined as having more than US$25.5 million in annual revenue) and 2018 for small businesses.

Wall Street Journal / May 14, 2014 Many trucks have some form of auxiliary brakes. For almost two decades Scania's customers have been able to appreciate just how powerful, yet smooth, effect a hydraulic retarder from Scania can provide. Besides comfort and a relaxing drive, it also provides savings by reducing the need for normal brake system maintenance. In this latest version, the retarder automatically disengages and freewheels when not in use to save on fuel. And it is now even more powerful than before. One of the Scania Retarder models is now available in a new version (R4100D) that automatically disengages and enters a freewheeling mode when not active. This reduces drag losses because both vaned wheels that provide braking power when rotating in oil are disengaged. Actual fuel savings will vary depending on road conditions, but an average of a half percent reduction is taken as the rule of thumb. The driver doesn't have to do anything. When braking power is needed, the freeSHYwheeling stops and the engagement takes place smoothly and immediately using a type of synchronisation that is similar to that in Scania gearboxes. Besides not requiring any energy, the freewheeling retarder also provides higher braking power, 4,100 Nm instead of 3,500 Nm, as well as an increased braking effect at lower engine rpm with the help of higher gear ratios. "Reducing fuel consumption is Scania's main priority," says Örjan Åslund, responsible for Product Affairs at Scania Trucks. "The freewheeling retarder produces further savings that also contributes to an elevated driving experience." "The activation of the retarder itself is either initiated by the driver -- via a lever on the steering column or with a light touch of the brake pedal -- or when the cruise control requests braking, says Åslund. As soon as the retarder is not in use, it freewheels again on its own. But it remains ready to smoothly and firmly change from freeSHYwheeling to full braking power in no time." Deliveries of the new retarder to customers will begin in the first quarter of 2015. Scania is one of the world's leading manufacturers of trucks and buses for heavy transport applications, and of industrial and marine engines. Employing some 41,000 people, the company operates in about 100 countries.

Heavy Duty Trucking / May 14, 2014 In anticipation of a new heavy-duty engine oil category due out in 2016, which will feature a lower-viscosity sub-category for improved fuel economy in newer engines, Shell has been running a fleet field test comparing Shell Rotella 15w-40, 10w-30, and an experimental 10w-30 with viscosity properties similar to what is expected in the new category. This week, it laid out the parts for inspection in the Clarke Power shop in Greensboro, N.C., and dared trucking journalists to tell the difference. They couldn't. Even those who picked the "right" table said it was simply a guess, or read it from the body language of one of the Shell representatives. While the new oil category, currently termed PC-11, will offer improvements in areas such as oxidation stability, aeration performance, scuffing/adhesive wear and shear stability, one of the biggest changes is the viscosity change. Traditional SAE viscosity ratings have been measured in a "non-shear" environment at 100 degrees C. The new oils will be measured at 150 degrees C – 50% hotter – and in a "high-shear" environment. (Shear is mechanical stress that causes the oil to break down at a molecular level, "shearing" the polymers that give the oil its multi viscosity rating.) "One of the key things is the oil has got to be able to protect with thinner films and hotter temperatures, and no compromises in the durability or life of the engine," said Dan Arcy, global OEM technical manager. "Our customers have become extremely accustomed to getting long lives out of their engines and they're not going to be willing to give that up in exchange for fuel economy." While the category has not been finalized, Arcy, who is heading up one of the subcommittees developing the category standards, said it has been recommended to be 2.9 cP to 3.2 cP (a measure of high temp/high shear performance). In comparison, a 15w-40 oil is about 4.2 cP. Arcy said Shell already has demonstrated that you can get 1.6% better fuel economy in on-highway trucks by going from that 4.2 to a 3.5, which is currently available in lower-viscosity engine oils. In fact 3.5 is the limit of CJ-4 oils. There is more fuel economy to be had by dropping lower, he said, although he couldn't give an estimate of just how much more. Matt Urbanak, lead formulator, works closely with the field trial team and notes that Shell currently has more than 200 vehicles on test with an annual mileage of more than 25 million miles. "It's normal to see wear" in an engine teardown, he explained. "What we're looking for is whether there's anything abnormal about that wear." The engines torn down for this inspection were 2011 model year Detroit DD15 engines with about 550,000 miles on them. In Freightliner Cascadia trucks, they've been working in a North Carolina fleet driving in team operations coast to coast about 250,000 miles a year with average loads around 76,000 pounds. The recommended oil drain is 50,000 miles and this fleet average was a little higher, about 55,000 miles. Oil analysis performed at oil changes and at the mid-point of the change interval indicated the low-viscosity oil was performing as well as the traditional 15w-40 oil. Howard Hill, engineer, lubricant technology, who's in charge of the field test program, said, "The comparison we're getting between the 15w-40s, the 10w-30s and new high-temp/high shear, you can go around and look at these parts, there is not a difference – there is absolutely not a difference. It bears out the chemical analysis. The iron wear rates, I think the highest was about 100 ppm, and Detroit Diesel's condemnation level is 250 ppm, so we're well under that condemnation level. We like how the oils are performing. We're very, very pleased with the new technology, and it's proven itself out with the engine inspections." Video:

Financial Times / May 14, 2014 France and Sweden are close to winning a battle to delay by 10 years EU legislation that could make lorry designs safer and more efficient, as they look to protect national manufacturers Renault and Volvo. The legislation, which would also open up the European truck market to US competition, will only come into force in 2025 because of the lobbying by France and Sweden. Renault Trucks, with its owner, Sweden’s Volvo Trucks, have recently launched new model ranges, which would mean that any imminent changes to design rules would be costly to implement and could allow competitors a head start. “Given the importance of this legislation to the industry, it needs to be done in the correct way . . . matched with appropriate timing for planning and preparation,” said Volvo, which is separate from the car brand of the same name. “Redesigning the cab is quite complex and costly, and you have to bear in mind that product cycles in our business are 15, maybe 20 years long.” “We support an application of the new requirements by 2025. This is the message we have communicated to all our stakeholders,” Volvo added. Representatives of the Swedish and French delegation to the EU dealing with this issue declined to comment. European lorries, which must follow EU-mandated design rules, are distinguishable from US vehicles by their boxlike, square cockpits. The EU parliament has already agreed on the new legislation that would enable truckmakers to design more curved, streamlined cabs. Campaigners say that this would make them more fuel efficient and safer to other road users, such as cyclists. Other countries such as Germany, Denmark and Ireland are in favor of implementing the new laws as soon as possible. Germany’s Volkswagen owns MAN and Scania, both big competitors to Volvo and Renault. The changes would reduce haulage company fuel bills by 10 percent and save the lives of more than 300 cyclists and pedestrians every year, according to Siim Kallas, the European Commissioner for Transport. The EU council will vote on the legislation, containing the 10-year delay, on June 5. It is expected to be passed. “New design rules would enable, not force, lorry-makers to produce lorries that are safer, cleaner and cheaper to run. A moratorium on innovative lorry designs is absurd,” said William Todts, an official at Brussels-based environmental think-tank Transport & Environment. “EU governments must resist calls to stall innovation in order to shield a few companies from increased competition.”

Alkane's trucks are all COE models sourced from China's (Beijing) Foton truck company. They're all based on two generations old Isuzu truck models (there was a technology purchase about 12 years ago). http://alkanetruckcompany.com/heavy-duty/ (Note there's no actual truck pictures to prove this is more than just an idea, just computer-generated "photoshop" pictures) http://product.360che.com/img/c1_s66_b13_s411_m3131_t0.html So the trucks are obsolete, there's no substance here. And, only the U.S. medium duty segment would accept COEs. While I personally prefer the superior design of COEs (the global standard in truck design), U.S. on-highway drivers demand long nose conventionals, and the U.S. weight laws from the late 1980s work against shorter wheelbase COEs.

Bloomberg / May 15, 2014 Trucking companies are increasing their bets on the U.S. economy picking up speed. Old Dominion Freight Line Inc. and Knight Transportation Inc. are ordering hundreds of vehicles to keep up with freight demand. They’re part of an industrywide push that’s propelling sales of big rigs to an eight-year high, buoying trucking stocks and raising pay for drivers, who are in short supply. “Freight is up, availability of trucking assets is tight,” said Sandy Cutler, chief executive officer of Eaton Corp., whose products include truck transmissions. Truckers “are feeling more comfortable ordering increased assets.” Rising cargo rates are giving truckers confidence to expand fleets and replace tractors averaging a near-record age of 9.6 years. While first-quarter U.S. economic growth came to a near standstill, gross domestic product is expected to expand 2.5 percent this year, according to the median forecast of 94 economists surveyed by Bloomberg, topping 2013’s 1.9 percent rise, and accelerate to a 3.1 percent rate next year. Even with winter storms disrupting highway travel, first-quarter truckload shipping volumes rose 4.9 percent and rates climbed 1.2 percent, according to consultant FTR Associates. North American truckers placed net orders for 90,289 large trucks in the three months ended in March, 35 percent more than a year earlier and the fastest such pace since early 2006. Comeback Arrives “We’ve been waiting for a year like this to come back for a few years,” Cutler said in an April 29 interview from Eaton’s U.S. headquarters in Cleveland. “This appears to be the year it’s coming back.” Eaton raised its 2014 forecast for North American truck output by 5.7 percent to 280,000 units. That was among the highest annual totals projected by seven truck and equipment manufacturers, based on data compiled by Bloomberg. Their average prediction is for an 11 percent gain over 2013. Old Dominion, based in Thomasville, North Carolina, added $25 million to its budget to buy additional tractors and trailers, raising its planned 2014 equipment investment to $188 million “as a result of our strong volume for the first quarter and our expectation for the remainder of the year,” CEO David Congdon told analysts on an April 24 conference call. More trucks are on the way for Knight, too, as the Phoenix-based carrier adds 200 tractors, CEO Kevin Knight said on an April 23 call. Busy Rigs Active truck utilization has stayed above 99 percent since November, according to data from Bloomington, Indiana-based FTR. That rate had remained lower than 96 percent in 2012 and slid to less than 86 percent in 2009. With few idle trucks, continued economic expansion could translate into an equipment shortage, FTR President Eric Starks said. “We’re kind of at a tipping point,” Starks said in a May 1 telephone interview. “If the economy heats up at all as we get in the second quarter, early third quarter, then you could have some significant problems from a capacity standpoint and you’d see rates really shoot up dramatically.” With the difficulty finding available trucks, freight rates might climb as much as 5 percent to 6 percent annually over the next several years, said Brad Delco, a Stephens Inc. analyst in Little Rock, Arkansas. “What shippers need to be prepared for is that this isn’t a sort of one-and-done pricing year,” Delco said by phone on May 5. Truckers may be in a three- to four-year “pricing cycle” when they’re able to keep raising rates. Supplier Boost Suppliers are benefiting as well. Cummins Inc., which produces engines for Class 8 trucks, forecast 2014 sales growth of as much as 10 percent, while analysts surveyed by Bloomberg project a revenue gain of 12 percent for Paccar Inc., the maker of Kenworth and Peterbilt trucks. The Standard & Poor’s Supercomposite Trucking Index rose 8.9 percent this year through yesterday, almost five times as much as the broader S&P 1500 Supercomposite Index of U.S. stocks. The gauge of 11 truckers beat the broader index in three of the previous four years. The optimism defies U.S. growth that slowed to a crawl last quarter, with gross domestic product expanding at an annualized rate of just 0.1 percent. Downward revisions for gauges such as inventories and construction spending also suggested deceleration in the world’s largest economy. Driver Shortage Tight capacity hadn’t spurred more truck sales because companies are struggling to find people to drive them, FTR’s Starks said. The company estimated the driver shortage at 236,000 in the first quarter, 43 percent more than a year earlier and the largest shortfall in a decade. Covenant Transport Group Inc., a long-haul trucking company based in Chattanooga, Tennessee, is looking to expand its fleet this year. That means charging more for freight and using most of those profits to attract drivers with higher wages, CEO David Parker said on an April 30 conference call. “End of the day, our drivers need to be making a whole lot more money,” he said. Rate increases may push more long-haul cargo to railroads, which can carry double-stacked containers at lower prices than trucks. The tradeoff for rail shipments: slower speeds and, this year, a traffic jam on U.S. tracks because of harsh winter weather, a larger harvest and rising crude-by-rail volumes. “The ability to put more stuff onto the railroads has been completely constrained,” Starks said. “We know shippers have actually taken some freight off the railroads because they can’t get their stuff there in a timely fashion.” That’s good news for Eaton’s transmission business. An increase in economic growth promises to drive truck purchases throughout this year, CEO Cutler said. “What we’ve seen in the last four months is a significant upsurge in orders from the industry,” Cutler said. “It’s really an issue of fleet age and amount of freight being carried.”

Fleet Owner / May 14, 2014 The need to develop new time-consuming and often expensive test regimens for PC-11 engine oils is slowing down the projected delivery timeline for the new oil, though not significantly or permanently at this point. Dan Arcy, global OEM technical manager for Shell Global Solutions and also the industry trade association liaison for the PC-11 development effort, says the need to add new tests, as well as modify existing ones, is creating some headwinds for the PC-11 program. “You need to ensure that any test used to confirm PC-11 viability is standardized and repeatable,” he explained to Fleet Owner. “For example, one lab used a particular process that clearly delineated between ‘good’ and ‘bad’ PC-11 oil blends. But that same process used by a different lab did not produce such clear delineation. That requires time to sort out, to figure out what went wrong, so as a result we’re running a little behind in test development.” Arcy noted that if the PC-11 timeline is plotted out from the point it’s at right now, the oil would nominally be ready by September 2016 instead of its listed completion date of April 2016. “And April already represents a push back from the category’s original end point of January 2016, established when the PC-11 development process began in June 2011,” he said. Other factors are also adding to the delays, including the need to incorporate new engine technology and metallurgy into the testing process, not to mention engine temperatures that are expected to rise by 18 degrees Fahrenheit by 2017 as a result of modifications to help maintain emission compliance while boosting fuel economy. “And the last time we went through the development process for a new DEO [heavy duty engine oil] category was for CJ-4, which is almost 10 years ago,” Arcy said. “In the past we used to develop a new category every four years. Now with a 10-year gap many of the engine tests we used to use are no longer relevant.” Putting together new tests for PC-11 is neither a cheap nor fast process, he stressed. “For example, take a Mack T-13 test, which requires 360 hours to fully complete,” Arcy noted. “If that test goes awry, basically you’ve lost two to three weeks of time.” The fuel required to conduct such tests makes them, costly as well, often running to $600,000 per test in some cases, added Howard Hill (seen at left), Shell’s HDEO field trial coordinator for North America. Arcy also noted that only seven old CJ-4 tests are being carried over to PC-11, alongside the addition of three new tests and modifications several others. Another wrinkle in the test development process is that two subcategories of PC-11 oil blends are being developed: PC-11 A, which will be a high temperature/high shear or HTHS oil, and PC-11 B, which is be a low HTHS or “thinner” oil – one that most likely won’t be backward compatible with pre-2017 model engines, though Arcy suspects that might be extended back to some 2014 models. “Not only are we now looking at developing completely new tests, we’re changing existing tests to run them in a new way to look at different characteristics such as scuffing and lining wear,” he said. “New tolerances are also being added to some older tests as well.” Yet Arcy also stressed that test modifications could also help speed up the PC-11 developmental program as well. “Take the new scuffing and adhesion wear test we crafted using a 5010-hp DD13 engine. That test lasts 150 hours but originally took 800 to 900 hours to complete – nearly a month,” he said. “So we adjusted the severity of the test to get better more repeatable results in less time; we may even be able to shorten it to 125 hours. That could help us get us back on our original track.”

As an olive branch towards future (hoped for) cooperation, Navistar designed a new front fascia for JAC's tired last generation Hyundai Trago-based heavy truck (http://www.cvworld.cn/news/original/guangyao/110812/5703.html / http://www.360che.com/market/110413/14154.html). And the K-Series with the Navistar-created front fascia has since been supplemented by the horrible looking Q-Series (http://www.360che.com/news/131104/28109.html). But in reality, nobody is buying the Navistar-inspired K or the Q. Most customers still buy the cheaper M-Series that JAC and Hyundai started out building together (http://product.360che.com/img/c1_s66_b12_s49_m781_t0.html). The specs and build quality are below par, and thus it continues to have a VERY small market share in China (the world's largest truck market). International (Navistar) has shown the revised JAC tractor at some shows (as they did the Mahindra tractor), to lend the impression that they were actually doing something in China. But it was nothing more than propaganda smoke. FYI: Prior to 2002, JAC was purely a light truck manufacturer, In March 2002, JAC paid Hyundai US$48 million for the technology, including factory machinery, to build Hyundai medium and heavy trucks less drivetrains. The trucks use fairly low-end Chinese engines, transmissions and axles. With no independent R&D ability of their own, JAC depends on contracted outside technical assistance.

Heavy Duty Trucking / May 9, 2014 A sixth proposed class-action has been has been filed against Caterpillar alleging emission-control systems on its model-year 2007 thru 2010 C13 and C15 engines are defective and that Cat was aware of the problem, but kept producing the engines before eventually withdrawing entirely from the on-road heavy-duty diesel engine market. The latest class-action involving alleged failures of Caterpillar's Advanced Combustion Emissions Reduction Technology, also known as ACERT, was filed on April 30 in U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota by Scenic Boundaries Trans. The Scenic Boundaries case specifically alleges that the exhaust emission control system, known as the Caterpillar Regeneration System “is defective in material and/or workmanship causing the vehicle to not function as required under all operating conditions, on a consistent and reliable basis, even after repeated emissions warranty repairs and replacements. These repeated warranty repairs and replacements failed to repair or correct the CRS defect resulting in damages, including diminished value of the vehicles powered by model-year 2007 CAT Engines, and the costs to re-power the vehicles with diesel engines that are compliant with the 2007 EPA Emission Standards.” The suit also notes that because the trucks could only be repaired at Caterpillar-authorized repair shops using proprietary tools and software, owners had no choice but to tow the trucks to dealers at tremendous cost. The website, law.com notes that the plaintiffs also accuse Caterpillar of breach of express and implied warranties, fraudulent concealment, and violations of Minnesota’s deceptive trade practices and consumer fraud acts. One of the attorneys representing Scenic Boundaries, Paul Weiss of Complex Litigation Group in Highland Park, Ill, says there are dozens of previous cases on record, all alleging the identical problem. It's the same case, the same issue, the same problem," Weiss told truckinginfo.com. "Cat will try to tell us each case is different or that various owners didn't properly service the truck or ignored the warnings, but it's all the identical problem. There are already class-actions pending in Florida, California, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Louisiana and New Jersey, and we're planning on bringing more, though they are all likely to wind up in one court." Caterpillar has already asked to have this latest case and five other class actions alleging the same defects in the company’s C13 and C15 engines consolidated and transferred to federal court in the Southern District of Florida, Weiss says. Other actions against Caterpillar date back to March of 2010, and those claim essentially the same problems were occurring with 2007 and 2008 model-year C13 and C15 engines. In those suit, plaintiffs Thomason Trucking, Paul Trucking, and Tapley Forestry Service, all based in Oklahoma, say they bought a total of 90 trucks with C15 engines in 2007 and 2008, but were not warned of the engines' defects. Thomason Trucking has since settled with Caterpillar, but declined to discuss the terms of the settlement when contacted by truckinginfo.com. Caterpillar was sued again in the spring of 2013 by BK Trucking which alleged that Caterpillar has known for years that its Caterpillar C13 and C15 Advanced Combustion Emission Reduction Technology diesel engines were defective, yet concealed the problems while still touting the engines’ high quality and reliability. That action was filed in New Jersey. Weiss says many large fleets have already settled the claims with Caterpillar, but the terms of those agreements remain confidential. "Several large fleets and owners sued Caterpillar back in 2010," Weiss says. "It appears that Cat resolved all the lawsuits where they were sued by somebody that had money. These well-financed companies like Western Star and Walgreen's Company, to name a couple, sued CAT but the settlements were all confidential." Weiss says even the judges do not know the terms of the earlier settlements. "The settlements were confidential and I don't know the terms," he says. "The judges in the cases we are bringing will certainly be aware that there have been settlements, but the terms haven't been disclosed. I have heard from my sources that they run into the tens of thousands of dollars per engine, but I don't know that to be true from first hand information." Results of previous settlements, however, will not set a precedent for the pending litigation. "All the cases were settled confidentially," says Weiss. "But do I think a judge would look at that and raise her eyebrows? I'd say yes. I think the judge knows CAT has already settled with one group." Weiss believes Caterpillar has already settled claims on a couple of thousand engines, but estimates there were as many as 40,000 of those engines produced -- many of them owned by small fleets or independents without the wherewithal to take on a company like Caterpillar. "The bigger fleets could afford to take on Caterpillar, but for small fleets, the 1 to 5 truck operator, those kinds of failures meant huge expenses which eventually led to bankruptcy for a lot of them," he suggests. "Most folks could never afford to take on a company like Caterpillar on an hourly basis. We take these cases on a contingency basis and only collect a fee if we win." Weiss estimates the diminution of value to be around $50,000 per engine. He reckons it will cost the C13 and C15 owners close to that to replace those engines -- if they can be replaced. "Now that the market knows the value of those engines, owners will never get a fair residual on the trucks," he maintains. "If they had tried to sell the trucks in 2008, before everyone knew them to be lemons, it might have been different." Weiss said he expects his case will go to trial by the end of the year. Truckinginfo.com contacted Caterpillar for comment, but the company has not responded.

So far, Navistar has gone no where in China with JAC (Navistar is clueless on execution in China, Russia and Brazil). Navistar has been forever saying they will build small light truck engines sourced from their Brazilian MWM unit........but until now nothing. And now, Navistar is considering putting MWM on the sales block, which would obviously kill the China engine production plan (unless JAC buys MWM?). JAC is a fairly small manufacturer that has a minimal presence in the heavy truck segment. They're not competitive. JAC's single strength is its light trucks. In cars, medium and heavy trucks, they're barely on the radar.

Mack M123 10-ton prime mover (tank transporter) http://www.bigmacktrucks.com/index.php?/topic/15604-mack-military-truck/page-2#entry127895

http://www.bigmacktrucks.com/index.php?/topic/31097-the-early-years-of-mack-in-europe-those-french-mack-bernards/ http://www.bigmacktrucks.com/index.php?/topic/31088-the-early-years-of-mack-in-europe-the-french-saviem-cabbed-mack-n-model/?hl=Bernard http://www.bigmacktrucks.com/index.php?/topic/31078-the-early-years-of-mack-in-europe-the-mysterious-30-those-motor-panels-cabbed-mack-f-models/?hl=bernard

Actually, Layman previously worked 14 years for Volvo Group Trucks Sales & Marketing Americas as: Director of Competence DevelopmentController at Distribution DevelopmentSales Facilitation ManagerPrior to Volvo, Layman was a commercial loan guy and manager for NewBridge Bank in North Carolina.

Heavy Duty Trucking / April 9, 2014 Mack Trucks named Brian Layman its new vice president of business development. In this newly created role, Layman will be responsible for product segmentation, development and management of sales programs, dealer measurements and new truck sales pricing and quoting activities for truck sales in North America. Layman has 14 years of experience in the trucking industry in a variety of roles, including his most recent position where he was responsible for the Mack Trucks Academy. Prior to joining Mack, Layman spent eight years in various leadership roles in the banking and finance industry. He will continue to be based in Greensboro at Mack World Headquarters.

If I recall, the part number for "Maxidyne Gold" was 312SX63P2 for gallons and 312SX63P3 for spray cans. But as this was exclusively produced for Mack Trucks by Kirker Chemical of Patterson, New Jersey, I don't think you'll find a direct cross to PPG. PPG began supplying Mack with paint (for the factories) much later on, and was never offered to Mack distributors.

Trucks News / March 30, 2014 Ann Demitruk, director of marketing with Western Star Trucks, announced at the Mid-America Trucking Show that “Later this year, Western Star will be launching a fully aerodynamic product, an entirely new model.” She hinted that some of the design elements from the "Optimus Prime" show truck will be featured on a new aerodynamic Western Star to be launched later this year. “It gives you a cue to some of the styling looks we have for a new product coming down the pike,” said Demitruk. The new truck will be dubbed the model 5700. Business has been brisk for Western Star to start 2014. While industry-wide demand for new trucks is up around 30%, Demitruk said Western Star’s net order intake is up 70%. “We are really growing and on the move,” she said, noting the 4700 model is driving much of the demand. In fact, Daimler Trucks North America has reconfigured its Cleveland, N.C. truck plant to take on some production of Western Star trucks. “So in addition to building Western Stars in Portland, we are now building Western Stars in Cleveland, N.C.,” Demitruk said. Other announcements from Western Star included: a larger, 23-gallon DEF tank is now available on the 4700; Meritor’s electronic stability control is available on all Western Star 4900 trucks; the Eaton UltraShift Plus has been expanded to include the 4800 model; and Detroit’s Virtual Technician remote diagnostics platform is now standard on 4700, 4800 and 4900 models with Detroit’s GHG14-compliant engines.

Nobody is "crying over spilled milk". Let us not distract from what's actually taking place here. A great many proud and intelligent Americans who care deeply about our country are very upset at the direction we're heading in, and about a foreign truckmaker acquiring White, Autocar, GMC and Mack Trucks. The acquisition of Mack Trucks by a foreign truckmaker was not good for America. The dominance of America's truck industry by foreign truckmakers is not in the best interest of the United States.

Richard Knorr (R.D. Knorr Industries), a supplier, began providing Mack with the plastic front "Mack" lettering (3"- 230SX1 / 2"-230SX2) and side hood script (204SX105) in the 1970s.

It is confusing the way you described it, because Mack never made any changes to Volvo engines. Volvo Group purchased Mack Trucks in 2000.Volvo Group began installing Volvo D-Series engines, produced at Volvo Powertrain, in Mack-branded Volvo VN and VHD chassis.The Mack-branded Volvo D-Series engines are programmed by Volvo Powertrain for Maxidyne, Maxi-Cruise and Econodyne characteristics. Wikipedia??

The cast metal half-dogs originally used on R/U/DM cab doors were produced by Blue Ridge. They were replaced by a plastic version, Mack part-no. 230SX4 (chrome) and 230SX5 (gold).

Heavy Duty Trucking / March 24, 2014 A fire risk in some Mack trucks, and braking problems on some International and Caterpillar trucks, have led to recall campaigns. Mack is recalling 16,428 model year 2010-2012 CHU, CXU, GU and TD vehicles manufactured June 16, 2009 through July 18, 2011. In the affected vehicles, the Electronic Power Distribution Module may be contaminated from water leaks in and around the windshield. If exposed to water leaks, contaminants such as road salts may deposit on the EPDM. Deposits of contaminants may result in the circuits being bridged, creating a high resistance short, increasing the risk of a fire. Mack will notify owners, and dealers will inspect the EPDM. If contamination has occurred, dealers will replace the EPDM and address the leak, free of charge. The recall will begin in late April. Owners may contact Mack Trucks at (336) 393-2000. Mack's number for this recall is SC0375. _____________________________ Mack is also recalling 958 model year 2010-2015 LEU vehicles manufactured May 14, 2009, through Feb. 14, 2014, and equipped with a Cummins ISL engine. In the affected vehicles, the exhaust pipe may disconnect from the muffler/catalyst. If the exhaust pipe separates from the muffler on a twin-steer configured vehicle where the vehicle is operated from the right side, the operator may be exposed to carbon monoxide levels which may cause personal injury. Mack will notify owners. The manufacturer has not yet determined a remedy plan. The recall is expected to begin in late April. Owners may contact Mack Trucks at (336) 393-2000. Mack's number for this recall is SC0376.

Speaking of engine blocks, I’d like to share a little more background on that subject. Sadly, it is a story that highlights the decline of America’s industrial might and competitiveness, and the subsequent rise of foreign rivals. From 1998 in the face of heated competition, Golden Casting Corporation was banking on its new coremaking technology to secure its long-term supply to the heavy-duty truck market. Located near Cummins in Columbus, Indiana, the foundry was the last remaining independent U.S. diesel block and head casting supplier to the Class 8 truck market. Management believed that the 83-year-old foundry had embarked on a new era. The foundry's sole market sector had experienced newfound life during the 1990s. It hoped a new management staff and new technologies would allow it to successfully respond to the challenge of new competition. Golden Casting invested US$10 million on new coremaking technology and equipment to significantly boost productivity and better compete with rivals in Mexico and Brazil. In 1997, the foundry became the first non-Big Three foundry in the U.S. to utilize an innovative interlocking core technology for producing engine blocks. Golden Casting's fate as the last non-captive diesel engine block and head foundry began in the late 1970s and early 80s. Brazil’s foundries had come online offering low prices and open capacity when the U.S. economy sank. In 1980, North American Class 8 truck sales fell 36% from the previous year, and by 1982 sales were only 40% of their totals three years earlier. A half-dozen other independent foundries closed. With Golden Casting’s business solely dependent on the diesel engine block and head market, the company had few options other than to trim its workforce by 75% and wait for the economy to recover. Cost-cutting measures reduced scrap and improved productivity, and an automatic flow coater in the coreroom yielded a 32% productivity improvement. Employees also agreed to contract concessions to help weather the onslaught of foreign competition from the then-subsidized Brazilian foundries in a depressed U.S. economy. After 16 years of ownership by Textron Corp., Golden Casting was sold to Stamford, Connecticut-based American Bailey in 1990, who became the sixth owner of the foundry. New to the foundry industry, American Bailey went on to purchase a former Caterpillar foundry in Fonderie de Vernon, France. In 1990, while the Class 8 market was at its fourth lowest year since 1979 (and about to drop another 20% in 1991), American Bailey saw that Golden Casting held a strong position in a market in which capability was quickly disappearing. CEO Doug Bailey also believed that an entrepreneurial focus offered the opportunity to improve the plant's operations and better serve customers. More effective management included pushing the decision making process downward. Capital was directed toward maintenance to improve machine uptime and process control, and coremaking equipment was rearranged to improve production flow. "Because of the times, we had to be careful with our dollars, but we made a lot of small changes in a careful, prioritized manner," Bailey said. "We also worked to establish controlled processes and recipes, and the prepared sand control systems we put in place in 1992 and 1995 were big steps forward for us." While Golden Casting's shipments only totaled 26,000 tons in its first year under American Bailey, the picture soon improved. The Class 8 market started showing promise and by 1994 and 1995 factory sales of 225,000 and 245,000 were posted - the market's finest years ever. In turn, Golden's shipments grew steadily, and in 1997, the company was producing nearly twice its 1991 output. In 1998, the foundry had roughly 30% market share for Class 8 blocks. To upgrade Golden Casting's management team and technical expertise, the foundry handpicked top-level managers from Honda, Cummins, Fluor-Daniel, RCA Thompson, Nucor Steel and other foundries. After working for Cummins more than 10 years as that company’s casting buyer, Mr. Bo Witt joined Golden Casting as vice president of sales and marketing. "I always viewed Golden as a fairly lean organization with real know-how. The foundry had technical expertise - especially with complex cylinder heads - that only comes through 15-20 years hands-on with the parts. It's always done a good job of combining good technical background with practical experience to bring tried and true expertise. When there was a casting no one else could make, there was never a question who I wanted to source it from." "We've been feeling the pressure from producers in Brazil and Mexico," said Witt in 1998. "China, India and Eastern Europe Eastern Europe may also try to enter the market in the next three years, and they're hungry, have cheap labor and are willing to take on work at ridiculous prices." While there's no way we can match the labor rates of some countries, that's only one part of the equation," Smith said. "A U.S. foundry has lower energy costs, better access to materials and logistical services, and the access to world class equipment and well-trained workers needed to maintain and operate such technology." Golden Casting found a formidable weapon against its competitors' labor advantage ($1.86/hr in Mexico) in the form of an entirely different method of producing its blocks/heads. Golden had built its reputation on its prowess in making intricate complex cores and boasted a mature, knowledgeable workforce that had been working on blocks and heads every day of their careers. But American Bailey management knew the foundry had to continue evolving forward so as to remain the most cutting edge coremaking block and head foundry around to be successful, especially with freer trade with Mexico on the horizon. "Coremaking is the competency of this Class 8 business," said Bailey. "We needed the capability in coremaking that would provide dimensional tolerances and inherent strengths for the engines of tomorrow. They will require thinner sections and more significant design challenges that will place even more emphasis on the function and integrity of the core." Virtually every coremaking option was explored, although only a couple of options offered the foundry anything more than material handling enhancements. Ultimately, Loramendi's "Key-Core" system provided the clearest advantage for blocks. Developed in 1987, the patented system allows the assembly and interlocking of individual cores to solid core packages without using glues or screws. The company’s purchase marked the first North American application of the "Key-Core" system to large diesel blocks, and only the second worldwide. The company immediately realized the potential for a 15-20% cost reduction with the system. In 1998, the foundry was enjoying the benefits of a strong Class 8 market. The market's 215,000-unit shipments in 1997 were second only to 1994 and 1995, and 1998 shipments were expected to make a run for a spot in the top three. Golden was enjoying the ride of global growth from its customers, including shipping a 28-liter cylinder head to India. In 1997, the foundries largest customer Mack Trucks increased export sales by 54%, while Cummins reached its second highest sales totals ever. The foundry was running 35 part numbers regularly and typically sees six redesigns per year, driven mainly by emissions and noise reduction initiatives. While yesterday's engines had a lifecycle of 20 years, increasing government demands for emissions and noise reduction had forced major redesigns every 3-5 years, opening the door for the foundry to utilize its new technology on a wider scale. By 2000, Golden Casting had been awarded several new contracts from diesel engine and non-diesel customers. After supplying two-cycle engine blocks and cylinder head castings to Detroit Diesel for many years, Golden Casting was awarded a large portion of the new Series 60 block casting business worth US$10 million annually. Adding the Series 60 business to its Cummins and Mack orders, Golden Casting was producing engine blocks or cylinder head castings for four out of every ten Class 8 trucks produced in the United States. In 2000, Golden Casting won contracts from Trane to produce compressor body castings, and from Mentor Automotive for brake drum and various other castings. Despite investment and aggressive management, Golden Casting closed in April 2003 after union officials rejected a proposed 20% cut in wages and benefits. Two weeks later, the foundry reopened when the union agreed to the concessions. Golden Casting planned to resume full operations while reorganizing its business operations under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. However the foundry faced serious challenges including a loss of business and unpaid customer. Golden Castings closed its doors for good in September 2003. By 2004, Cummins had been striving to find cheaper suppliers of engine components. The company set up new buying offices in China (Shanghai), Czechoslovakia (Prague) and India (Pune) to locate new low-cost sources. From 1999 thru 2004, Cummins claimed to have saved US$450 million. But it also meant that Cummins had abandoned suppliers in the United States including Golden Casting. Until 1997, Cummins had been the foundry's largest customer (Mack became Golden’s largest customer after 1997). Italy's Fiat promised Cummins a high-quality, low-cost alternative at their foundry in Mexico. Over a period of years, Cummins transferred more work to Mexico, leading to Golden Casting’s demise in 2003. Fiat's Mexican foundry was selling parts for 30 percent less than Golden Casting's costs. Golden Casting struggled to catch up by automating its facility, and persuaded its union to accept a 10 percent cut in wages and 15 percent in health benefits. However, Golden Casting still couldn’t compete with Fiat’s Mexican foundry. FYI: From late 2003, Brazilian foundry TUPY began supplying Volvo Powertrain with cylinder blocks. Volvo Group announced on October 18, 2013 that its Hagerstown Volvo Powertrain facility would be assembling Mack-brand drive axles. I’ve mentioned before that Dana had produced Mack axles from 1984 thru 2003, after which time Volvo Group gave the work to Meritor. Meritor was assembling Mack brand axles from components sourced from ANG Group of New Delhi, India. I assume ANG is now supplying Volvo Powertrain directly.

I thought it might interest some to mention Blue Ridge Pressure Castings. This successful American company is interwoven into the history of Mack Trucks, having cast countless components for the company from 1946 onwards including the Mack half-dogs. In fact, on November 2, 1984, both Mack Trucks Chairman Alfred W. Pelletier and Blue Ridge Pressure Castings, Inc. Owner and President A. Donald Behler received the Silver Beaver Award from the Boy Scouts of America (Minsi Trails Council), the highest Boy Scout award given to volunteers. (Mack Trucks began a tradition of involvement with the Boy Scouts of America after Eagle Scout recipient Zenon C.R. Hansen took over the company’s helm on January 7, 1965) http://www.blueridgediecasting.com/html/product-examples.html _________________________________________________________ June 21, 1990 / The Morning call In 1946, few people took notice that year when a pair of New Jersey Zinc Co. employees rented a cattle barn at the Carbon County fairgrounds in Lehighton, opened Blue Ridge Pressure Castings Inc. and developed die casting that they deemed "high quality." "There are no secrets to quality," A. Donald Behler, president of Blue Ridge and son of its co-founder, said recently. "Quality takes dedication and persistence from the top on down." Today, Ford fights against Japanese imports by deeming quality "Job 1." And the company founded by Allen B. Behler and Thomas C. Wilson is still die casting high-quality parts for automobiles, trucks, appliances and computers. Mack Trucks, General Motors, IBM and Ford are among the top customers at Blue Ridge, which is now owned by Donald Behler. Andrew D. Behler, grandson of the co-founder, is project engineer. Andrew Behler said there are misconceptions about quality circles, which are employee groups designed to discuss product problems. "In themselves, they probably won't improve quality in an organization," Behler said. "You have to buy state-of-the-art equipment; employ the proper procedures and technology, and have the ability to measure." Quality was an important issue from the time the eldest Behler and Wilson purchased surplus war equipment from the government following World War II and settled in Lehighton. Allen Behler had been a metals investigator for New Jersey Zinc, where he was involved in testing and developing Zamak 3 and 5, zinc alloys used in die casting. The eldest Behler, always an innovator, made Blue Ridge one of the first die casters to implement the vacuum process that withdraws air from a die cavity before injecting metal. Having outgrown the cattle barn, the business moved across Bridge Street to the Lehighton Industrial Park in 1953. Six expansions later, the facility now measures 70,000 square feet and houses a machine shop and 18 die-casting machines measuring between 1,200 tons and 150 tons. Originally started as a brass die caster, Blue Ridge remains one of the largest custom brass die casters in the United States, with annual sales of up to $20 million, according to the Pennsylvania Directory of Manufacturers. But brass is now only about 35 percent of its business, Don Behler said. Today, about 50 percent of Blue Ridge's business is in aluminum and the balance is in zinc. In total, the company makes as much as 8 million pounds of metal parts per year. But changes in manufacturing methods have increased the market for high-quality parts. The just-in-time process of delivering parts for immediate assembly rather than storage means that die-casted materials must not be flawed. "In 1988, we were the first customer to be certified by Allison Transmissions," said Andrew Behler, the project engineer. "They sent a six-person team here over a year to inspect us. We supplied them for six months without a rejected part. "With companies today using just-in-time delivery, no one can afford defective parts." A dedication to quality is what makes Blue Ridge different from other die casters. For years, Blue Ridge made the famous bulldog hood ornament, half dogs, "Mack" letters and side hood script for Mack Trucks. But that contract ended recently when the financially ailing truck maker decided to make the half dogs, letters and script out of plastic rather than metal. At every step of the process -- from blue print to shipping -- Blue Ridge makes an inspection for quality. "There are four main potential problems that we deal with," said Andrew Behler: "the mold, the temperature, the pressure and the velocity that the metal is shot into the mold. "What we've done in recent years is to apply electronics and computers to a foundry. "We now have custom-designed microprocessors that correlate product quality with production. Then we have a group of people who do hands-on quality control to integrate the process." Because of the speed of the molding process, the 200 employees at Blue Ridge spent much of their time studying computer printouts to assure that the product is within an acceptable range. For instance, after bowling pin spotters are molded on a 1,200-ton die-casting machine, a robotic arm holds the product in front of a digital oscilloscope -- a special television camera -- which "inspects" the metal for any mistakes. "Statistics are kept at every machine," Andrew Behler said. "The machine is stopped if the product is outside our level of acceptance. We then correct the problem." At one time, Blue Ridge employed a quality control team. But today, with the advanced computers, the company uses about 18 roving inspectors over three shifts who are alternated from positions on the plant floor. "The roving inspectors hold the same classification as other workers," Andrew Behler said. "In that way, all the workers in the plant are capable with the equipment." Finally, Blue Ridge has a quality control room, where two or three workers operate a vertical arm co-ordinate measuring machine -- a computerized device which automatically takes 475 measurements on a part within 45 minutes. Accuracy of the computer's eye is to 0.0002 of an inch. "It used to take a couple of shifts to do that," Andrew Behler said. "Because of this technology, we can do more quality tests faster."