Fleet Management News & Business Info | Commercial Carrier Journal
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/107618
Questions and perspectives However industry evolves, CCJ will be there to cover it W hile Commercial Carrier Journal has changed and evolved over the course of its centuryplus history, one thing it always has been is a magazine that covers new technology. In fact, this was CCJ's founding concept way back in 1911 when a group of entrepreneurs decided to provide monthly information to another larger group of entrepreneurs who had decided to see if they could take larger beefed-up automobiles ("commercial cars," in the parlance of the time) and make any money hauling stuff around with them. Flash-forward 102 years later, and we still are trying to figure all this stuff out: The CCJ editorial staff on the reception/ transmission side of the equation, and you, the readers, on the decision/application side of things. Broadly speaking, the two themes that seem to dominate CCJ today are energy and telematics – energy in the sense that fossil fuels are becoming more expensive, and for the first time in a while, the trucking industry aggressively is exploring alternative fuels for commercial transportation applications. Telematics is the natural offshoot of the exponential growth of computing and communication power in the past 25 years – technology that smart fleets increasingly are harnessing to boost overall productivity and efficiency in every aspect of their business, including shop repair times, safety, theft and asset protection, routing, on-time delivery and customer satisfaction. Savvy fleet managers understand that rising energy costs and telematics are intertwined: As fuel costs rise, the use of telematics will become paramount in assuring that every gallon purchased and burned does so while earning the fleet money. Why am I telling you all of this? Because I want to make sure While CCJ has changed and evolved since its debut more than 100 years ago, the magazine always has covered new technology. We write about alternative fuels and telematics for a reason. 22 commercial carrier journal 0213_Equipdept_Jack.indd 22 you understand why CCJ editors take valuable real estate in the pages of the magazine to tell you about Century-plus of change: CCJ always has been a magazine natural gas engines that covers new technology. and trucks, biofuels, fuel cells, all-electric Dominant themes: Savvy vehicles and real-time fleet managers know that alteronboard diagnostic native fuels and telematics are intertwined. systems. We understand that many fleet owners future is near: While The today glance at those some believe new technologies stories and think "That are unproven, others are ahead of will never work for us. the curve. | february 2013 1/23/13 8:33 AM