Fleet Management News & Business Info | Commercial Carrier Journal
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/699972
commercial carrier journal | july 2016 23 • Daimler Trucks North America reduced headcount by about 1,240 workers at its North American production facilities last month, the Salisbury (N.C.) Post reported. Nearly 600 workers were laid off from the Mount Holly (N.C.) plant, 200 from the Gastonia (Ore.) logistics facility, 170 from the Western Star plant in Portland (Ore.) and 270 from the Santiago (Mexico) location. • Michigan lawmakers were poised to pass HB 4344, which would ban the use of aftermarket and remanufactured parts on vehicles less than five years old. The Motor & Equipment Manufacturers Association issued a call to action asking its Michigan membership to contact their representa- tives and voice their displeasure, saying the bill would limit consumer choices about re- pair options, increase prices by mandating that only OEM parts be used, and impact aftermarket retail sales and manufacturing jobs. • Kenworth's plant in Chillicothe, Ohio, is in the midst of a $17 million project to enhance truck quality and assembly efficiency through construction of a new parts management system and automated storage facility to achieve rapid storage of painted parts and faster delivery of those parts when needed on the assembly line. A 25,000-square-foot addition is being built on the top of the current plant. • Daimler Trucks North America now offers Hadley's SmartValve as an optional replacement for standard leveling valves on new 6×4 trucks. Installed on the drive axle suspension, SmartValve is designed for convenient raising of the tractor frame to assist in raising a trailer when its landing gear is too low. • Bendix parent company Knorr-Bremse, a provider of braking systems, acquired Wülfrath, Germany-based Tedrive Steering Systems, a manufacturer of rack-and-pinion and recirculating ball steering gear systems. Knorr-Bremse said the acquisition will allow the company to generate added value for its customers, including commercial vehicle manufacturers or operators, through the smart connection of systems and subsys- tems for driver assistance and automated driving functions. • Ryder System launched new commercial vehicle lease options designed to allow cus- tomers to choose from three different flexi- ble Ryder ChoiceLease maintenance plans: Full Service, Preventive and On-Demand. The scalable model enables customers to decide the terms of their lease alongside the level of maintenance they prefer, from total bumper-to-bumper coverage to pay-as- you-go maintenance. • Navistar agreed to manufacture General Motors' cutaway commercial vans starting next year at its plant in Springfield, Ohio. GM's full-length on-frame Chevrolet Express and GMC Savana vans are upfitted into utility or service vehicles, ambulance or rescue vehicles, shuttle buses and school buses. Navistar will add about 300 jobs and recommission the plant's second line. • Navistar said nearly 40 percent of all of its truck and bus dealers qualified as Diamond Edge Certified in the second quarter of 2016. To achieve Diamond Edge status, International Truck and IC Bus dealers must meet or exceed service dwell time metrics and define long-term action plans for continuous and ongoing service improve- ments. • Fontaine Modification Fleet Services now is authorized to install and distribute Idle Smart's idle management system, an automatic engine start-and-stop technolo- gy that actively manages engine idle time and battery voltage levels while helping to prevent cold starts. Idle Smart also provides remote management capabilities and delivers performance reporting and vehicle diagnostics. • Boss Truck Shops now carries Yokohama Tire Corp.'s full line of commercial tires at all of its 44 U.S. locations. Boss also now offers Yokohama's roadside assistance program, Yokohama Emergency Service, to service all Yokohama National Account customers. • Bridgestone Americas launched a nation- wide all-inclusive battery service program at Speedco, a provider of on-highway preventive maintenance and tire service. The program includes free battery testing and the addition of Interstate Batteries to the service center's product offering at all of its locations. • Mitchell 1 released an updated series of training videos for its repair shop manage- ment system. The videos are accessible from the company's online Get2Know Training Center and also from inside its Manager SE software by clicking on the "Training Videos – How Do I" link. • Bendix Commercial Vehicle Systems announced that its remanufactured brake shoe plant in Huntington, Ind., surpassed 4 million units. The 74,000-square-foot facility opened in fall 2012 and handles the complete salvage, coining and assembly processes. 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