Revolution on the road - innovations in trucking; includes related article on one-stop shipping services

Revolution On The Road

You might not think of space satellites in the context of America's trucking industry, but many a feet-on-the-ground trucker sees a sizable potential in them for the industry. Communication with trucks via satellite is on the way.

AAA Cooper, a Dothan, Ala.-based trucking company, already uses a satellite to transmit shipment information between its Miami and Dallas terminals. Company President Mack Dove sees the day when several carriers with hundreds of terminals will be using the system jointly--thus reducing communication costs sharply and providing more efficient service for customers.

But satellites are just one of many new communications services being put to use in the trucking industry. All are aimed at demands from customers for faster, more reliable service.

Most in the industry agree that customers are making tougher demands today than a few years ago, and Raymond A. Stewart, Jr., president of Yellow Freight, a large nationwide carrier, says far more than trucking is involved.

"I think this attitude is prevalent throughout the economy,' he says. "There's a renewed emphasis on efficiency.'

This emphasis on customer service gains strong support from Kenneth Younger, president of Carolina Freight Carriers, Cherryville, N.C. "We feel the customer is king--our whole company is geared that way,' he says. "I think the customer is mainly interested in the carrier meeting his requirements--regardless of whether the freight is delivered by truck or dogsled.'

Younger sees today's soaring insurance rates posing a threat to many carriers: "I'm afraid a lot of people are going to fall by the wayside.'

That is already happening. A recent Dun & Bradstreet survey reported that 1,533 trucking companies failed last year--roughly six for each working day. In 1978 only 162 failed.

Faced with fierce pressure to survive and growing customer demands, trucking companies are offering many new services to attract and hold customers.

High on the industry's list is electronic data interchange, often referred to as EDI. It can virtually eliminate paper work in transactions between a shipper, the shipper's customer and the trucking company.

For example, a wholesaler's computer can send a manufacturer a request for a product quotation. The manufacturer's computer returns the quotation. If the wholesaler decides to buy, the purchase order, shipping notice and invoice are all sent to the manufacturer by computer. The manufacturer's computer sends the shipping information to the motor carrier. After pickup, the wholesaler can send the carrier a request for the shipment's status at any time.

One innovation attracting growing interest is "bar-coding,' marking packages and whole shipments with those parallel lines so familiar on products in supermarkets. The idea is to speed up loading and unloading of shipments and consolidating of shipments on loading docks.

For example, a General Motors assembly plant has a special "just-in-time' gate that allows trucks using the bar-code system to proceed to a specially designated loading dock.

Meanwhile, there never has been a greater variety of vehicles for truck operators of all sizes to choose from. In addition, changes in engines and other components are practically revolutionary. All are aimed at meeting the needs of a restructured trucking industry.

Neil A. Springer, president of Navistar International--formerly International Harvester--says: "Those customers out there--the ones behind the wheel and the ones behind the adding machine--are in a vise just like we are. Their survival depends on our ability to keep them on the road and out of the shop.'

One major change truck manufacturers anticipate is a flattening demand for the Class 8 tractor, traditionally the workhorse of long-haul trucking. No one is predicting the demise of the big tractors that power to 18-wheelers, but it is generally agreed their use will become more limited.

(Trucks are broken down into classes for official rating purposes. Class 8 refers to trucks with a gross vehicle weight of 33,000 pounds and up; Class 7, to vehicles of 26,000 to 33,000 pounds; Class 6, to those of 19,500 to 26,000; and Classes 3 to 5, to those of 10,000 to 19,500.)

Citing the depressed market for heavy duty trucks, General Motors announced in August that it is getting out of the business--closing its Pontiac, Mich,., heavy truck plant. Instead, it will enter a joint venture with Volvo White, part of the Swedish auto maker, producing heavy trucks at Volvo White's manufacturing facilities in Virginia, Utah and Ohio. The new firm, called Volvo GM Heavy Truck Corporation and with headquarters at Greensboro, N.C., will be 65 percent owned by Volvo White and 35 percent by GM.

In assessing the shifts taking place in truck manufacturing, Mack Trucks President John Curcio points out: "First of all, the huge trade deficit has hurt trucking more than most people realize. A lot less material is hauled in and out of U.S. plants today than in the past.'

Also, he says, imports are delivered to central terminals where shipments are broken into smaller loads destined for individual customers--"a hub and spoke operation,' he calls it--so "hauling is lighter. That's why we're looking into building a lighter Class 8.'

Thomas Reimers, executive vice president-operations for Mitsubishi Fuso of America, a new Japanese entry in the U.S. truck market from the industrial giant Mitsubishi, sees no growth in the Class 8 truck market and says it may "trend down.' Explains Reimers, a veteran of more than 25 years in U.S. truck manufacturing: "If you look at the Class 7 upward trend of the past few years, it has been at the expense of the heavier trucks.'

Reimers does not go along with many in the industry who also see sales of models in the 19,500 to 26,000 pounds range declining: "I feel Class 6 sales will remain relatively flat. Dramatic growth will take place in Classes 3, 4 and 5. There's demand out there. Just-in-time deliveries, deliveries in urban congestion--I think that's the market for these classes.'

James Bostic, president of Iveco Trucks of North America, a subsidiary of Fiat, the Italian auto firm, also is enthusiastic about the outlook for Class 3, 4 and 5 trucks. Bostic, whose firm specializes in those classes, predicted earlier that truck sales in that range would be up 60 percent this year. He now sees sales "doing a little better' than his prediction.

Bostic says the current popularity of these classes stems from the time more than 10 years ago when U.S. truck makers stopped offering models in that range. As a result, he says, customers such as retailers, wholesalers and beverage distributors either had to move up to trucks larger than they needed, or down, squeezing delivery operations.

In recent years Iveco and Japanese truck makers have filled the void, offering a wide range of models.

Peter Rupp, president of Freightliner, one of the largest U.S. producers of heavy trucks, is even more pessimistic than most of the rest of the industry about the future of Class 8's. He sees 110,000 units being produced this year--15,000 less than the industry consensus --and says: "I think that eventually one Class 7-8 maker will go belly up. It won't be Freightliner. We're here to stay.'

Freightliner is owned by West Germany's Daimler-Benz, maker of Mercedes-Benz autos and trucks. Freightliner also handles sales of the mediumrange Mercedes-Benz trucks sold in the United States.

Rupp says he is encouraged by an apparent trend for more buyers to think about performance and costs over the long run. That is needed, he says, to reduce pressures on selling price that otherwise will mean "there will be no money for research and development, and we will go the way of American shipbuilding.'

Among other new developments, Fruehauf has a side-load trailer designed to meet the needs of just-in-time inventory management. With the touch of a button, the trailer's entire side opens in less than 60 seconds for access to the total cargo.

Leaseway has come out with a front-wheel-drive moving van, considered to be the first of its kind. It is designed for use in urban areas where maneuverability is limited.

Step into new vehicles, and the gadgetry seems endless.

A driver can stabilize a load with the push of a button. An on-board weighing system calculates loads so a driver won't be stopped at a weighing station for being overloaded. Other systems keep check on fuel consumption, engine wear and fuel charges.

Kenworth has a computerized electronic dashboard with an electronic speedometer and tachometer. It also can find faults in the electronic engine control system.

Tripmaster III is now available from Rockwell International. This is the latest version of the aerospace and truck component firm's on-board computer recording system that features a "little black box' for helping to pinpoint causes of emergencies--a feature similar to the crash box used on commercial airliners.

Overshadowing all such developments is the arrival of the long-awaited electronically controlled heavy-duty diesel engine. It revolutionizes the way a diesel engine operates. Detroit Diesel Allison is now offering the system, and all major truck diesel engine makers-- Cummins, Caterpillar, Mack--should have similar systems within two years.

The system's brain is an electronic control module in the vehicle cab. It computes the precise timing and fuel quantity needed for the engine to run as efficiently as possible and sends the proper commands to the engine.

An electronic governor maintains precise speed settings for all engine loads and can automatically change engine speed from maximum-load speed to no-load speed. A two-speed governor allows the engine to run at higher revolutions per minute in lower gears and at lower limits in high gears.

Detroit Diesel reports fuel savings of 10.15 to 10.81 percent using the system.

But that is only the beginning. When the system is refined, it will be possible to change engine horsepower by switching a memory chip in the electronic brain. The same truck that runs as a 400 horsepower tractor over mountain roads can be turned into a 250 horsepower city tractor.

There seems to be no limit to what electronic devices are available for use on trucks. However, some engineers doubt the trucking industry is far enough along in its understanding to take advantage of all that is available.

Stephen Humphrey, vice president and general manager of automotive electronics for Rockwell International, says that there has been a lot of talk about an electronics revolution in trucking, but so far it has been "damn slow and damn small. Even our experienced fleet operators are not very far along in deciding what they want. We are not developing new technology but applying existing technology. "I'm disappointed at how many industry executives are ignorant of how to save money [with electronics].'

Probably never in the history of U.S. trucking has there been a more exciting time--although for some a very precarious time. Old concerns about rate bureaus and ICC decisions have been replaced by just-in-time, intermodalism and new technologies. It is trucking's brave new world.

Photo: Electronic dashboards, like the one in this Kenworth truck, give the driver more control over the truck's operations.

Photo: Special uses call for specialized designs. The GMC S-15 pickup (left) is built for small jobs. The Mack dump truck (right) has a cab-over engine, which allows for greater visibility.

Photo: For quick loading and unloading, businesses are turning to automated curtainside trucks such as this one by Fruehauf.

Photo: Among its variations, the Ford cargo truck (left) can be built as a garbage or a refrigerated truck. The Iveco 2220T (right) is built for urban use, such as newspaper deliveries.

Photo: The U.S. trucking industry has room for foreign input, such as Volvo's engine plant in Dublin, Va. (left) and innovations for the future.

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