A quick but dangerous way to offload an excavator:

At its fourth annual Green Truck Summit, the National Truck Equipment Association presented Congressman Gary Peters of Michigan the first-ever Green Truck Leadership Award for “outstanding contributions promoting green truck technology.” The member of the House Financial Services Committee penned the Advanced Vehicle Technology Act that the House approved last fall.

Peters’ bill calls for an increase in funding for the 21st Century Truck Partnership (a public/private effort to improve fuel-efficiency in medium- and heavy-trucks and commercial vehicles) from $29 million dollars to $200 million per year...Read More

Next week, at AEMP's Annual Conference in Dallas, the nation's top equipment managers will have opportunity to discuss and provide feedback on the just-released telematics standard. The group's telematics subcommittee is actively seeking industry feedback, and has provided a forum through which end-users can comment on the standard. 

I don't think the industry understands the magnitude of what has just happened. An association of end-users convinced some of the world's largest heavy-equipment manufacturers to change the way they deliver machine data. This wasn't just a focus group; this was a gathering of the best IT minds within John Deere, Caterpillar, Komats...Read More

Equipment managers have had a lonely row to hoe these past months as one regulatory group after another has hammered home the message: Clean your fleet!

Although CARB's decision to delay enforcement of its off-road regs is heartening, no one in charge of a fleet of diesel-powered machines should rest easy. This horse is already out of the barn.

The Association of Equipment Management Professionals was the first to consistently take strong steps toward and for the fleet manager. AEMP has offered education and webcasts, and has empowered an emissions taskforce. The Foundation of AEMP has ac...Read More

The former publisher of Construction Equipment died earlier this month. Many would consider it difficult to put someone’s death in the context of their business, but Bob DeFrietas was the father of this magazine’s rebirth. 

Many on this staff, this editor included, worked with Bob during the 1980s. We remember his comittment to “Rebuilding America,” a great initiative geared toward bringing attention to the crumbling national infrastructure: highways, bridges, sewer, water. 

It won Bob, and the magazine, recognition by industry organizations and even the President, Ronald Reagan. Our articles won Jesse H. Neal awards. 

Today, Construction Equipment enjoys the top ranking among magazines serving the managers of America’s fleets because of the work Bob did in the 1970s and ’8...Read More

Don’t go celebrating the California Air Resources Board’s postponement of enforcing its off-road diesel emissions regulations as some kind of triumph of the free market over regulation. They’ve just postponed enforcement. Confirmed diesel hater and CARB chair Mary Nichols has saved her job for the time being, but she’s not going to let these regulations go away. If she manages to stay with CARB until the economy starts showing signs of recovery, you can bet she’ll be pushing for enforcement.

But more importantly – particularly for contractors all over the U.S. – CARB’s decision not to enforce the In-Use Off-Road Diesel Emissions rule i...Read More

Bauma, the triennial equipment trade show hosted in Munich, Germany, will be the 2010 launching ground for new excavators, dozers, skid steer loaders, and a myriad of other construction machinery. Here's a sneak preview of products that will appear at Bauma this April and a distributor near you later this year.

Wacker Neuson Vibratory Plate Compactor

Video by Wacker Neuson ...Read More

We've worked at bringing as much of the on-road Tier 4 engine debate to our audience as we can in a fair way. It's been a knockdown fight between Navistar, fielding it's EGR-based engines, and the other OEMs that are building SCR engines in order to meet the 2010 requirements.

In October, we presented the two sides in preparation for the January deadline. Truth be told, I've talked to equipment managers who are still up in the air on this decision. Much will depend on their current vendors, some will depend on whether they want to deal with additional fluid storage (DEF for the SCR powerplants), but most will probably be able to wait it out to see how the engines perform.

Tom Berg, our truck editor, drove an ...Read More

In the days since I posted 7 tasks for equipment managers, one other challenge has been bouncing around my head. It wasn't until this morning, though, that my thoughts condensed into a task. 

The industry's equipment distributors are meeting this week for their annual convention. There is much angst among dealers, and it's becoming more piercing as 2010 is shaping up as a transition year from 2009 to 2011. 

I suggested that distributors should be offering solutions to their customers, the equipment users, instead of cutting back on service-ori...Read More

I love snow so much that my family gave me snow shoes for Christmas. I don't own a snow blower because I enjoy shoveling our driveway.

And I always pause and wave when the trucks come down the street. 

It's a thankless job, I often think, and drivers probably hear more complaints about clogging a driveway than they do appreciation for keeping our car-centric towns functioning. 

So, enjoy these videos as my personal hat tip to the unsung heroes of clean streets and parking lots:

...Read More

Could the tide actually be turning? Could the trucking industry and truckers themselves actually be curried favor from the general public?

OK, before I get carried away, full disclosure here, folks: I am the son of a trucker. This, of course, means growing up with a front-seat view of what it means to be blamed for just about everything wrong that happens to people the second they walk out the front door every morning.

Couldn't fly through the traffic light at the end of your street? It was the trucks. Couldn't see the side street up ahead and missed your turn? It was the trucks. Got caught in the slowest moving lane in the history of the Interstate system? It was the trucks. Finally got to work and couldn't do anything because you didn't get any sleep from all the noise outside last night? It was, of course, the trucks.

And so it goes.

But what n...Read More

One of my Facebook friends posted this on New Year's Eve: "Good riddance 2009, don't let the door hit you on the butt on your way out." 

The optimism many felt as 2009 ended has not necessarily extended to the construction side of the economy, however. As construction markets continue to lag the general economy, what better way to start the year than with a list of priorities for equipment managers heading into 2010:

1) Contain costs. Tough competition is the new normal. With fewer jobs, more organizations will be bidding against yours. The construction equipment manager has to be able to present and manage costs so your firm doesn't underbid a project. On the flip side, you have to be able to provide the absolute best costs so your company can win the bids that will bring in the most profitable revenue. ...Read More