In the original Star Trek television show, no matter where in the universe Capt. James T. Kirk went, the intelligent alien species always understood what he was saying, and he understood them.
Truck mechanics might not have access to the good captain’s 23rd-century universal translator, but they do have Vehicle Maintenance Reporting Standards.
The 2000 edition of VMRS is a coding system for trucks and truck maintenance. It is a complicated system of numbers that covers all possible commercial vehicle repairs. It also includes coding for the trucks themselves and their component parts, vehicle and component manufacturers and all other vehicle-related costs such as labor, administration and even the overhead costs associated with the maintenance facility.
The original VMRS was developed more than 30 years ago by a group headed by J. E. “Pete” Paquette, now principal of the National AfterMarket Data Exchange. The Regular Common Carriers Conference of American Trucking Associations formed the group to develop a system for reporting maintenance practices. The intent was to produce consistent maintenance reports industry-wide by capturing maintenance and repair data in a uniform manner.
For the full story, see the Apr. 10 print edition of Transport Topics. .
