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To keep their customers’ equipment up and running, truck dealers are increasingly relying on complex algorithms and predictive modeling to maintain inventory levels that will ensure they have the parts truckers need right when they need them, according to dealers and manufacturers.

Tire manufacturers say that an ongoing shortage of component materials — which is expected to continue through 2012 and beyond — combined with soaring global demand and logistics costs, has driven up costs and led the makers to boost prices for commercial tires.

Dana Holding Corp. estimated its adjusted 2011 earnings will be higher than the previous year, and that its 2012 sales will be at least 5% over 2011.

A federal advisory committee studying electronic onboard recorders did not reach a consensus on the best way to transmit hours-of-service data from the truck cab to roadside inspectors, but did offer recommendations on items including safeguarding carrier and driver privacy.

Private equity firm American Industrial Partners said it has purchased trailer manufacturer Heil Trailer International from Dover Corp. Terms were not disclosed.

Yokohama Tire Corp. said it will raise prices on its U.S. commercial vehicle tires by up to 8%, effective Feb. 1.

I have attended several meetings of American Trucking Associations’ Technology & Maintenance Council where participants have stated they simply want to know how many years a component will last.

Customers ordered 28,393 new trailers in November, a 29.5% increase from the same month a year earlier and the largest monthly total since March 2006, ACT Research Co. said.

The overall size of the U.S. Class 8 fleet continued its downward slide since peaking in 2008, R.L. Polk & Co. said in its latest report, which showed the number of U.S. Class 8 vehicles in operation fell 4.2% in the third quarter.