ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø

ROMULUS, Mich. — Striking General Motors factory workers will put down their picket signs after approving a new contract that will end a 40-day strike that paralyzed the company’s U.S. production.

Manufacturing first embraced Lean and Six Sigma techniques — tools and strategies to improve business processes — in the 1980s, and the concepts are gaining ground in truck maintenance shops. Those in the trucking industry who have applied Lean or Six Sigma processes said they can cut waste and increase their shops’ efficiency.

The brave new world of electric Class 8 trucks dawned in North America with the delivery of two battery-­electric Freightliner ­eCascadia tractors to customers this past August. Penske Truck Leasing and NFI are placing the vehicles into revenue service. With electric-powered trucks, however, comes a fundamental shift in how tomorrow’s freight-hauling equipment will be specified.

Commercial trucking is an excellent barometer for the state of the economy and where it might be going.

The trucking industry’s premier players are set to land in Atlanta for the biennial North American Commercial Vehicle Show.

How fleets buy, maintain and sell their assets has never been more pivotal than in today’s shifting business landscape.

Building positive relationships with dealers and independent maintenance shops is one of the keys to successfully maintaining complex engine exhaust aftertreatment systems, according to several fleet representatives.

With the Mack Trucks strike slated to end, a recent report from parent company Volvo Group provides a look at the heavy-duty truck market that 3,500 workers will return to next week.

Ever since digital antilock braking systems were mandated in the mid-1990s, an ever-increasing array of electrically powered, data-networked technologies have placed increased demands on the tractor electrical system and databus.