ATA to Revive Information Tech Council

By Eric Miller, Staff Reporter

This story appears in the Aug. 13 print edition of Transport Topics. Click here to subscribe today.

American Trucking Associations said it is bringing back its Information Technology and Logistics Council to meet a growing demand by ATA carrier members seeking technical and educational opportunities for their IT, logistics and operations managers.

The ITLC was shut down in a 2000 ATA reorganization.

The revived ITLC will make its public debut at its 2007 annual conference, scheduled for Oct. 22-23 in conjunction with ATA’s Management Conference & Exhibition Oct. 20-23 in Orlando, Fla.

“This has to do with the emerging importance of IT and logistics in the motor carrier industry — and it’s probably more important now than in 2000,” said Carl Kirk, vice president of ATA Councils and executive director of the Technology & Maintenance Council.

Kirk said the ITLC will focus on such issues as electronic data interchange and commerce, radio frequency identification and other forms of automatic data capture, satellite tracking, customs automation, and logistics and supply chain technologies.

“We addressed those issues before but not in the in-depth way we plan on addressing them this time,” Kirk said. “It’s the same group resurrected, but we’re now in a position to support it more than we were in 2000.”

“The ATA focused on political advocacy at that time [in 2000]. We’ve gotten at this point to a position that we really understand the importance of business advocacy,” Kirk said.

TMC will continue its emphasis on “onboard” truck technologies, such as electronic transmissions, braking systems and engines, Kirk said.

“If the electrons stay onboard the truck, if the communications strategy has to do with the truck itself, TMC will be dealing with those issues,” Kirk said. “If it’s off-board technology, the new group, ITLC, will have it.”

The ATA executive committee approved ITLC’s revival in June after focus groups demonstrated a need. “Many of our motor carrier members have established their own separate logistics branches,” said Warren Hoemann, senior vice president for ATA’s industry affairs.

The ITLC is still in the process of hiring an executive director and staff.

“Members need continued education, they need the ability to network with their peers, they need to develop some industry best practices and they need a united voice many times on what those practices should be when dealing with other standard-setting groups,” Hoemann said.

The 2007 annual conference will feature presentations, seminars and panel discussions on topics including supply chain integration challenges and solutions, data mining applications for trucking, and emerging trends in information technology and logistics.