Truck Integration Trend Will Continue, Mack Execs Say
John Walsh, Mack’s vice president of marketing, said the integration of components results in better performance, fuel efficiency and vehicle uptime.
“Components specifically engineered to work together simply work better,” he told attendees at ACT Research’s seminar here March 24.
Mack offers proprietary engines, transmissions and axles, but the company’s integration focus also extends to technology and customer support, Walsh said.
“For us at Mack, this notion of integration goes beyond the powertrain to essentially everything we do, including what we’re doing today with telematics,” he said.
The company’s GuardDog Connect remote diagnostics platform is designed to provide fleet managers with actionable information that enables them to proactively plan vehicle maintenance and repairs.
“It’s all about keeping these vehicles on the road, generating revenue,” Walsh said.
Telematics systems are most closely associated with over-the-road trucking, but he said there is a growing interest in the technology among vocational operators as well.
David Pardue, Mack’s vice president of aftermarket business development, said the manufacturer is moving toward diagnosing vehicles while they are in operation as opposed to traditional, tool-based diagnostics at the dealership.
“For Mack Trucks, it’s about owning the service and repair process, and how we can utilize technology, innovation and people to drive that,” he said.
Looking ahead, Mack is seeking to enable operators to remotely make changes to the vehicle’s configuration and parameters to account for different operating environments and different drivers, Pardue added.
Walsh said the driver shortage remains a top issue for fleets, and he pointed to automated manual transmissions as a way for them to address the problem.
He said AMTs expand the driver pool to people who aren’t accustomed to traditional manuals while improving driver satisfaction by reducing fatigue from shifting.
Mack’s mDrive AMT is standard on its Pinnacle highway models, and the recently introduced HD version is standard on its Granite and Titan vocation models.
Walsh said Mack expects 2015 to be a “very strong” year for the North American Class 8 market with about 310,000 retail sales.
The truck maker anticipates continued growth in the vocational market corresponding to an ongoing uptick in construction activity and the economy as a whole, along with a strong year for over-the-road applications, he said.
However, Walsh cautioned that original equipment manufacturers will need to coordinate with suppliers to keep pace with the demand.
“When you have a very strong market like we have today, where all the OEMs are looking to build a heck of a lot of trucks, this, of course, puts a lot of pressure on the supply chain,” he said. “It’s going to be as important as ever this year that we continue to work very closely with our suppliers.”
