DC Velocity - December 2017

inbound

Don’t be surprised if you’re driving down the highway and see images of bright yellow forklifts flash before your eyes. You may have just had a close encounter with a tractor-trailer making a cross-country trip on behalf of Mitsubishi Caterpillar Forklift America (MCFA), the provider of Jungheinrich lift trucks and narrow-aisle products in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico.

For the 2017–2018 Jungheinrich Driving Innovation Roadshow, a vehicle carrying demonstration models of the company’s EFG 220 electric counterbalanced forklifts will tour the country, stopping along the way to give customers a firsthand look at the equipment.

The 56-foot branded trailer left Houston in November for a year-long trip along the Gulf Coast, up the Eastern Seaboard to New England and Canada, and through the Midwest before heading to the West Coast and back home to MCFA’s headquarters in Texas.

MCFA says its roadshow will stand out from similar events because forklift operators will have the chance to try out the EFG 220 in their own operating environment. They’ll also be able to take the “ 2 Shifts, 1 Charge” challenge, putting to the test Jungheinrich’s guarantee that the trucks can run two shifts on a single battery charge.

To request a demonstration or find out about scheduled stops near you, go to www.mcfa.com/en/jungheinrich/driving-innovation-roadshow.

Jungheinrich takes its show on the road

Truck drivers around the country have circled Dec. 18 on their calendars. That’s the day the federal government’s ELD (electronic logging device) mandate takes effect. Once the rule kicks in, virtually all trucks built after the year 2000 will be required to have electronic logging devices onboard to assure compliance with the government’s driver hours-of-service (HOS) regulations.

While most large trucking fleets
have already installed ELDs in their
vehicles, many independent drivers
have been hanging back while they
wait to see how a legal challenge
mounted by a coalition of trucking
groups plays out. In the meantime,
some of those independent drivers
have taken to a new arena to protest
the regulation, posting their concerns
on the social media platform Twitter.
For a sample of these reactions—
including stories of drivers who are
threatening to quit the business if
the mandate goes into effect—search
Twitter for the hashtag #eldorme—
pronounced “ELD or me.”
Other Twitter users are having
a little fun with the topic, posting
sarcastic comments on the Twitter
account@badtruckadvice.So me
of the “bad truck advice” offered
includes:

; Need to get a little extra driving done but have an ELD? Put your hat over it. If it can’t see, it won’t know.

; I bought a second ELD so I can roll twice as long.

; Save money and time! If you unload your trailer in PJs, it counts toward an 8hr break and saves you costly lumper fees!

; Don’t forget to subtract or add an hour to your HOS when crossing a time zone.

Truckers take to
Twitter to vent
about ELDs

Although it’s rare for the worlds of material handling equipment and major league sports to collide, the two got a little closer last month. On Nov. 1, the Pohlad family, the owner of Major League Baseball’s Minnesota Twins, announced that it had bought Shoreview, Minn.-based PaR Systems Inc., a provider of robotic automation and specialized material handling solutions.

Along with the Twins, the Pohlad family’s holdings include companies in the automotive, real estate investment and development, radio and media, high-end jewelry, and commercial real estate finance industries. In a statement announcing the latest acquisition, Robert Pohlad said the family was adding PaR Systems to its portfolio in order to expand into a new business line that it believes has great long-term potential.

The new owner has not indicated whether it intends to use any of PaR Systems’ 380 employees as a new second baseman or relief pitcher, but the robotics company does have a reputation for staying cool under pressure. Among other jobs, PaR created a remote robotic application to facilitate the nuclear decommissioning of the Chernobyl Unit 4 reactor following its 1986 meltdown. More recently, it developed a similar system for the Fukushima nuclear site, which was damaged by the 2011 earthquake in Japan.