Maintaining engine lubricating oil is a very important element in stretching the productive life of vehicle engines. Often referred to as the life blood of the engine, the oil circulates through the engine, performing critical functions necessary to maintain engine performance and maximize useful service life.
Beverage companies are taking on new strategies in regard to the goals of their recycling initiatives. One would be hard pressed to find a beverage company not involved in recycling, but the industry continues to expand existing recycling programs. Craft brewer Boulevard Brewing Co., Kansas City, Mo., had to expand its recycling efforts in order to become a zero-landfill facility in January. In 2009, Boulevard’s Founder and President John McDonald, Chief Financial Officer Jeff Krum and Technical Director Mike Utz became co-founders and principals of Ripple Glass, a glass recycling company, to help close the loop in the brewer’s glass bottle consumption.
Vehicle repair and maintenance is only as good as the knowledge and skills of the technicians that perform the work. Consequently, the more successful fleets and maintenance operations invest in continuous training for their technicians to help them keep up with new vehicle technology and diagnostic and repair equipment. Fleet’s technicians can take part in TMCSuperTech, a national technician skills competition dedicated to both honoring technician professionalism and acknowledging the best of the best.
To stay competitive in the beverage world, multiple factors need to be considered. Is your product filling a need? Is it well received? Are you producing it in the most cost-efficient way possible? How’s the delivery?
A timely topic for a safety meeting is about working in excessive heat and humidity. The reason being is workers need to take special precautions because such weather conditions can result in a variety of adverse health effects, from discomfort to serious illness, and even death. The body reacts to heat by increasing the blood flow to the skin’s surface and by sweating. This results in cooling as sweat evaporates from the body’s surface and heat is carried to the surface of the body from within by the increased blood flow. Heat also can be lost by radiation and convection from the body’s surface.
It’s hard to imagine many jobs as unpleasant as dealing with scrap tires. Most fleets store, pile or throw scrap tires somewhere behind the maintenance shop.
The Mid-America Trucking Show (MATS) marked its 40th anniversary this year with 1,039 exhibitors and nearly 76,200 attendees March 31-April 2 in Louisville, Ky. The show covered 1.2 million square feet at the Kentucky Expo Center with outdoor displays and “Ride-N-Drive” events.
With companies watching their expenses, distributors are trying to make their equipment last as long as possible. They are repairing rather than replacing whenever possible, including with their hand trucks and carts.
With the goal to get products out the door as quickly and efficiently as possible, bottlers and distributors would like to keep the line moving effectively so they can focus their attention to the numerous other tasks at hand.