Tom Kelley

The company debuted its latest near-zero natural gas engine technology, super-efficient diesel engines and shared its plans to introduce what it says will be a “revolutionary” heavy-duty diesel engine in 2022.

One of the best ways to reduce exhaust emissions and cut fuel costs obviously is to burn less fuel. Although fuel prices have substantially decreased in the past few years and have largely stabilized for now, beverage fleets remain proactive about reducing their fuel consumption. Between route/load optimization and updates to the latest drivetrain technology, the low-hanging fuel-economy fruit has been thoroughly harvested. Among the more common fuel saving strategies reported is the use of factory-installed idle shut-down timers to reduce unnecessary engine idling.

As a small company growing at 20 percent a year in a narrowly specialized segment of the beverage distribution business, Nampa, Idaho-based Idaho Springs Water succeeds by controlling costs in every corner of its fleet operations, including vehicle acquisition and maintenance, routing optimization, and fuel costs.

With a few notable exceptions, full-service leasing continues to be much more popular among the very large fleets than it is among the smaller fleets of Beverage Industry readers.

Advertising and marketing essentially are story-telling. Short stories by necessity but nonetheless story-telling. One of the first lessons taught about creating a story in many composition and creative writing classes is to show, don’t tell. The audience more likely will  remember a story when they’re shown a picture in their mind’s eye, than if the story merely is told.

It’s often said that change is the only absolute certainty in business. The difference between thriving, surviving or not, comes down to how one responds when those changes arrive, often at the least opportune moment.

Now that the snow has melted and flowers are in bloom, it can only mean one thing: it’s time to get trucks ready for summer. Investing a few hours now can save days of downtime when the scorching temperatures of summer return.

As urban legends go, the belief that retreaded tires aren’t safe or practical ranks up there with the idea that one can find an honest politician during an election year. The reality is that a retreaded tire produced by a top-quality retreader will perform as well as a comparable new tire and at a lower price.

For a family-run company that has been in the beverage business for more than a century, Atlantic Coca-Cola Bottling Co., Atlantic, Iowa, is by no means stuck in the past. Late last year, the company grew from two locations to nine, expanding its territory to cover most of Iowa and portions of adjoining states. As part of the acquisition, Atlantic also has accelerated its shift to end-load equipment, including the recent purchase of 16 new Kenworth T370 tractors and 13 new trailers.