Heavy Duty Trucking, February 2018

HDT FEBRUARY 2018 18 WWW TRUCKINGINFO COM Hotline Rob Phillips President COO Phillips Industries Bob Phillips CEO Phillips Industries SIGN UP FOR YOUR DAILY NEWS AT WWW TRUCKINGINFO COM HEADLINENEWS TRUCKINGS MOST RESPECTED BUSINESS REPORT A mega dealers perspective on 2018 trucking trends After closing out an excellent year of truck sales Rusty Rush chairman and CEO of megadealer Rush Truck Centers is cautiously optimistic looking ahead and is staying on top of new technologies and trends affecting both fleets and dealers Rush said he firmly believes electric trucks are coming and that electronic logging devices will be a technology enabler for the industry I think we will see electric trucks but theyre going to be more on the medium duty and P D side of the business Rush said I think were still two or three years away from seeing them in substantial numbers And were probably 10 to 15 years away from seeing any significant presence in the long haul Class 8 markets There will be some headwinds with electric trucks But I think they will eventually just be a part of an OEMs product offerings alongside diesel and natural gas units I think well learn how to sell and service them as dealers Rush is also pragmatic about the advent of mandatory ELDs noting that they can be technology and maintenance enablers when tied in with telematics and diagnostic systems Mike McRoberts Rushs senior vice president and chief operating officer explained that the widespread mandated ELD adoption will be a good thing on the maintenance front since it will give the entire U S truck population a common platform to enable telematics capabilities that can make diagnosing trucks easier Rush and McRoberts both said the national shortage of technicians remains a troubling issue Rush Truck Centers continues to work on new ways to attract and retain new young technicians We could hire 500 technicians right now McRoberts said We could put 50 to work in Ohio alone today So its a problem And were working on finding new ways to invest in our younger technicians with new programs more training and new ways of working including doing more preventive maintenance work But we find that if we can keep them for that first year we tend to keep them for a long time So thats an additional focus as well Jack Roberts Q Phillips is celebrating its 90th anniversary in 2018 Tell us about the companys beginnings ABob It started out in 1928 with my grandfather He started out with a Model A panel truck he used to take parts to the LA produce area He would go around to the trucks while they were parked and sell them headlights signal arms chains ropes fan belts mudflaps and would install them on the trucks while they were parked there QYoure a rare fourth generation family business How do your family values affect the company ARob Every day our employees fight like champions My dad has always been the underdog who loves a battle Weve taken on that same way of thinking We do this company wide we push this theme of doing whatever it takes to get the order QOne of the hot topics today is autonomous trucks Where do you see Phillips Industries in this ABob Were part of it Rob Were actively engaged with several companies working on autonomous vehicles right now For the full interview see www truckinginfo com phillips Rusty Rush speaks to reporters during the dealers 12th Annual Technician Rodeo PHOTO JACK ROBERTS