CCJ Innovators profiles carriers and fleets that have found innovative ways to overcome trucking’s challenges. If you know a carrier that has displayed innovation, contact CCJ Editor Jason Cannon at jasoncannon@randallreilly.com or 800-633-5953.
Shortly after the turn of the new millennium, maintenance technicians were staring down a new challenge: an exhaust aftertreatment system that only after a few years would be a ubiquitous piece of equipment.
By 2006, Mike Hasinec, vice president of maintenance for Penske Truck Leasing, had begun working with vendors on diesel particulate filter (DPF) parts procurement, foreseeing that anything designed to trap matter would need to be cleaned or replaced eventually.
“The DPF is simply a filter,” Hasinec said. “Sometimes in this industry we overcomplicate things and overthink them, but at the end of the day, that’s all that DPF does is collect something just like an oil filter or a fuel filter, and it needs to be cleaned periodically or changed.”
Downtime is frustrating enough on its own, and adding wait time for a given part just heaps insult on top of injury.
“One of the things we learned is the key to success is having product on the shelf,” Hasinec said. Yet fleet maintenance personnel also have to consider the cost of carrying inventory, and DPFs are expensive.
