President Obama signed a presidential memorandum directing the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to jointly issue the nation’s first fuel economy and greenhouse gas emissions standards on new medium- and heavy-duty trucks, beginning with model year 2014.

The president directed that the EPA and NHTSA try to issue a final rule by July 30, 2011. The announcement came at a White House signing ceremony on Friday, May 21, that involved the senior executives of the major truck and engine manufacturers and other leaders, including American Trucking Associations’ Chairman Tommy Hodges.

In the memorandum, Obama directed the EPA and NTSA to consider strategies designed to increase use of existing technologies to reduce emissions and fossil fuel consumption. “These strategies should consider whether particular segments of the diverse heavy-duty vehicle sector present special opportunities to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and increase fuel economy,” the memorandum stated. “For example, preliminary estimates indicate that large tractor-trailers, representing half of all greenhouse gas emissions from this sector, can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by as much as 20 percent and increase their fuel efficiency by as much as 25 percent with the use of existing technologies.”

The standards should take into account “the market structure of the trucking industry and the unique demands of heavy-duty vehicle applications,” the memorandum continued. They also should seek harmonization with applicable state standards, consider the findings and recommendations in the National Academy of Science report “and enhance job creation in the United States,” it adds.

In 2007, Congress directed the DOT to issue fuel economy standards on medium- and heavy-duty trucks following a National Academy of Sciences study. The National Research Council, the parent organization of NAS, issued that report on March 31. Under the 2007 law, the standards were to come by the middle of this decade, which the presidential memorandum would accomplish.

Obama directed the EPA and NHTSA to “seek input from all stakeholders, while recognizing the continued leadership role of California and other States.”

The announcement comes exactly one year after the Obama administration announced an agreement to increase fuel efficiency for cars and light trucks. In his comments, Obama said that medium- and heavy-duty vehicles account for about one-fifth of all greenhouse gas emissions.

As with the automobile standards announced earlier, the Obama administration has expanded the scope of the regulations to include not only fuel efficiency but greenhouse gas emissions, which is why the EPA and NHTSA issued the new car and light-truck standards jointly earlier this year. While fuel use and greenhouse gas emissions are linked closely, there are automotive functions – such as gases used in air conditioning – that affect greenhouse gases without necessarily affecting fuel economy.

Net orders for heavy-duty Class 8 commercial vehicles increased 91 percent in April 2010 compared to the same month last year, according to ACT Research Co., which also reported that net orders for heavy-duty vehicles continue to strengthen month-to-month. New orders were spread over the next three quarters, suggesting that companies are beginning to place orders for new U.S. Environmental Protection Agency 2010 emissions-compliant equipment.

“From top to bottom, April was a healthy month for the Class 8 segment, at least in relative terms,” says Kenny Vieth, partner and senior analyst with ACT. “Orders were above expectations, backlogs rose and retail sales remained elevated. If orders surprise on the high side again in May, it could have upside implications for our forecasts for the remainder of 2010 and 2011.”

April net orders of medium-duty Class 5-7 equipment grew by 39 percent from April 2009, but with continued weakness in the residential housing market and tightening state budgets, the medium-duty sector has not shown the same level of rebound as the heavy-duty sector.

The national average retail price of a gallon of diesel declined for the second consecutive week, this time falling 7.3 cents to $3.021 for the week ending Monday, May 24. The price has fallen 10.6 cents in the past two weeks after six consecutive weeks of rising prices. Still, this week’s price is 74.7 cents higher than the same week last year, according to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).

All regions tracked by the DOE saw price decreases. The biggest decrease, 8.2 cents, was found in the Midwest, where prices fell to $2.985. The smallest decrease, 4.4 cents, was found in New England, where prices fell to $3.098.

The nation’s most expensive diesel by region, $3.165, was found in the Central Atlantic, where prices fell 6.7 cents. The nation’s least expensive diesel by region, $2.977, was found on the Gulf Coast, where prices fell 6.5 cents.

California, which the DOE tracks separately for its weekly update, saw a price decrease of 7.6 cents to $3.162; still, that price is 75.5 cents higher than the same week last year.

The DOE’s latest monthly short-term energy outlook projects that diesel will average $3.05 this year and $3.20 in 2011; last year, diesel averaged $2.46 a gallon.

Bendix Commercial Vehicle Systems says its Bendix Webshop, www.bendix.biz, a password-protected Web site for Bendix aftermarket distribution channel partners, now offers the option to view the site in either Spanish or French, in addition to the current English language format.

“We value our customers, and we continuously strive to offer them additional opportunities that will enhance their experiences with Bendix,” says Robert Johnson, vice president of aftermarket sales and marketing at Bendix. “Providing easy access to the full range of Bendix services and information is essential. Based on the needs and feedback we received from our aftermarket customers, we decided to expand our e-commerce-driven Web site to benefit our French- and Spanish-speaking partners. These enhancements allow us to reach a larger portion of our aftermarket customer base, as well as to help set the stage for continued future developments such as expanding Bendix.biz to our Mexican aftermarket customers.”

The Bendix Webshop is a secure Web site providing online ordering, the ability to check core reports, file warranty claims and view warranty claim status. The site also features a full Bendix product search engine, giving contracted aftermarket users the ability to order online and check the price for a product, along with its availability. Bendix recently relaunched the Webshop with a sleeker graphic look and feel and a number of enhanced features to improve efficiency, better tracking of orders, navigation and ease of use. Since integrating these features into the site in August 2009, Bendix says it has seen customer usage double.

The upgrades enable customers to search a full catalog of Bendix products from every page of the Web site, allowing them to search and receive vital product information with just one click, saving valuable time. The added online order functionality of uploading a text file directly into the www.bendix.biz system – rather than the previous manual method of entering each line item – allows for a more streamlined process for Bendix customers. Other improvements include a more robust online order status system, providing customers the capability of viewing the status of every order, including those entered offline.

Customers also can view each line item of the order to determine its specific status, improving their efficiencies. Core reports – both current and historical – now can be viewed in multiple ways to allow customers immediate access to information. With an eye toward continuous improvement and service expansion, Bendix plans to complete another round of Webshop upgrades before the end of the year. The next set of scheduled enhancements will look to streamline the functionalities of the “shopping cart” page during the purchasing process.

Cummins Inc. announced this week the opening of the joint headquarters of the Cummins Middle East Regional Distribution Organization (RDO) and Cummins Middle East FZE, the wholly owned distribution entity of Cummins Inc. in the Middle East, joint headquarters in the Jebel Ali Free Zone (Jafza).

The state-of-the- art 6,000-square-meter Leeds Silver-qualified complex opened May 20 and includes office, warehouse and training facilities equipped to host 160 employees. The building currently accommodates more than 120 employees from the Middle East RDO and Cummins Middle East FZE organizations, as well as representatives of other Cummins business units, including Power Generation, Filtration and Business Services. The complex also houses a 3,000-square-meter warehouse and a service training facility for classroom and hands-on training for distributor, dealer and customer technicians.

The inauguration ceremony was attended by employees, customers and senior Cummins executives from around the world, Cummins dealers and independent distributors from the Middle East Region, vendors and U.S. and UAE government officials, as well as senior officials from Jebel Ali Free Zone Authority, the American Business Council and Economic Zones World.

“By 2014, Cummins worldwide expects to generate revenue of over $20 billion, and we are counting on the Middle East to contribute meaningfully to this growth,” says Pamela Carter, president of Cummins Distribution Business. “We intend to work in partnership with our customers, distributors and all stakeholders to continue to grow and tap markets around the region. Our core values demand that we give back to the communities that we live and work in. Our training facility will benefit current and future employees from this community. We want to help them to grow their skills and make sure that they have the technical and management capability for the long run.”

Cummins broke ground on the project in November 2008, and since then, “there has never been a dull moment,” says Dennis Heathfield, managing director of Cummins Middle East Distribution. Heathfield says that in the next few months Cummins will start work on building an engine rebuild and testing centre adjacent to the current facility.

Cummins has had distribution representation in the Middle East since 1956. The Middle East RDO covers 16 countries, served by the company-owned distributor, Cummins Middle East FZE; four full-line independent distributors in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Egypt and Pakistan; and two Power Generation distributor/dealers in Iraq and Jordan.

“We have a very rich history in the Middle East, and we certainly see a bright future, in which we hope to grow with our partners and our stakeholders,” says Amy Adams, executive managing director for Europe, Middle East and Africa Distribution. “At its very core, Cummins is about people who are dedicated to supporting our partners, distributors, the community and our employees. This building is a visible sign of our commitment.”

Kenworth Sales Co. has opened a parts and service facility in Heyburn, Idaho. A member of the Kenworth dealer network of more than 300 locations in the United States and Canada, Kenworth Sales–Heyburn is a 13,800-square-foot facility on 2-¾ acres located about a mile southwest from Exit 211 on Interstate 84.

The dealership’s 9,000-square-foot service department has eight bays and offers Kenworth PremierCare ExpressLube and Air Conditioning service. The parts department has more than 2,300 square feet of parts storage. The service department has two Paccar MX engine-certified technicians and two Cummins-certified heavy-duty engine technicians on staff.

“Since the nearest dealership is 50 miles away, Kenworth Sales–Heyburn gives local companies and owner-operators a much more convenient way to get expert service and parts for their trucks,” says Les Anderson, branch manager. “This is very important in this challenging economy. We’re especially offering expertise and service to other agribusiness companies and haulers in this area.” Before recently becoming a Kenworth dealership, the facility was operated for 10 years as a dedicated service facility for the J.R. Simplot Co.

Kenworth Sales–Heyburn offers full-time parts delivery service five days a week and a remote full-service truck to provide 24-hour roadside assistance, according to Anderson. In addition to its Heyburn location, Kenworth Sales Co. also operates 19 dealerships in Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.

Kenworth Sales–Heyburn is located at 1381 O St. The facility is open from 6 a.m. to 12:30 a.m. Monday through Saturday and 6 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Sunday. The phone number is 208-678-3039. Key personnel include Anderson and Tom Thomas, service manager.

Webb Transit’s W43 friction for the heavy-duty transit and coach markets was developed to provide both exceptional performance and value with high durability, low brake drum wear and quiet operation. The asbestos-free formulation – a blend of multiple cross-linked fibers coupled with a high-temperature-capability resin – is designed to restore OE performance when used with Webb Transit brake drums and OE or OE-equivalent replacement air and foundation brake system parts.

The FMVSS121-certified friction, a result of extensive dynamometer and transit bus testing, is available as axle sets, on new lined brake shoes and in Webb Transit’s Super Kits, complete axle kits consisting of two Webb brake drums, four new lined brake shoes and two hardware kits. Super Kits are designed to eliminate additional machining, increase safety and stopping power, reduce or eliminate brake noise, provide excellent durability, eliminate procurement of individual foundation brake parts and eliminate brake shoe processing.

Federal-Mogul Corp. has launched its next-generation electronic catalog at www.fme-cat.com. Available 24/7, the interactive new eCatalog features a user-friendly interface, expanded functionality and the latest data and enhanced content covering the company’s complete aftermarket product offering. Users now can look up and store multiple part numbers for the same job without re-entering search criteria. The catalog’s comprehensive interchange and numerical lookup tools help users identify the correct part even when they don’t have complete application information.

The new catalog’s enhanced content includes thousands of detailed product images and illustrations with zoom capability, as well as links to related technical training videos and other support materials generated at the Federal-Mogul Technical Education Center. An integrated “Technical Resources” link provides hundreds of tech tips, bulletins and videos as well as lookup tools covering torque, engine and part number specifications. The site also includes interactive calculators for determining capacities and dimensions, engine displacement, horsepower, torque and compression ratio.

“It’s our goal to provide the most complete and timely product data in the aftermarket,” says Brent Berman, Federal-Mogul product data services manager. “This powerful yet user-friendly eCatalog enables any customer with Web connectivity to quickly and easily find the right part for virtually any common repair. And our FM TEC staff has developed video- and print-based training resources to help them do the job right the first time.”

For those who prefer a “paper” catalog experience, the new eCat site also includes virtual catalog volumes that enable the user to flip back and forth through the latest catalog pages to find the right parts and other information for virtually any repair.

Federal-Mogul brands and product lines covered by the new eCatalog include Anco wipers, Carter fuel delivery products, Champion spark plugs and performance chemicals, Fel-Pro gaskets, FP Diesel engine products, MOOG steering and suspension components, Sealed Power engine parts, Speed-Pro performance engine components, Wagner brake products, Wagner lighting products and National hub assemblies, seals and bearings.

Snap-on’s electronic torque wrenches are designed to help take the guesswork out of how much torque to use. The tools have an audible alarm that alerts the user to an over-torque condition, a gyro chip that measures 360 degrees of angular rotation, an enhanced strain gauge design that translates beam movement to torque value, and durable construction for use in harsh environments.

Mahle Clevite Inc. received the President’s Award for Catalog Excellence, Gold level award in the “Paper Catalog” category for its Victor Reinz Master Gasket Catalog – 1990 & Newer. The award was presented at the 2010 National Catalog Managers Association conference recently held in San Antonio.

The new catalog features a vast Victor Reinz gasket coverage of more than 5,500 total parts for 1990 and newer vehicles, nearly one million combined gasket applications for late model vehicles, and new part numbers covering more than 50 million vehicle registrations.

“This is the second consecutive year we received the Gold award in the Paper Catalog category – last year for our piston catalog and this year for our gasket catalog – and we are honored to receive recognition yet again from the NCMA,” says Todd Campau, data management team coordinator II for Mahle Clevite Inc. “We continue to strive to produce quality resources for our customers that enhance the user-experience, and it’s always a compliment when professionals in the industry recognize us for our efforts.”

Past NCMA awards include Gold President’s Awards for Catalog Excellence in 2006-2007 and 2007-2008 for its CD Catalog. Additionally, the company previously has received the President’s Award for Electronic Data Excellence.