My first impressions of the ’07 engine were that they were very complicated, leading to concerns around the need for increased technician training. After we got them on the road though, my next impression was one of reliability.

The drivers liked them; they were like toys. I heard it mentioned that they were like hot-rods; the sad was, they drove them like hot-rods. So for a while our fuel mileage went in the tank, but they liked them…initially.

Retraining drivers was, and is, a huge task for us now because of fuel mileage. Drivers of old use to like to drive their trucks in the 1800 rpm range – they thought fast range, climb a hill good, all of the above. The torque range is now, torque curves are so high and so broad, that 12, 1300 rpm you can climb a hill very nicely with a truck to where, in the olden days it was 1800 rpm’s – so we’re trying to teach our drivers to keep the rpm’s down because that’s where your fuel mileage is. If they get outside of that curve, it’s in the tank.

We spec’d our trucks at 68 miles an hour a few years ago. We just went back to 65. There was a group of trucks with ’07 engines that we had that we turned the speed back to 65, and in doing that the drivers found that they could drive in 9th gear in 65 and not go into 10th, which was overdrive.

They were running at 1800 rpm’s, fuel mileage was probably 5.8, somewhere in there, so we got to looking at that. We programmed in progressive shifting for just 9th gear, and got them into 10th at about 56 miles an hour. By doing that, we moved our fuel mileage to over 6 miles per gallon, and that just kept them in that low rpm range. We got some complaints about it initially, but they accepted it – doing okay.

The one that’s really hard to quantify now and that I get hit a lot about is towing. You’re always cautious about how much towing that you have to use; well the ‘07s, when they go down, you can’t fix them on the side of the road. It takes the diagnostic computers to hooked up to ‘em; you’ve got to make them re-gen, the sensors go bad and so forth, and so it’s almost always a tow issue if, in fact, the engine is the problem.

That being the case, you have a double tow because you’re towing a rental truck out to that truck so you can keep the freight moving. We have really expanded our expense on towing this year. It’s been hard to quantify – the only way I can really, is to look at our service numbers. We’re still giving service; it’s up where it needs to be, so the freights moving.

We’ve had to go back at re-evaluate the road-service issue because the ’07 engines have made a difference. They can’t be repaired on the road – they have to be towed into a shop location in most cases because of the complexity of the re-gen system, so we instituted a robust 3rd party road rescue program called O-D Road Rescue. It’s provided by a 3rd party, but when our drivers call in they hear O-D Road Rescue, so they feel comfortable that it’s us. And we have a virtual screen with them, so I can see within 10 minutes real-time exactly what’s happening to a piece of equipment that’s broken down on the road somewhere.

Also, we have parameters and guidelines for them so when their people on their end pull up a screen, it tells what needs to be done for Old Dominion in certain situations, contacts and so forth.

With the ’07 engines, we even went as far as putting our engine point-of-contact on the email that comes from our road rescue service; so if one of those trucks goes down, he gets the mail also, so we all know what’s going on with it. And we follow up quite quickly at that point.

By doing that, we have got certain people set up an email process, including the point of contact person for the engine supplier, so we can all be alerted as to what’s happening with that truck at that point in time. Our key is to get the freight moving so we’ll get a rental truck out to him – and the truck into a shop.

When it gets to a shop, that’s a whole different story; we keep critiquing our road rescue system. It is on a virtual screen so we can tell within 10 minutes real-time, exactly what’s happening, who’s made the calls and so forth, so we can call and follow up if need be.

The advice that I would give to a company that hasn’t bought any ’07 engines yet, I would find a company that’s been running them a while and that has been running different platforms – not just one. And then get some good, solid feedback as to what that company’s seen. Also find someone that has an operation similar to yours – because they all operate differently.

And just good education, talking to experienced fleets that have been running them and seeing what their problems have been – compare it to your environment and see how it would work. Also, form a good alliance with somebody that does have some experience so that when things happen, you can call on them.