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Those Who Know
Engineers tap truckers' expertise to improve design.
By Paul Abelson
Truckers again featured prominently in the most recent meeting of the Society of Automotive Engineers' Truck and Bus Group, as the people who build trucks turn to those who drive them for advice. Truckers were featured panelists, telling vehicle and component engineers about real-world applications and problems.
At last year's Truck and Bus meeting, the Federal Highway Administration's Debbie Freund asked three owner/ operators to participate with a group of cab engineers in a discussion about fatigue and safety (Road King, Jan/Feb 1999). The session was so popular that Freund, now with the Office of Motor Carrier Safety (soon to be Motor Carrier Safety Administration), asked me to moderate a panel discussion on loading, unloading and cargo handling equipment. Panelists came from as diverse a group as possible:
- Domino's Pizza Transportation's Colin Andukatas had 700,000 safe miles on the road delivering to stores before he became a transport manager.
- Ruth Jones, a former full-time driver, now team drives with her husband, Dee, when she's not writing for OOIDA's Land Line magazine. A driver since 1979, her background is general commodities with All Freight.
- Rick Marks delivers cabinetry for Merrillat Industries, taking pieces from the Adrian, Mich. factory to job sites, on-and off-road, across the country.
- Mike and Gail Swiger, an owner/operator team leased to Roberts Express, pull a wide variety of loads, in both their own van trailer and others' flatbeds.
At the cargo handling panel, each driver was asked to describe any special equipment and how it can help or hinder the job. Marks used lift gates as examples. "While they're fine in good weather, they can indirectly damage product left on them in the rain. It's fine to load a lift gate, but you still have to move the product by hand truck. Rain soaks through the corrugated [cardboard]. It's better to use a ramp, a hand truck and a plastic cover sheet, and keep everything else dry inside the trailer," he said.
Andukatas discussed slippery conditions on reefer floors, and suggested traction materials be used. Other suggestions from the panelists were for helper motors and brakes on hand trucks, larger wheels, wider wheelbases and straps on all two-wheel carts, skid plates that extend to become dock boards, and retractable awnings to provide weather protection, especially when loading from side doors.
The Swigers are active in ATA's Maintenance Council (Gail is a task force chairperson) and also participated in a seating panel where they discussed the need to make seats fit a wide variety of people (Mike weighs twice as much as Gail).
At the seating panel, Mike said drivers start positioning the seat from the pedals, not the steering wheel. That's why it is difficult to adjust many seats properly. He also said truck seats shouldn't be designed around the same seat-back angle as cars. Bulkheads block seat recline when they're pushed back, and drivers prefer to sit upright for better control and visibility.
Lumbar position, one engineer remarked, can vary as much as six inches when drivers are more erect. Citing examples of other challenges, such as swivel seats that won't swivel because the gearshift is in the way, and the lack of instructions on how to properly adjust seats, Gail summed up the criteria for selecting seats as, "How much discomfort am I willing to tolerate?"
Perhaps as important as what these experienced drivers said was the fact they were asked to be there, and the engineers listened to them. Freund deserves credit for organizing these sessions, where drivers are featured and the topics are practical.
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