Endless Possibilities on the Web

We’ve come a long way, you and me. Together. And we’re about to take another major step forward. We’ve been travelling together because one thing we both do is more or less the same: research.

When you’re looking to spec a truck, investigate some new technology, or just search for ways to do your job better, your moves — if you have time to make them — aren’t much different from mine.

Unless, of course, you’re lucky enough to be working for a big operation with big resources and the clout to have manufacturers and suppliers come to you. If you don’t have the time, and if you’re not part of a big machine, chances are you’ll often rely on the efforts of this magazine.

Researching a story on your behalf used to be a long and arduous task. Especially a technical piece. I’d visit local maintenance shops or dealers to watch an installation or a repair being done, maybe to borrow a manual. It was all very instructive, but very, very time consuming.

I’d usually have to call a few manufacturers to ask them to send me things — manuals again, spec sheets, whatever. When the fax machine arrived on the scene (remember, I’ve been doing this for over a quarter century), some things were simplified, but only to a point because not everything can be faxed.

And what about photographs? Necessarily snail mail or the expense of couriers unless I could snap them myself. Either way, more time, more effort.

But none of that is true any longer. Not even close.

Only one thing remains, namely chats with engineers and fleet supers and a host of others, the people with the knowledge we try to pass on. By and large those conversations can be done over the phone unless it’s a complex topic that demands face time. And increasingly, they can be done by e-mail.

In fact, I do just about everything at the keyboard nowadays. My basic research is accomplished online, and by judicious use of search engines I find all manner of things I just wouldn’t have uncovered in days gone by. Photographs and other illustrations are easily found and gathered over the Internet too, of course. The time required to research a technical story has been chopped dramatically, and the research is better, broader.

So where am I heading with all this? It’s about that ‘major step forward’ that we’re about to take, you and me.

Recognizing that you’re very unlikely to have the time to spend at the keyboard the way I do, that most of you work in smaller companies where you wear a lot of hats and need to know a lot of stuff, we conceived a way to simplify your lives by saving you time and maybe frustration. On this website, you’ll now find the first three of what will be at least eight ‘Decision Centers’ by the time the Truck World show rolls around in April. They’re unique in the trucking world.

Covering specific subject areas — the first three are Brakes; Lubes, Filters and Fuel; and Trucks for Small Fleets and Owner-Operators –they’re broad collections of information from as many sources as we can come up with, filtered by our usual editorial process. Our own archives, manufacturers, associations like TMC, schools like the University of Michigan’s revered Transportation Research Institute, government departments, consultants, you name it. Think of each Decision Center as a library holding basic manuals and FAQs and research studies and all manner of advice from experts.

For you it represents one-stop information shopping. Rather than searching around a dozen or more websites, visiting a dealership, or waiting for the mailman to deliver something you’ve requested, chances are we’ve already found and posted what you’re looking for online. So one quick trip to this site might well do the trick for you. If it doesn’t, let us know and we’ll dig up what you need.

These Decision Centers are not static creatures, I should note. They’ll be expanded as we gather new information, and updated constantly. As we progress down this road we’ll add audio and video clips and who knows what else. The possibilities really are infinite. Other subject areas will include Engines, Drivetrains, Medium-Duty and Vocational Trucks, and Human Resources, among others.

And lest you decide that this foreshadows the end of the magazine you’re holding, relax. They’re complementary efforts doing the same thing: serving your information needs. The means are different, but my job hasn’t changed.