Truck Parts and Service | Heavy Duty Trucking, Aftermarket, Service Info
Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/946299
6 Industry Focus T R U C K P A R T S & S E R V I C E | F e b r u a r y 2 0 1 8 Truck Center Companies' Technician Brian Stevens was named the Freightliner/Western Star/ASE Master Technician of the Year. Four Star Freightliner has donated a Cummins 8.3-liter en- gine to the Ingram State Technical College diesel technician program. The company also honored Kenneth Woodruff as its top technician for 2017. Penske Truck Leasing has opened a new facility in Bedford Park, Ill. TAG Truck Centers and the Lonestar Truck Group have merged to form TNTX. The companies say TNTX will adopt a new name in the future. In the interim, the companies will operate as TAG Truck Center, a division of TNTX and Lon- estar Truck Group, a division of TNTX. TAG Truck Centers also has cut the ribbon on a new 190,000-sq.-ft. Freightliner dealership in Memphis, Tenn. Tampa Truck Center and Fort Myers Freightliner, both wholly owned by Tampa Truck Center LLC, have changed their names to Southport Truck Group. M&K Truck Centers acquired two Wabash Trailer Centers in Scranton, Pa., and Pittsburgh areas. Allstate Peterbilt has opened a new facility in Rochester, Minn., and has converted its Winona, Minn., diesel location into Allstate Peterbilt of Winona. Dealer News The American Truck Dealers (ATD) has announced the fi nalists for its 2018 Truck Dealer of the Year award are: Joseph Alosa, Sr., president and CEO of New England Kenworth in Concord, N.H.; John Arscott, CEO of The Pete Store in Baltimore; Mark Bergey, president of Bergey's Truck Centers in Souderton, Pa.; Richard Reynolds, president of Peach State Truck Center in Norcross, Ga.; Jon Vandehey, president and CEO of Mid-State Truck Service in Marshfi eld, Wis.; Lee White, II, president of Old River Companies in South Richland, Miss.; and Craig Young, president of Young Truck Sales in Canton, Ohio. Justin Euler was named the winner at the 12 th annual Rush Tech Rodeo in December. Euler works at the company's St. Peters, Mo., location. Pancero to keynote Distributor Training Expo Jim Pancero has been named keynote speaker for the upcoming Distributor Training Expo (DTE), co-orga- nizers GenNext and the Commercial Vehicle Solutions Network (CVSN) announced in December. A thought leader and sales expert in many indus- tries, including distribution, Pancero recently spoke at aftermarket briefi ngs during Heavy Duty Aftermarket Week (HDAW). He is scheduled to speak at the open- ing general session of this year's DTE, as well as two breakout sessions during the event — one for counter professionals and one for supervisors, managers and business leaders. The third-annual DTE will be held April 20-22, 2018, in Atlanta. Mitchell International using blockchain to aid collision industry Mitchell International will soon release a secure solution for shar- ing data among users within the collision repair and insurance claims industry. Mitchell's new solution will promote and foster the fl ow of collision data among trusted industry partners, using blockchain technology to provide a highly secure, distributed and advanced encrypted-data exchange between stakeholders, the company says. "Data security has never been more important than it is to- day, and given the large number of existing systems and partner dependencies, limited efforts have been made to address the risks associated with estimating information saved in [multiple] formats and stored in thousands of decentralized locations," says Olivier Baudoux, vice president of global product strategy at Mitchell.