I had the pleasure of visiting Mascot Truck Parts in Mississauga, ON, this week. Mascot is an ArvinMeritor company. The purpose of the visit was for ArvinMeritor and Mascot to showcase a new, 100,000 sq. ft. production facility.

While admittedly, the remanufacturing process of transmissions, drivelines and the such is not my forte, one thing I do understand is service. Throughout the tour given to members of the assembled media and Mascot customers, a common theme kept running through my head – customer service – probably because the topic of the customer came up over and over again.

Most truck owners and fleet managers probably do not even know who Mascot is, as the company sells only to wholesalers and OEMs. But, if you’ve ever bought a remanufactured part, there’s a good chance that your truck includes a Mascot product.

From a sales call center to the thorough testing and certification process – Mascot is an ISO certified company – the company focuses on providing quality parts in a quick and efficient manner. That’s who they are.

“We’re a private-label type of business,” Mascot president Glenn Hanthorn told me. “That’s why many people don’t know who we are, and that’s fine because we’re comfortable with that.”

Well, let me tell you who Mascot is.

Mascot was founded in 1936 as an automotive parts specialist. In the 1960s, the company evolved into an aftermarket player in the heavy-duty truck business. In the late 1990s, the company became involved in all-makes remanufacturing, something that parent ArvinMeritor has been very pleased with.

“The key to this, from an ArvinMeritor side, is we don’t sell to the end customer, and they fit right into that scenario,” Terry Livingston, ArvinMeritor Commercial Vehicle Aftermarket gm-North America, told me. “They’re the middle guy, so that’s worked well for us.”

Mascot now produces remanufactured drivelines, differentials, transmissions and steering components with several manufacturing facilities throughout Canada. Walking through the facility, it was easy to see why Mascot’s products are so popular. A clean and well thought-out plant complements the experienced staff – all 153 of them – Mascot has in place.

And if you need to order a part from dealer, and it’s a Mascot remanufactured part, you’ll likely have it no later than the next morning. That translates to a quicker fix, putting your truck back on the road quickly.

Now that’s service no matter how you look at it.

Roadside Medical Clinic + Lab, which has facilities located alongside Pilot Travel Centers across the country, is teaming up with Sleep Point LLC to offer nationwide screening for obstructive sleep apnea for over-the-road drivers.

Obstructive sleep apnea is caused by a blockage of the airway, usually when the soft tissue in the rear of the throat collapses and closes during sleep, according to the American Sleep Apnea Association. The end result is, of course, disrupted sleep. The Federal Motor Carrier’s Safety Administration sponsored a study with the American Trucking Assn. that found nearly 1.1 million drivers are affected by sleep apnea.

As anyone who has ever gone without a full night’s sleep, you know you’re not as alert and your reactions aren’t as sharp the next day. Can we afford to have truck drivers hauling 80,000 lbs. of a vehicle drifting off to sleep? Of course not.

Roadside Medical says this venture is the first that brings services for sleep apnea to the instead of routing the driver to an out-of-the-way treatment facility.

“This joint venture with Roadside Medical provides us with the opportunity to reach more professional drivers suffering from obstructed sleep apnea, therefore reducing the number of fatigue-related accidents,” said Duke Naipohn, president & CEO, Sleep Pointe. “With our comprehensive treatment approach and compliance program we will be able to help companies keep their drivers on the road not only saving them costs, but saving lives.”

Sleep Point provides sleep disorder screening and treatment services, and combined with Roadside Medical clinics and Pilot, with over 300 locations in 41 states, is trying to prevent a sleep-related disaster.

To that, I say, bravo.

Fleets interested in opening the door to participation for their drivers can call Miranda Hutton at 316-683-2323.

So, President Barack Obama and Mexican President Felipe Calderón met late last week to discuss a number of items of concern to both countries: drug trafficking, border control, and trucking.

While the majority of their time together was spent on other issues, the topic of NAFTA and free trade, and the subsequent cross-border trucking dispute came up late in a Thursday press conference. When the U.S. Congress killed the funding for the program recently, Obama’s aides said they would like to have a plan in place for the president to present to Calderón when they met.

While there are no indications a formal proposal was made, both presidents agreed on the importance of free trade between the countries. Calderón mentioned the importance of the U.S. economy to his own country’s struggles and how trade between the two can help or hinder economic conditions.

“We must protect trade,” he said. “And the best way of doing so is to allow it to flow naturally, with no restrictions. So going beyond the autonomous decisions that every country can take, and the legitimate exercise of the rights that are part of the pacts and agreements that we have in order to protect free trade, I agree with President Obama, we have to go further. We have to go beyond in order to improve trade between both our countries. And we do not want to restrict it.”

Obama reiterated his desire to work out an equitable solution.

“My team is working with President Calderón’s team to resolve this issue. I’m hopeful that we can resolve it in an effective way,” Obama said. “It’s not helpful to a number of U.S. producers who are interested in selling into Mexico and are fearful that they may be subject to countervailing tariffs or retaliation. So we’re going to see if we can get this fixed. But I can tell you that President Calderón and I are entirely on the same page in believing that we can create greater opportunities for trade and strengthen our commercial relationships between our two countries.”

When the cross-border problem is resolved is anyone’s guess, but at least the two presidents seem eager to find a solution. That’s a start.

Brand loyalty is important. That’s why dealers and OEMs do everything they can to retain their customers. The same holds true for the dealer-OEM relationship. The OEM wants a dealer to remain loyal, believing in their product. That’s what S. Hatch Barrett is.

Barrett just celebrated 50 years of association with Kenworth. One of the founders of Trebar Kenworth Sales, with three locations in Idaho, Barrett and Kenworth celebrated in Boise with a trade fair and seminar, focused on the hybrid of the future and 2010 engines, for who else – Barrett’s customers.

“Without a customer being satisfied with our service and our product – Kenworth trucks – we can’t have success and we can’t have longevity,” said Barrett, who has served as dealer principal of Trebar Kenworth Sales for the past 42 years. “I take extreme pride in how we deal with customers, and the products we offer them. They, in turn, become loyal to our organization. We both prosper.”

There was a surprise dinner held in Barrett’s honor, emceed by former Idaho governor Cecil Andrus. “I was taken aback,” said Barrett. “So many friends, customers and colleagues took time to attend the dinner. It was a complete surprise.”

The next day was the trade fair with Kenworth hybrids, 2010 engines as well as other Kenworth technology on proud display. Trebar, which employs 180, has been putting on these trade fairs since the early 1980s.

Barrett, for his part, remains loyal, refusing to go quietly into the night. “I’ll continue on with Trebar in a consulting role – I’m not retiring quite yet,” said Barrett. “I only wish I could do this another 50 years. It’s been a lot of fun and I’ve met and worked with wonderful people.”

S. Hatch Barrett, still loyal after all these years.

Trucks and cars don’t mix. It’s an argument that safety advocates on both sides have fought for years. Each side is capable of pulling out facts that support their arguments. Trucks are deadly. Heavier trucks are even more so. Drivers of automobiles aren’t properly trained to drive safely around trucks. They don’t understand blind spots, stopping distances, etc.

The list goes on and on. I’m not intending this entry to become an indictment of either side. Instead, it’s to focus on a study that four states are conducting to separate trucks and cars.

Illinois, Ohio, Indiana and Missouri have signed an agreement to use $5 million in federal funds to study the prospect of a commercial truck only route along 800 miles of Interstate 70, according to the Associated Press.

It’s an idea I wholly support. Some trucking opponents of the plan say they’re afraid the states may fund the project through tolls, which in turn would raise freight rates as those toll fees are eventually passed along to consumers.

The concept is not new. I drive to work each day on a highway that stretches from central Connecticut to the New York border and bans trucks. It’s a nice, easy drive with good visibility, and most importantly, I don’t have to worry about a trucker slamming on his brakes because some idiotic driver in a fancy sports car (stereotyping, I know) is weaving in and out of traffic recklessly.

With that said, the idea of reversing that concept and creating truck-only lanes seems like a good idea at this time. The advantages are easy to see: safer highways, not just from the elimination of a potential conflict with that idiot driver, but also from truckers themselves who are not worried about what other drivers are doing, instead secure in the knowledge that their road companions are professionals in their field; and quicker delivery times because of less traffic congestion.

Whether the idea turns out to be reality in this country, I think the time has come to realistically, and objectively, study truck-only lanes.

My son James is not quite 2, but has fallen in love with trucks. Pickup trucks, tractor-trailers, fire engines. You name, it’s a truck. Driving down the road with him in his car seat has become quite the adventure as he continually calls out, “truck, daddy, truck!”

Books are another favorite of his right now, particularly, you guessed it, books about trucks. So it was with great interest that I was given a review copy of a new book, “Brutus, the Big Red Truck,” written by Kyle Rose and illustrated by Allan Rea.

Rose and Rea are employees at Navistar’s International Truck assembly plant in Springfield, OH. The book is a simply story about Brutus, a shiny red truck and the different trucks Brutus encounters on his daily journey. At first, Brutus sees the trucks as different and envious of him, but after an accident leaves Brutus in the ditch, he realizes the important roles the different trucks play.

“The feedback has been great,” said Rose. “The kids really seem to get the message, and it’s rewarding to know our little book is helping to encourage respect for one another at such an important time in life.”

Using the book as a basis, Navistar has begun outreach programs at local elementary schools, distributing copies of the book and facilitating discussions with children about the real-life applications in the book’s lessons.

The book can be purchased for $4 at http://internationaltruck.com/shop or you can read an online copy here.

I know one child who will want to read it over, and over, and over again.

Undoubtedly by now, you have seen or heard of the FBI’s linking of hundreds of killings throughout the country to truckers. Or, so the media is reporting.

An in-depth story by the Los Angeles Times on Saturday used FBI investigators who believe that as many as 500 females across the country have been victimized by serial killers in the past 30 years. Many of these killings had never been linked together because law enforcement agencies do not share well. Most police departments have barely enough resources to solve crimes locally, let alone looking for patterns in outside jurisdictions.

That’s where the FBI comes in. The bureau pulls together all the information from local departments and using computers, looks for trends, similarities, etc., in the killings. In the past five years, that’s exactly what the FBI has been doing with hundreds of killings along interstates, near truck stops, motels and other areas that are popular routes for truckers.

I don’t doubt the FBI’s research, and they may very well be right in the numbers. However, the media, always looking for a “must-read” story, has sensationalized the reporting and based on the media reports, you’re left with the impression that the majority of truckers across this country are either serial killers or killers-in-waiting.

That’s simply not true and unfair to the millions of hard-working, law-abiding truckers in the U.S.

From 1977 through 2007, there were 609,106 murders in the U.S., according to The Disaster Center. The FBI has linked 500 or so. Even if the FBI numbers are off, as some investigators claim in the Los Angeles Times’ story, that is still a very small percentage of all the killings during that time period. So small, in fact, that the number is not even close to 1 percent. In fact, if we assume the 500 number is half of what it should be, and assume that the FBI is right and all of those killings (which are not likely) were committed by truckers, that equates to only .0016 percent of the killings in the past 30 years. That’s 16 ten-thousands of a percent. Not exactly a crime wave.

But, if the media reported that number, there would be no outcry and no increased newspaper sales. Why let the facts get in the way?

While we tackle one border problem to our south, we can’t forget about another potential problem down the road. That’s right, Canada.

The Canadian Trucking Alliance (CTA) is pushing for the creation of a cabinet committee to deal with U.S.-Canadian border issues. One such issue, according to CTA boss David Bradley, is the amount of time it takes for trucks to cross the border. In an article on Today’sTrucking.com, Bradley says the current economic crisis is just masking a “thickening” of the board.

“Even though carriers aren’t experiencing the extended border delays that frequently plagued cross-border shipments over the past several years, this should not be taken as evidence that all is well at the border, but simply that the level of cross-border truck traffic has fallen off sharply, reflecting the current economic recession,” he said. Bradley went on to argue that if things at the border were in fact good, then crossing times should be quicker with fewer trucks, but that’s not the case.

Bradley even suggested a border czar to coordinate the different departments and streamline border procedures while also pointing out that as Canada adds technology “such as an electronic truck manifest that we harmonize, to the extent possible, with the U.S, and that we don’t impose new requirements that will complicate, rather than simplify, the border crossing process.”

It turns out, Bradley is a man who gets it.

Dianne Smith of Massillon, OH, was the random winner of a new Kenworth W900 during the Great American Insurance Group’s 2009 Big Rig Giveaway. One of 10,000 drivers registered in the contest, “Granny”, as she is called, learned she had won when she was reached by phone after her name was drawn at the Mid-America Trucking Show.

Her reaction: “Are you joking?”

No joke. And it’s no joke as to what “Granny” will do with her current rig, a Freightliner she drives with her husband of 17 years, Ron. The two have been driving for more than 30 years and have six daughters and 17 grandchildren, including two with special needs.

“Granny” and her hubby, nicknamed “Snuffy,” perform together as a musical and comedy team, participating on the road as Special Olympic Ambassadors for the state of Ohio. It’s part of their goal in life to pay it forward.

So, what will “Granny and Snuffy” do with their current truck, which they just paid off? The couple will give – that’s right, give – it to another owner-operator couple who have been struggling to make ends meet.

Thanks “Granny,” and happy driving.