Rush Truck Centres, Transportation Exchange Podcast

We are talking to Jason Cuddy of the Rush Truck Centres group. Jason is also the host for the Transportation Exchange Podcast.

Why did Rush Truck Centres decide to start a podcast? Jason tells us.

Jason explains what is "On Command Connect." He is discussing Navistar's "360" and what the heck that is.

Join us this week.

Email: jcuddy@rushtruckcentres.ca
Phone: 647-984-2079
Linkledin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cuddy
Instagram: @jcuddyrush
 
Transportation Exchange Podcast: https://www.rushtruckcentres.ca/transportationexchangepodcast
 
Rush Website: www.rushtruckcentres.ca
Rush Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/rush-truck-centres-of-canada
Facebook: www.facebook.com/RushTruckCentresCanada
 
 
DRTA Website: www.drta.ca
DRTA Linkedin Page: https://www.linkedin.com/company/drta-durham-region-transportation-association

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Transcript

0:23

And just before this episode begins a quick word from our sponsor. Hello everybody. We've got our next virtual national recruiting and retention event coming up April 22nd, from 10 till noon, we've put together a phenomenal lineup. Now you're going to hear about inspiring women in transportation. You're going to hear about virtual training and the importance of, and how that can play a role to help your organization. And we're also going to talk about nuclear verdicts and how to get insurance during these, during these times off to get registered, all you need to do is call Kim Systsma-Hill at +1 800-771-8171. She's at extension 205, and you can also email her as well. ksytsmahill@krway.com Hey, welcome to another episode of the dog on a trucking podcast. This week, I've really got to step up my game because I have a host of a podcast coming on the show, Mr. Jason Cuddy from Rush Centre. Jason is the host of the transportation exchange. Jason, welcome to the Dawg On-It Trucking Pawedcast. Hey, thanks for having me on the podcast. It's nice to be part of your group here. Hey, it's awesome to have a, another host on the show, but first I really wanted to talk about a little bit about Jason and a little bit about rush. Jason, how long have you been in the transportation industry? It's well, 2021. So 21 years, I came here out of school as kind of a summer job that became a career. I started the trailer rental world back in 2000, checking in trailers, working my way up through maintenance and, and national rental account left for a bit to do some forklifts realized the industry's too small and too many friends got back in through trailers and into truck leasing and now into trucks, sales and leasing, pretty much everything that we do here at rush. That's pretty cool rush truck centers. I'm not as familiar with the name rushes. I probably should be. Can you give me a little history on that? Yeah, definitely. I mean, in the us a big player and now in Canada, big player. So for those not familiar with the rush name, we were Tolman truck centers before. So I guess almost three years ago, we did a joint venture with rush truck centers out of the us. And, and it's a 50 50 joint venture between the Tom and group and rush truck centers. We've rebranded as rush truck centers in Canada, 14 locations across Southern Ontario, six associates and one collision center and carry a large grouping of trucks and trailers. So international predominantly Suzu Calmar on the power side and how you attract off Kerr, trout river and Fontaine on the trailer side plus ideal leads for rental leasing. So everything from selling the trailer to buying a trailer, buying a truck is only a trailer, all that stuff, basically circle of life, your truck, we'll sell it to you and take it back to you on trade and fix it in between. And you also sell yard trucks or shunt trucks We do, as you can see back there. I've wrong side. Sorry. There we go. Yeah. So we'll, we'll sell those where the Ottawa Calmar dealer for all of Ontario, great product, one of the first ones in the industry and yeah, we, we support a lot of large fleets. Walmart, Amazon it's important, those kinds of right across Canada. So it's, it's a good product that not everyone sees because it's not on the road, but without it, nothing moves from the yard. So highly important for a product for everyone to have. I think I've probably got the most miles on an Ottawa shunt than any other vehicle. I did that for a lot of weekends. I'll tell you as a part-time job. Yep. Yeah. They're, they're a fun little truck. You, you don't realize how hard they are to drive to driving through an unpaved yard. But yeah, the same as you, when I first started, I was ripping around with them moving trailers around in a rental yard too. So spend a lot of hours in those trucks. Yeah. There are a lot of fun. I don't imagine that an Ottawa shunt would have the OnCommand connect system in it, but can you tell me what OnCommand connect is? Yeah, definitely. So OnCommand is a Navistar product that you find available attrition and international trucks. And what it allows you to base provides remote diagnostics and health monitoring alerts for your vehicle. So plugging into your ECM, you can get reports of vehicles when that light comes on in the truck. And the driver called you said, check engine lights on. What do I do traditionally would be pull over. Let's call a tow truck. Let's get you over to the shop. Of course something goes wrong on command, allows you to see what that issue is in a little bit more detail. So is it, is it a true failure where you got to stop right on the side of the road right now and get towed in? Can you limit through the rest of your day book, a service appointment for the end of the day or the something you can touch on the next PM? So it gives the fleet manager or to dispatcher, whoever has access to it, better control of directing a driver to keep them running as long as possible without causing any damage to the vehicle. The beauty of it is although it's a Navistar based program, it works on any OEM. So if you have a mixed fleet or your fleet, probably one or the other outside of Navistar, it's still works. It's it pulls most information out of international just by nature of it, it's our product, but it will still give you great information on all the OEMs. Well, that's pretty cool because keeping trucks moving is, is everybody's goal. And as you say, when the check engine light comes on, what the heck is the problem, but it sounds like OCC gives you a much better idea of what the problem is and whether I can drive the truck still or not. Yeah. And that's the kind of end goal is to give you more control of your fleet. So you can manage it, limit the downtime and kind of control the repairs. So in the same screen, as you look at what the issue is with the vehicle, it'll also give you potential parts required for that repair. So you kind of got a heads up of what you're into and at least it's, you're calling the shop. They can kind of prep ahead of time of what they're going to need to get you up in the road and get you going quicker. Jason three 60. Yes. What is that the same as on connect? No, they are two different platforms that integrate integrate with each other. So three 60 is fairly new through Navistar, so we're solely launching it. And it's basically to these communications module between yourself and international repair shop. So it'll give you service communications. So if you bring your truck in for service every 24 hours, it gives you an update on the status of what's going on. It allow you to see an estimate story on line and approve them ahead of time. So, and you can get information pushed to you by email texts, you know, different versions that have always had the phone call back and forth. It's always been. So it's a great way of giving you line of sight to what's going on with your equipment while it's in the shop without always having to call the shop every couple hours and see what's happening. Well, that sounds a heck of a lot better than the old way. That's for sure. Yeah. I mean, it's, it's, it's new, so we're still getting the tweaks out of it, but the, obviously the intention is with it, with the on command, you then know what's going on with the truck and then you have the truck in the shop and the two talk to each other. So the service knows what's going on. As the truck arrives, you have line of sight to the vehicle the whole time it's in there giving us information of how long it'll take to complete it again, all the maximize your uptime and keep your fleet running and you to manage your fleet as far as how long is the truck going to be out of service, one instant service. What's that going to cost me? And how quick can I get back on the road? Oh, and I mean, of all those things you just mentioned, how quick can I get back on the road? To me is number one, because unfortunately cost is what it's going to be. And I just need to get back on the road and make money again. Yeah. And I think the other cool part of it is because everything's now virtual. Like there's a lot of things we do your PO your profile follows you wherever you go. So traditionally, you know, you have your local garage that you would deal with, or if you're a feet across Canada, each location kind of has their own service person they deal with. And there was trying to figure out, you know, how do we interact with this customer? Your profile is your profile. So whether you break down in Mississauga, you break down in Texas, they have the same view to your profile, the same way to communicate with you. So it becomes a very seamless way of getting service and locate since we don't normally stop in at, Oh, that would be a huge benefit then, because I would imagine all the repairs and everything like that are right in the profile as well. They can see what's been going on. Yes, you've got a full history of obviously what's been done to the vehicle and it follows it by the VIN. So anything has been done, whether it's warranty or just general service, you can see, you can see the history that's been logged against it, as long as it's in the system. And just like the on command, it still supports all the other OEM. So we can do it with other equipment of nachos international base, which was kind of, and you don't necessarily require to telematics the on command part to do it because it's done through the shops. So the two together become very powerful tool, but you can run either one to kind of manage your fleet and provide you the most insight into it. Jason, you just mentioned telematics. Can you tell me more about what the heck that is in your trucks? Yeah. So with ours, with much with the OnCommand, obviously you need to broadcast the information somewhere so you can pull it back down. So traditionally, a lot of fleets already have whether it's Geotab or something else that they're working with for their own interaction with the driver. So the joy of the OnCommand system is it can tap into up to 28 plus telematics. There was providers to push that information to the portal for you to view it. So you don't have to get another telematics provider to run on command and chances are with 28 plus providers, you know, connect with most likely to one you're using. So it again, integrates seamlessly and just adds another level of visibility for you. Oh, that's cool. Because everybody needs, every, everything needs to talk to everything else nowadays. And the better, you know, if International's building that right in or the unconnect system is, has built that in, it just makes it more seamless for everybody. Yeah. And that's, I think a seamless is the best way. I mean, with the OnCommand you're seeing a dominator engine hours, I'll see GPS location, the fault codes, but also gives you predictable parts to use. And it'll give you a map for where you are. So if you're in an area where you're not familiar with and say you have a fleet of a mixed fleet, that's not just all international and you're running a, another OEM. It'll also identify what service locations around in the area. So maybe an international location, maybe another company, or maybe a common location or Alex. So it won't necessarily always point you just to international it'll point you to the closest service location to kind of get you up and running. Well, it would really help me how we all can't be. Even if we're on a dedicated route, we wouldn't always know where the nearest service center is. Correct. Yeah. And I, and I've had that before doing service back in the day when I started it, when you got, you know, nothing breaks down in a convenient location, a convenient time. So it's usually, you know, three o'clock in the morning on a Friday of a long weekend, in a place you've never been to before and then trying to find service. It's challenging. So this, you know, this program obviously allows you to see what's available and around, and then obviously knowing what potentially is wrong with the vehicle also helps kind of get you to right service. So you're not scrambling and you're getting the wrong service provider. If it's a transmission issue, you don't want to get an engine company of all their vice versa. At least you get yourself a fighting chance to kind of check to get the truck up and running as quick as possible. And that's the OnCommand connect system, Correct? Yeah. It's all basically to how the two work on command connect is the telematics side, taking all the information off the truck and pushing it to you. You can see what's up with the vehicle. The three 60 is the service side. As far as when the truck is in the shop, full visibility, what's going on with the truck, start to finish the communication in between from the shop, then you back to the shop. And obviously the two together is a powerful tool for your fleet. And that's cool. Oh, let me ask truck exchange. The podcast Podcasts, the transportation exchange. Yes. Sorry, truck exchange yet. It's right here in front of me. If, if I could only Read The transportation exchange podcast, why did rush truck centers start a podcast? So it was, this started pre COVID. So it was an idea that started a different way to interact with our customers or just people in the industry that we thought would give us a different way of just give me more insight and information outside of just, you know, people like myself, visiting people to talk about the vehicles and the service we provided. So part of it was, I wanted to get to know some of the personalities in the industry like yourself, learn a little bit more about where did they come from? How did they get involved in industry? Cause I don't think when someone's talking to each other and even if we go to all the industry events, we know all the same people, none of us really know how we got into this event. And let's, you know, we came with somebody who was with us. So I wanted to get a background of how people got involved in the industry, kind of their path to where they are today. And then I want to learn a bit more about the company that represents. So we've done everything from lift Gates to engines. We've done, you know, PMTC, we've done healthy trucker. We, you know, we've had yourself, which we'll come on a little bit later and you know, we've, we're starting to talk to larger personality as far as to own companies. You know, we've had a chance to talk to Mark Seymour from Kriska and we're gonna do a couple other ones. So I wanted to have a mix of personalities and the companies they built and kind of their story. And then the companies we all interact with now that it's tires, engines, transmissions, chassis, bodies, and learn a bit more about what they're bringing to the table currently and how the people that we know and who visit us all the time, got into this industry and kind of their background. I think a lot of feedback we get is it's interesting. You know, I've known so-and-so for 10, 15 years. I had no idea they did that back in the day. So it gives a little bit of insight where, you know, it's a 20 minute, 30 minute conversation. We try and keep it short. So you're going, you know, from one location to another, on your way home, you can listen to it. So not a complete deep dive, but enough that you'll get something that you probably didn't know about, whether the company or the person That's cool. And as I say, it's really neat to have another podcast host on. And as I say, it is somewhat intimidating, but you know, I can live with it. So we've talked about the OnCommand connect. We've talked about the three 60 and briefly, we talked about transportation exchange the podcast, which of course we'll have a link to the podcast in the show notes below, what else do we need to discuss today? So the other thing that I am heavily involved with is the Durham region, transportation, vocation. So for those not familiar in the East end in Durham. So East of Toronto, you know, we started this association about seven, eight years ago. Now I think mainly because we didn't see a presence for an association, there is the TTC. TCA does lots of great associations that do phenomenal work for the industry. There wasn't much representation in EAs, but everyone was out here. All the OEMs were out here, a large amount of big fleets or out here, but even smaller fleets and a little bit of a different mix than you get in the GTA. And it's kind of Southwest. So we started it as a way to get all those people together, do something locally. And the intention of the whole association was to do something local and give back locally. So we do all our events within their region and all the money we raise goes back to local charities. We did the ability center for a handful of years. And in the last couple of years, we've been doing a children's breakfast program, as well as the niece house, which is a support center for women who need to get out of bad situations within Durham region. So those are the associations that we support through all our membership. And again, this year, like everyone else has been challenged regards to events, but traditionally we'll do a couple of poker tournaments, which are great, a golf tournament. And then we do a lot of information events. We have an MTO events, we'll have Joe Lynch come and speak to us from the MTO. We've had lots of OEMs come and speak about news safety products or just new new technologies for people to be aware of. So it's a good platform. It's a bit of learning, little bit of social and a lot of giving back, but it's all local for Durham. So that's kind of what that group does. And you said that is the Durham transportation association, Durham region transportation association. So Dr. TA Have the, the link to that in the show notes below as well. And I would urge you to check that out. Sounds like a very, a great charity. And then the transportation industry does a lot of different things for charity. And I'm glad to hear of another one. Yeah. I mean, it's definitely a group that gives back and we're happy to membership is heavily involved in having to do that. And you see that with all the other associations that, you know, we're very thankful to do what we do, especially during these times where we can keep running. And I think everyone's just happy to give back and help those who, who struggle. Yeah. It it's been a fun time this past year or so. Of course I'm referencing, COVID, it's been unique, challenging and different. Yeah. That's a fair statement. I think across the board, whether you're doing sales or associations or anything in between, it's been a wild year. I think hopefully we're towards the end of it, but definitely it's, it's been challenging. It has Jason from a rush truck centers and the podcast host of the transportation exchange. Jason, thanks for coming on the show. Last word. Hey, thanks for having me. I appreciate it. It's fun to be on the other side of Blackboard's the mic for this, you know, and get getting the hang of hosting and doing a lot of podcasts. I don't do a lot of video ones, but this has been fun. The platform you do is great. I love, I love the employee pushed out there and I appreciate you having a thought and letting us tell our story. Hey, thanks. Jason has been my pleasure. Hope you love the show. As much as I did, please leave us a, like a thumbs up a review, a comment, a rating. Thank you so much. And I do really appreciate your time and join us again next week for another exciting, interesting.