International Trucks - Driver First

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International Trucks Press Release  /  June 12, 2016

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International’s design philosophy is ‘drivers first’

Truck West  /  June 13, 2016

International Truck has announced DriverFirst, a company-wide initiative aimed at giving its customers an edge in attracting and retaining qualified drivers by engineering trucks with a focus on the driver’s perspective.

During a conference call June 13, Denny Mooney, senior vice-president of International, said one of the biggest problems facing the industry is attracting and retaining drivers, and that in his recent talks with trucking companies, the concern over an impeding driver shortage continues to come up.

“Given the industry’s chronic driver shortage, it’s also about having enough drivers to operate those trucks,” said Mooney. “And for us, that means building trucks that will help our customers attract and retain drivers, by reflecting the driver’s point of view in the way they are designed and the technologies and features they offer. Simply put, we want to build trucks that drivers want to drive.”

Mooney said International would be refreshing its truck design in the next couple of years, and the company is getting input directly from drivers to determine how best to engineer those trucks.

“Engineering opinions are not always the best opinion when it comes to drivers,” he said.

Mooney added that International expects more women and younger drivers to enter the industry in the coming years, which is taken into consideration during the design process.

He said International has brought drivers in to sit in clay models of prospective new trucks in an effort to get input on where controls should be located and what does and doesn’t work for them. The clay models have even been transported directly to customers so that several drivers can get the opportunity to provide input on the model.

“The key takeaway from our research is that drivers want trucks that are designed to do the job,” Mooney said. “Drivers aren’t looking for something automotive or futuristic for its own sake. They just want something comfortable and functional, with a design that helps them do their job better and more easily.”

Mooney said when designing new trucks, International focuses on comfort, safety, productivity and efficiency.

The DriverFirst program reflects the company’s long-standing customer focus that it says has yielded a number of innovations, including the Bendix Wingman Fusion safety system and Over-the-Air Programming.

“The DriverFirst philosophy has already helped us deliver multiple innovations, and it plays an even more prominent role in the new products that we will be bringing to the market starting this fall,” Mooney said. “We are committed to helping our customers improve the total driver experience, so they can encourage their drivers to stick around for the long haul.”

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International's DriverFirst initiative to guide products

Today’s Trucking  /  June 13, 2016

LISLE, IL – International has launched a new DriverFirst initiative that focuses on designing vehicles from the driver’s perspective – something the company says will offer customers an edge in attracting and retaining qualified personnel.

"The DriverFirst philosophy has already helped us deliver multiple innovations, and it plays an even more prominent role in the new products that we will be bringing to the market starting this fall,” says Denny Mooney, senior vice president – global product development. "We are committed to helping our customers improve the total driver experience."

Perhaps offering insight into what those products will be, DriverFirst focuses on four areas, International says:

Comfort: Driver comfort is greatly enhanced by factors like ergonomics, interior lighting and color, as well as low noise, vibration and harshness (NVH).

Safety: Driver safety can be enhanced by multiple factors, ranging from visibility and state-of-the-art headlights to advanced systems that use radar, digital cameras and other technologies to avoid and mitigate accidents.

Productivity: Drivers benefit from technologies like automated manual transmissions, as well as improved vehicle serviceability and ease of maintenance.

Efficiency: From improving fuel economy to designing more intuitive displays, drivers are interested in features that will help them get the job done more efficiently.

The approach was born in driver clinics, fleet feedback, and studied driver trends, the company says.

"The key takeaway from our research is that drivers want trucks that are designed to do the job," Mooney said. "Drivers aren't looking for something automotive or futuristic for its own sake. They just want something comfortable and functional, with a design that helps them do their job better and more easily."

Learn more about DriverFirst at www.InternationalTrucks.com/DriverFirst.

 

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International puts the driver first in new product design initiative

Truck News  /  June 13, 2016

International Truck has launched a company-wide initiative called DriverFirst that aims at giving its customers an edge in attracting and retaining qualified drivers through vehicles designed with a strong emphasis on the driver’s perspective.

The new DriverFirst product design philosophy builds on International’s long-standing emphasis on customer uptime.

“Today, for our customers, uptime means more than having trucks that are built to stay on the road,” said Denny Mooney, senior vice-president, Global Product Development. “Given the industry’s chronic driver shortage, it’s also about having enough drivers to operate those trucks. And for us, that means building trucks that will help our customers attract and retain drivers, by reflecting the driver’s point of view in the way they are designed and the technologies and features they offer. Simply put, we want to build trucks that drivers want to drive.”

The DriverFirst initiative was inspired by customers’ and drivers’ input for International’s upcoming renewed product line, gathered from driver clinics, fleet feedback and studies of driver trends. Many customers told the company that due to the driver shortage, they are hard pressed to keep all of their trucks operating. These stories are consistent with quantitative reports from American Trucking Associations and other industry sources that the industry is currently 35,000-40,000 drivers short of meeting its needs.

“The key takeaway from our research is that drivers want trucks that are designed to do the job,” Mooney added. “Drivers aren’t looking for something automotive or futuristic for its own sake. They just want something comfortable and functional, with a design that helps them do their job better and more easily.”

Mooney said four specific areas where International is pursuing ongoing innovations and driver-centric features, based on its research into driver needs. They are:

Comfort: Driver comfort is greatly enhanced by factors like ergonomics, interior lighting and color, as well as low noise, vibration and harshness (NVH).

Safety: Driver safety can be enhanced by multiple factors, ranging from visibility and state-of-the-art headlights to advanced systems that use radar, digital cameras and other technologies to avoid and mitigate accidents.

Productivity: Drivers benefit from technologies like automated manual transmissions, as well as improved vehicle serviceability and ease of maintenance.

Efficiency: From improving fuel economy to designing more intuitive displays, drivers are interested in features that will help them get the job done more efficiently.

“The DriverFirst philosophy has already helped us deliver multiple innovations, and it plays an even more prominent role in the new products that we will be bringing to the market starting this fall,” Mooney said. “We are committed to helping our customers improve the total driver experience, so they can encourage their drivers to stick around for the long haul.”

Learn more about DriverFirst at www.InternationalTrucks.com/DriverFirst.