FARMINGTON HILLS, Mich. — In addition to a 500,000-square-foot trade show floor featuring the newest vocational trucks, vans and equipment, The Work Truck Show 2015 will include a full slate of educational sessions offered in surrounding meeting rooms. It is during these exclusive sessions that attendees can learn the latest strategies for recruiting and retaining skilled employees, evaluating new products, complying with changing regulations and keeping pace with market trends.
The Work Truck Show 2015, North America’s largest work truck event, will be held March 4-6, 2015, at the Indiana Convention Center in Indianapolis, Ind. Educational programming, including the Green Truck Summit, begins March 3.
“The Work Truck Show’s educational sessions provide opportunities for attendees to learn how to improve their businesses using input from work truck industry leaders and experts,” said Steve Carey, NTEA executive director. “We’ve sharpened the focus of many of these sessions to give specific answers to the most pressing challenges faced by truck distributors. By participating in the educational sessions, attendees can learn about the newest strategies fellow distributors are using to streamline their operations and better serve their customers.”
The new “Straightforward Approach to Lean Implementation that is Working for Truck Equipment Upfitters” special session provides both peer-to-peer and expert advice on workplace organization and efficient practices for boosting shop productivity. At this special session, distributors can learn how to get on the path to improving productivity by at least 20 percent without adding personnel or equipment and without shutting down current operations. This program is led by Tom Barrett, vice president, and Joe Drafall, consultant, of Lean Partners (Waconia, Minn., and Shoreview, Minn.), and includes a panel of representatives from NTEA member companies Aspen Equipment Co. (Bloomington, Minn.); Messer Truck Equipment (Westbrook, Maine); and Switch-N-Go, AmeriDeck & Bucks Divisions of Deist Industries, Inc. (Hadley, Pa.). It is held Tuesday, March 3, 9 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Attendees can exchange ideas and best practices with their peers at “Learn & Share in Industry Roundtables” on Thursday, March 5, 9:30 a.m. –10:45 a.m. The roundtable discussion will be led by Steve Miller, marketing gunslinger at The Adventure LLC (Federal Way, Wash.), who will encourage truck equipment distributors and manufacturers to share their insights for building their businesses and fixing problems.
Owners, executives and managers can learn how to encourage strong employee performance at all levels of their organizations at the “7 Habits of Highly Effective People” special session on Tuesday, March 3, 8:30-11:30 a.m. DeVerl Austin, senior consultant for FranklinCovey (Ashburn, Va.), shows how common values, behaviors and skills that align a team can boost overall organizational effectiveness.
Individual sessions held throughout the week will provide further guidance for effectively managing employees and controlling day-to-day business operations. These will include “By the Numbers: Insights into Utilizing Metrics for Managing a Truck Equipment Distributor,” “Why Work Force Development is the Key to Success,” “Why Calculating Your Burdened Labor Cost is Critical to Your Business,” “Finding Your Lost Labor is Not Like Looking for a Needle in a Hay Stack,” “How to Make a Problem Employee a Productive Employee,” “How to Become an Excellent Decision-Maker,” and “Just Trust Me!”
Extensive education on clean vehicle topics is offered at the Green Truck Summit, the only alternative fuel and technology conference held in conjunction with the largest dedicated vocational truck event in North America. The two-day summit features general and breakout sessions that cover alternative fuel and advanced technology trends and implementation success stories.
Work Truck Show learning opportunities also include Chassis Update sessions, in which leading chassis manufacturers present product line developments and new technical information. In 2015, 15 OEMs are scheduled to present Chassis Update sessions: Chevrolet & GMC Commercial Truck; Ford Commercial Vehicles; Freightliner Custom Chassis Corporation; Freightliner Trucks; Hino Trucks; International Truck; Isuzu Commercial Truck of America, Inc.; Kenworth Truck Company; Mack Trucks, Inc.; Mercedes-Benz Vans; Mitsubishi Fuso Truck of America, Inc.; Nissan Commercial Vehicles; Peterbilt Motors Company; Ram Commercial; and Western Star Trucks.
Conference registration is required to attend concurrent educational sessions. Separate tickets must be purchased for the Green Truck Summit and Special Sessions. Green Truck Summit registration is also included in the Work Truck Show & Green Truck Summit Complete Event Package. The full list of educational sessions is available at www.ntea.com/worktruckshow/educationalsessions.
To register for The Work Truck Show 2015, or for more information, visit WorkTruckShow.com or call 1-800-441-6832.
