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The Heavy Duty Parts Report
Each week Jamie Irvine and his guests have conversations that empower heavy-duty people. They discuss tips, tools, and technology that help heavy-duty parts manufacturers and distributors sell the right parts to fleets, repair shops, and truck operators.
The Heavy Duty Parts Report
New Options for Trailer Interior Lighting
Episode 340: The team at SSR Lighting was encouraged to look into options for interior trailer lighting after safety concerns from companies like Ford. After trial and error and thinking through obstacles like forklift strikes, extreme weather, and batteries that can’t sit for months unused, they now have a great product that can light up the inside of any trailer.
In our That’s Not Heavy Duty segment we talk about another kind of lighting, custom truck lighting, some of which is against the law. Tell us what you think, should truckers be allowed to customize their trucks in this way, and should authorities just ignore custom lighting?
Show Notes: Visit HeavyDutyPartsReport.com for complete show notes of this episode and to subscribe to all our content.
Sponsors of this Episode
Heavy Duty Consulting Corporation: Find out how many “fault codes” your heavy-duty parts business has. Meet with us today. Visit HeavyDutyConsulting.com
Hengst Filtration: There's a new premium filter option for fleets. If you're responsible for a fleet, you won't believe how much using Hengst filters will save you. But you've got to go to HeavyDutyPartsReport.com/Hengst to find out how much.
Diesel Laptops: Diesel Laptops is so much more than just a provider of diagnostic tools. They’re your shop efficiency solution company. Learn more about everything Diesel Laptops can do for you today by visiting DieselLaptops.com today.
HDA Truck Pride: They’re the heart of the independent parts and service channel. They have 750 parts stores and 450 service centers conveniently located across the US and Canada. Visit HeavyDutyPartsReport.com/HDATruckPride today to find a location near you.
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You're listening to the Heavy-Duty Parts Report. I'm your host, jamie Irvin, and this is the place where we have conversations that empower heavy-duty people. Welcome to the Heavy-Duty Parts Report. In this episode, we are going to talk about lighting. It is now October. The days are getting shorter, the nights are getting longer.
Jamie Irvine :Lighting is a issue this time of year. Interior lighting in trailers is an ongoing challenge, especially when the trailer is disconnected from the tractor, and so I wanted to share with you an interview that we did with a client of ours, ssr Lighting Solutions. Now, this interview originally aired in 2023. So when you hear me talk about 2023, no, I haven't forgotten what year it is. It's just that we recorded it last year, but it's just as relevant in 2024 and beyond. So, for those of you who've not heard the interview, this will be the first time you're hearing it. For those of you that are regular listeners of the show, it's been over a year, so it'll be good for you to hear that again. I really like this interview because we talk about the problem, we go into detail about that, and he also goes into some real detail about the engineering that went into this innovative product, so I think it'll be good for all of us to listen to that again. Hope you enjoy the interview.
Jamie Irvine :I'm very happy to have my guest with me today. My guest is Daryl Grady. He's the Director of Engineering of SSR Lighting Solutions. Daryl is a shareholder and heads up the R&D development at SSR Lighting Solutions. His career began in automotive. We won't hold that against him, because now he's really motivated on trying to help heavy duty, so we're very happy to have Daryl on the show. Daryl, welcome to the Heavy Duty Parts Report.
Jamie Irvine :Hey, thanks for having me and welcome to being heavy duty. Yeah, thank you. Thank you All right, so let's talk a little bit about lighting. You know, I remember many years ago unfortunately, this is like 20 plus years ago when all of a sudden, the LED light became a reality and I remember, you know, talking to fleets about getting the LED taillights so that the light would show up faster and people would respond to it quicker and there'd be less rear end collisions. Like this is going back 20 plus years. Led has been around for quite a while in the industry and yet we still have issues related to lighting, and that's what we're here to talk about today. So talk to me a little bit about where we are right now, in 2023, as it relates to lighting, semi-trucks and trailers and the trucking industry.
Daryl Grady :Inside of the trailer. As far as LED lighting is concerned, we do see trailers that have LEDs in the ceiling, but when you do see those the LED mounts they have to be modified in such a way to have them installed, so they have brackets on the outside of them that are made to hold them in place and riveted in place. And then, of course, the entire delivery system of the voltage and amperage is something that isn't even tailored to the trailer at all. So you just have these lights that are installed and then the trunk cable that runs down the side is just. Everything is aftermarket. It isn't an actual, complete device that is made specifically for inside the semi-trailer.
Jamie Irvine :Is that because there is a bit of an attitude towards trailers like they're just a box on wheels and so when fleets are speccing them new, they're not requesting this, and then it becomes an afterthought where they think, well, maybe we need it, so they have to add it in the aftermarket. Is that how that happens? Or like, why are we in this situation in 2023?
Daryl Grady :I think it's because an actual entire kit was just never, up until this point, addressed and invented. I'm running into people that it's been a constant need. But when you do install it in a aftermarket scenario, you're collecting pieces, so it becomes an arduous task. Therein lies the biggest problem up to this point.
Jamie Irvine :Why would a fleet want to go to the extra cost of adding this lighting inside of a trailer? I think we all understand the importance of headlights and taillights and marker lights and things like that, but why would a fleet look at this and say you know what? This is an investment that's worthwhile because it's actually going to create a positive impact for us. Walk me through that.
Daryl Grady :So that's an interesting question because as we were doing this kit, inventing this kit, we first got involved in it from an automotive, with our background, of course, but from a safety standpoint. Ford had a couple incidences of a worker being injured while inspecting a trailer. There was a large piece of wood projecting at such an angle that it actually entered the person's leg, and that happened because they could not see. So, despite the fact that there's a dock light at the back of the trailer, once a person or somebody enters the trailer, all it really does is illuminate the back of the person or the forklift. So that happened and then, immediately or not long after that, somebody actually fell off the side of a trailer because trailers, as you know, now are all composite down the side. So the large rivets had been sheared and the forklift went in with a load of racks and to kind of straighten it up on the side as they do, they kind of use the side of the trailer to get things squared and he went out the side of the trailer. So, even though the trailer was inspected, that was missed.
Daryl Grady :So that is how we originally got involved with the lighting system. So they made a request that the lighting system be invented for safety and inspection reasons. System be invented for safety and inspection reasons. What we found is, as we were doing it, other reasons came to bear. People with multi-stop shipments needed to read labels. We have a customer that services rock and roll shows, so they have our lights in the trailer because people are entering the trailer with their hands full and they need to be seeing inside the trailer without turning on, on and off switches and then also the dropped aspect. The other thing we had to invent was illuminated the trailer when it's separated from the tractor. There are light systems out there that there are no light systems that do that, but there are light systems that allow you to plug them in but of course you can imagine the dangers of somebody going out with an extension cord around a dock situation.
Daryl Grady :The businesses wanted to do away with that liability.
Jamie Irvine :Yeah, it makes a lot of sense and you know, safety is something that unfortunately they're I mean, I don't think that everybody thinks this way, but there's certain people who think this way. They're like it's just extra cost. It's almost like, you know, they resist it because it're like it's just extra cost. It's almost like they resist it because it's almost like they're resisting it, like paying an insurance bill or something. They just don't want to spend the money. But at the end of the day, if you've ever run a business where people can get injured, you know that once they get injured, any money you save disappears and a lot more goes out trying to offset that situation. So safety is an investment, but it's an investment that has a positive return on investment pretty quickly.
Daryl Grady :Yeah, and we were also looking into that cost investment, and so we wanted to make a device that could be resellable so once it's installed in the trailer. That is a positive that the trailer has this lighting system in it so that charge could be implemented during resale. Also, the fiberglass type trailers are more expensive to buy and harder to get rid of. This is a solution for that too. So one of our potential customers we're in talks with now, ashley Furniture, is actually looking at this system instead of buying their normal fiberglass roofed trailers. For those reasons Also, if any damage happens to a fiberglass roof trailer, it's much more of a hassle than the standard skinned trailer.
Jamie Irvine :So, when you were developing this solution, what kind of voice of the customer did you engage in? How did you work with the fleets and the commercial trucking industry to uncover potential pitfalls, as you were putting the product together?
Daryl Grady :The biggest one that was. The challenge right out of the gate was make me a lighting system where I can drop the trailer and I don't have to plug it in. So that led, of course, to a battery situation, and then you have to think where do I put the battery and what kind of space do I have to deal with? So we decided to put it in the nose of the trailer, behind the what's normally plywood in the nose, and so that's a. I have a device right here and you can see how thin that is, and inside of there is not only the battery but a voltage regulator, a charging regulator, the charger pickups, so it can be run by solar or the truck or by itself, and so that's the entire apparatus right there.
Jamie Irvine :For those that are listening that aren't watching this, it's about the size of a tablet in you know surface area, but it's probably what about three inches thick.
Daryl Grady :Not even so. It's just, yeah, just under that actually, and so that's the standard size of a semi-trailer. So we had to make sure that it could be retrofitted into any existing trailer and, of course, if it's being installed in the manufacturing level that it meant that are complied with all the manufacturers as well.
Jamie Irvine :I'm always fascinated to talk to people who engineer products because I want to learn how they went through the process. So, trailers I mean, sometimes they're in blistering heat, sometimes they're in really, really cold. And we all know batteries that when they lose their charge they don't do well in the cold. So how did you address the environmental changes that all these trailers are going to go through? And then also, trailers will sit for a long time, sometimes without being used, and then they're all of a sudden they're, they're sprung into service again. So how did you address those issues?
Daryl Grady :And the battery itself too has to be a non-spillable. So it is a glass mat battery and it is specifically designed so we've had actual trailers with the kits on the road now for a little over four years to address those problems and to take readings. So there's, there's tests. We can do that in the automotive market, where the tests are supposed to simulate, you know, two years of whatever discharging and charging.
Jamie Irvine :Like to accelerate it, so you don't have to wait two years, right.
Daryl Grady :Well, those are great tests, but nothing is as good as actually being out on the road. So we went through quite a bit of adjustments to address what you're talking about, but the biggest one that we found was not allowing the battery to discharge below 10 volts, and that's important. So the battery has a regulator inside of it that once it gets to 10 volts, the whole system shuts off and it will not allow itself to turn back on until it's hooked to the tractor again, and then, once it's hooked to the tractor again, it will run off the tractor and also the battery charger will kick in and eventually it will go to its full charge. Now, when it's fully charged, all the lights in the trailer can stay on continuously for over four hours. But to allow that to go even further, what we've done and I guess some people can't see this, they can just hear, but this is a light, one of the lights, and there's eight in a kit Each light has a motion sensor, so the entire kit stays on.
Daryl Grady :There is no on-off switch, it's always on. So if you walk near this light, it turns on, but it only stays on for approximately about four minutes, maybe a little longer, and then it turns off. So if you're just working in a specific area of the trailer, only those lights will stay lit. If you remove yourself completely from the trailer for over four minutes, the entire kit will shut off. So even though we say the kit will stay lit constantly for a little over four hours, it's actually much longer than that, because the kit is regulating itself to only be lit when somebody is actually in need of the light. That's fantastic.
Jamie Irvine :We're going to take a quick break. We'll be right back. Are you deferring maintenance because of filter cost or availability? Or, worse yet, are you trading down to no-name filters to try to save a few bucks? Either way, you're rolling the dice. The good news there's a new premium filter option for fleets Hanks Filtration. If you're responsible for a fleet, you won't believe how much using Hanks filters will save you. But you've got to go to heavydutypartsreportcom slash Hanks to find out more. That's heavydutypartsreportcom slash H-E-N-G-S-T Head there.
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Jamie Irvine :Hda truck pride is the heart of the independent parts and service channel. They have 750 parts stores and 450 service centers conveniently located across the U? S and Canada. Visit heavy duty parts reportcom slash HDA truck pride today to find a location near you. Again, that's heavy duty parts reportcom hda truck bride. And let the heart of the independent service channel take care of your commercial equipment. We're back from our break. Before the break. Daryl, thanks for talking a little bit about the situation with trailers interior lighting safety. We think about the, the led technology that's been around for a really long time and this is just a problem that just hadn't been addressed yet, and you've done a really good job of describing some of the aspects of this product that you're developing. Maybe you could take a moment to describe to us kind of in more detail the way that trailers are currently lit and why it's problematic. I know you mentioned it before, but I'd like a little more detail on that.
Daryl Grady :Well, first off, most trailers don't have any lighting at all, which is really problematic. You're right, I see. I think in the future that they'll all be lit. I think that this invention here is a step in that direction and maybe down the line there'll be other kits offered, but I see in the future that they all will be.
Daryl Grady :And in a dock situation, right now we're still, after decades, still using the lamp that's attached to the dock itself, the building that swings around and shines into the trailer. And even though that can illuminate a trailer, when you're standing on the dock looking into the trailer you can see fine. The problem is is the minute you step into the trailer or you take a forklift or product into the trailer, it's just illuminating your back, so it immediately just becomes a giant shadow. So the fact that we've been dealing with that technology for decades is kind of mind boggling is kind of mind-boggling. Although, as we mentioned before, even though the LED's been invented, there were some. The conditions inside of a trailer are so violent from day to day that a way to harness the LED and keep it safe in that environment has been a while coming and it's finally here.
Jamie Irvine :Yeah, let's talk a little bit more about that. You know, in the testing for this product, no doubt you looked at all these different environments. But talk to me a little bit about the temperature at the roof of a trailer and how that was a real problem you had to overcome.
Daryl Grady :Yes, so you can imagine a trailer spends time. It could be in Lubbock, Texas, all the way to Minneapolis, Minnesota. So these trailers go through huge temperature swings and the materials on the roof of the trailer also. You can imagine expanding and contracting constantly. And so when we were first trying to put LEDs onto the roof of the trailer, we had some catastrophic failures, but those were all learning experiences for us. We wanted to pull data off of that, but those were all learning experiences for us. We wanted to pull data off of that. And finally. So what we had to do is I know some people can't see this, they're just listening, but we had to lift the actual control board off of the ceiling enough and put a big enough heat sink between the ceiling and the light itself to keep that safe in all of those conditions. And it took us a while to get to the right mix, because of course, the other challenge is the light can't stick down beyond the roof bows, Otherwise they'd be damaged, so you have to keep it at a certain thin aspect to it but also be able to achieve the heat sinking. And it took a while, but we got there.
Daryl Grady :There's a couple other interesting things, if I can too. Each light has a voltage regulator in it, so the light at the front of the trailer is the same luminosity as the light in the back of the trailer. That is another thing that you run into when you're trying to make an amperage and voltage travel a 53-foot trailer. The light closest to the power source is brighter than the light that's in the back of the trailer. Of course we had to adjust that by voltage regulating each light. So when you go into one of our trailers it is a consistent light all the way throughout.
Jamie Irvine :Right, and, and, and it's you know. You just think to yourself oh, let's put some lights in a trailer. Like should be easy.
Daryl Grady :You find out.
Jamie Irvine :No, wait a minute.
Daryl Grady :There's a lot of a lot of math and a lot of science that needs to go into this, yeah, yeah, and and to to um, endure the violence that happens in inside of a. You know, you can imagine what it's like is it's going down the road it's uh, 70 miles an hour, you know, hitting, bouncing around, going into docks, all the temperature changes, uh, the moisture changes, that's uh. Another thing we had to address is make sure everything was watertight. I think one of the crowning achievements, though, is making sure, no matter who installed it, it would be installed correctly. That was a thing that we had to labor on intensively is to make sure, no matter who installed it, it would be in such a way that it would not allow you to do it incorrectly. So that was a good one.
Jamie Irvine :Yeah, that's fantastic. I love learning about this and, as we said, there's a lot of science that goes into it, a lot of math. But there's also some unique challenges when you're making products for heavy duty. So, for example, with a class eight trailer, you've got forklifts running in and out of them all day long. What kind of hurdles did you have to overcome when you were developing the product and you were thinking about okay, how do we make this work with forklifts zipping in and out of the trailer daily?
Daryl Grady :There's three things that come to mind right away as you were saying that. First off, the box itself, making sure that it was placed in the nose of the trailer in such a way where a forklift punching through the front of the trailer would not destroy the box. So the box is the size it is and easily placed high up on the wall behind that plywood. So even if a forklift were to pierce its forks through the nose of the trailer, it's fine. Second was if inevitably there's going to be a forklift that goes through the roof of the trailer, you can't stop that. So we made the trunk in sections, the trunk cable in sections, so when that happens you don't have to replace the whole light kit, you can just replace a portion of it if the trunk cable gets damaged. Also, will all the lights still work after a forklift takes out one or two of them? Yes, so we made sure we addressed that.
Daryl Grady :But this one was a real pain for me was the on off switch. No matter where I put an on off switch, it was inside the trailer, it was. It was getting damaged. Uh, I was, um, using uh, just passive touch switches like your mouse pad, uh, that thin, and uh, I just could not prevent. Uh, no matter where I put it, a forklift was going to get it. So eventually we moved to the motion sensor and just leaving the kit on all the time, and little beknownst to us, because we were just thinking in automotive terms, that ended up being a big sell. For example, the truck and roll people that do the rock concerts, because those guys are going in and out of the trailers with their arms full all the time. They can't reach over and turn on a lighting system. They want to just walk in and have it turn on. Yeah, but those three come to mind right away for forklift problems.
Jamie Irvine :Right, and I can imagine mounting. It would have been interesting, like if you just use bolts or something, wouldn't that just like shear them off, as every time?
Daryl Grady :Yeah, If you step inside a well-used trailer, there's nothing but marks all the way up and down the entire side. And even automotive trailers have a plank of thick steel right when you first go in the trailer, because it's just from hitting the dock plate. They're constantly hitting the roof of the trailer.
Daryl Grady :So yeah, the automotive racks actually most industry racks are made to cube out. They want to get the most out of a trailer that they can, so their racking systems are going to go from floor to ceiling, which doesn't allow a forklift driver a lot of room for error. You know, that's just the way it is.
Jamie Irvine :So, now that you have the product in the market, this is something that you mentioned could be retrofitted to existing trailers. What is the process that they have to go through to do the retrofit Roughly? How long does it take? Can an average technician do it? Is there any special instructions they need to think about?
Daryl Grady :So anyone can visit our website. And on the website is the actual installation manual. So anyone can visit that and that's an interesting question, the way it's presented on our website. I would say two people would take about two hours. However, that is, we've presented the cleanest, neatest installation. So, always thinking in the automotive realm, with, you know, the big automotive racks and the forklift drivers going in and out of there, in that installation you see no wires whatsoever. So the wires from the lights and the trunk cable going down the trailer. We give you instructions how to actually install that. So when you look up the finished product, all you see are lights. Now, different people have different needs. So if you just wanted to tape the wire up there and just have the lights, of course, you could probably do the entire thing by yourself in 30 minutes.
Jamie Irvine :We went to the craziest scenario and then you can just work your way backward from there, right, but a couple hours to retrofit the whole trailer, I think that's a pretty reasonable timeframe. And now, what about serviceable parts and replacement parts? So, over time, things wear out right LEDs, the diodes burn out, batteries need to be replaced. They just don't hold a charge anymore. So what is the availability on service parts?
Daryl Grady :And you brought up a good point there too. So this is the lights, and the lights has just a simple plug in here that can only go one way. That's important too. So if somebody's doing an installation, there's no wrong way to do it. It only allows you to plug it in one way.
Daryl Grady :If one light were to get damaged or need to be replaced, the rest of the lights still work. It's been addressed in such a way that so let's say, some damage happens to a section, you just order one light from us and we'll send it to you and you can replace that. We've also taken the main trunk cable and put that into three sections. So let's say something catastrophic happens just in the area of the trailer. You don't have to buy a whole kit. Catastrophic happens just in the area of the trailer. You don't have to buy a whole kit. The battery, four screws and the lid opens two terminals. It's that easy and everything is warrantied for two years. But like you said, eventually I would expect the battery to be the first thing that starts to go on a ramp down as far as holding its charge, and that could easily be replaced.
Jamie Irvine :Yeah well, it sounds like you've put a lot of thought and effort into making this as easy as possible, and it's so important because people's safety, their bodily you don't want to have people having bodily harm come to them just because they're there doing their job and so I love the fact that it's easy to install, easy to service. That means it's going to work and it's going to be there when you need it to be there, which is great. Typically, in like a 53 foot trailer, how many light fixtures do you end up installing in addition to the battery pack and the main trunk cable?
Daryl Grady :With the 53 foot trailer we found the number to be eight. Each light has a output greater than a 100 watt bulb. That seems to be the standard. When people ask me questions about brightness, they always want it measured against the 100 watt bulb. So they're brighter than a 100 watt bulb. So imagine eight of those inside of a 53 foot van trailer. You have no problem reading. It's much like an office that's what it reminds me of Like you're just sitting in your office when, when that happens. We also chose eight because the entire package draws just over one amp at that point and thus you get the long hours out of the battery when it's when it's dropped from the tractor. That makes a lot of sense, yeah so, daryl, who is your ideal customer?
Jamie Irvine :so far have you been working with a lot of little independent fleets. You work with the big mega carriers. Who do you find are the ones that have been adopting this product quickly?
Daryl Grady :Actually surprisingly both. So our ideal customer? We really don't have one.
Jamie Irvine :Well, you got to own a class eight trailer.
Daryl Grady :We've actually talked to Amazon, for example, and we're in talks with them right now. So I mean, ideally for a first customer that would be fantastic. But we've also got lights installed in a couple of fleets where they only have four trailers. In fact, one of those customers I'm very grateful we had early on because they operate out of Flint Michigan on a multi-stop basis, out of Flint Michigan on a multi-stop basis. So they actually they were a great test bed for us because if it could survive in that environment, you know that was a great R&D thing for us. So he was, he was a big help, not only a customer, but we really relished the ability to be involved in that fleet.
Jamie Irvine :So, daryl, let's talk a little bit about the future. What's the big dream for this product?
Daryl Grady :I think this product or products like it, I think that eventually all semi-trailers, all of them right out of the manufacturer, are going to be lit. It's not even going to be an option, because I think the need for it especially as we touched on the safety and the liability aspect of things from the humanistic standpoint, I think it needs to happen. We've already achieved a way to make it easy to be part of the manufacturing process. There's hardly any modification that would need to be done at all. If you wanted to hide the wires completely, the roof bows would need a simple hole added, because the roof bows that go across the trailer are already hollow. 90% of it is already made for this to happen. So I suspect in the not too distant future that this kit, or a kit like it, is going to be everywhere.
Jamie Irvine :One of the best ways to get the manufacturers to do anything is to have some fleet start specking it and they're like where do I get this from? And they tell you. So hopefully some fleets are listening right now. We know that they are. We know some big fleets listen and they've actually adopted some of the recommendations of guests of this show. I have confirmation on that and we know the OEMs are listening as well. So hopefully this helps those people all come together. Yeah, well, you know, I just want to say thank you on behalf of the heavy duty industry. Right, we need new players to come in and look at things from different perspectives, leverage different technologies and bring great new products to the industry. So you know from all of us thank you very much for your efforts on this. It sounds like this is going to be a very successful product for you.
Daryl Grady :I think so as well. I think there's a real need for it in the marketplace, and thank you for having us. Thank you.
Jamie Irvine :You've been listening to the Heavy-Duty Parts Report. I'm your host, jamie Irvin, and we've been speaking with Daryl Grady. He's the Director of Engineering at SSR Lighting Solutions. If you'd like to learn more about this specific product for heavy-duty, go to ssrlightingsolutionscom. Well, I hope you enjoyed the interview with Daryl Grady from SSR Lighting Solutions. As I mentioned, they are a client of the Heavy-Duty Consulting Corporation. We're very happy to be working with them. There's going to be opportunities for you, if you are a distributor, to sell this product in the North American market, so make sure that you reach out to them as soon as possible.
Jamie Irvine :It's time for that's Not Heavy Duty. In this edition of that's Not Heavy Duty, I wanted you to consider the pros and cons of custom lighting on big rigs. Now, in the show notes, we're going to share the link to this entire video. It's about eight to nine minutes long. It's from ET Transport, where they go into their opinions. At least one of their drivers goes into their opinion about the pros and cons of customizing your lighting on a big rig, but in that discussion he mentions that truckers should be able to customize their trucks and that there are differences in laws between the US and Canada. But then he makes an interesting statement. He says that sometimes the fine for custom lighting or for even tinting of windows is like a hundred bucks, and he basically says that truckers should just do what they want to do, customize their trucks the way they want, and if they get a fine here or there, it's really not that big in the grand scheme of things. It's not that much money in the grand scheme of things. So instead of me telling you what's heavy duty and what's not, I wanted to ask you your opinion. Is this heavy duty? Is this the way we should approach things? Should law enforcement just back off on custom lighting? Is it okay for truckers to just put the lighting they want and pay the fines and just move on? What do you think? I'm really looking forward to hearing your comments Now. You can reach out to us in several ways. One, on social media, especially on LinkedIn. That's where we spend a lot of our time. Two, you can put the comment in the YouTube video for this episode. Or three, you can go to the show notes on your podcast player and click the text button and text us. We'd love to hear your thoughts on whether or not this is heavy duty If you're listening to this episode on the day that it dropped, which is October 14th 2024, I am in Florida this week at the MEMA Tech Conference.
Jamie Irvine :Now, this is a big honor for me. First of all, I'm getting the opportunity to moderate several of the panel discussions, so I'm going to be moderating three sessions. One is a mentoring session for startup finalists because they've got a startup competition. Two, I'm going to be moderating a panel on AI, uh. Two, I'm going to be moderating a panel on AI how it's a reality in the aftermarket. And I'm going to be moderating a panel on heavy duty e-commerce data standards. In addition to that, I'm also going to be a judge for the MEMA aftermarket startup challenge and I'm mentoring one of the six finalists. If you are interested in this uh, stay tuned to our socials on LinkedIn. I'm going to be posting some videos and some content for my attendance of the show. And if you want to participate in next year's startup challenge, make sure you head over to MEMA and check out the tech startup challenge. It is going to be awesome.
Jamie Irvine :Thank you for listening and watching our program. We really appreciate your ongoing support. If you haven't already, head over to heavydutypartsreportcom, hit the follow button and sign up to our weekly email. You get one email a week, no spam. Just one email a week tells you all of our new content. Also, if you like to listen on the podcast player of your choice, take a moment and follow for free. And if it gives you the option, please give us a five-star rating and review. We would really appreciate that. I've heard that helps us with our reach. And finally, on YouTube, if you like watching the video versions of our program, hit that subscribe button and the bell notification so you never miss out. Thank you again for your ongoing support and, as always, I want to encourage you to be heavy duty.