Novi, MI. Small changes in OEM truck chassis designs can mean big problems for truck equipment manufacturers if their own designs don’t keep up, so the annual NTEA Truck Product Conference makes a big deal of the tiniest details. Conference attendees once again previewed new model year work trucks and discussed upfitter integration implications with OEM engineers. Interacting directly with OEMs ahead of a new truck rollout allows participants to secure the support they need to accommodate a variety of vehicle conversions.
“Stakeholders in the commercial vehicle industry come to Truck Product Conference to engage OEM representatives on upfitting-related issues,” said Steve Carey, NTEA president and CEO. “They’ve come to rely on this collaboration for awareness of innovation on the horizon and guidance in building quality products that bring value to the end user.”
But the real business, or fun, began when the hundreds of attendees moved to the exhibition hall where tape measures and smart devices assessed every nook and framerail on the trucks, vans and chassis.
This year’s event featured a streamlined, two-day program, with a series of concurrent OEM presentations. The following pages summarize the presentations; the complete slide decks are available at ntea.com/tpcpresentations.
Participating chassis manufacturers were:
• Isuzu Commercial Truck of America Inc.
• Mitsubishi Fuso Truck of America Inc.
All of the truck makers emphasized the importance of understanding how to access the upfitter and body-builder resources available on their websites, including the latest product bulletins, and many now offer apps for info on the go.
For those who couldn’t make the annual fall preview, NTEA will once again have truck OEMs on hand to explain the latest updates at the upcoming Work Truck Show in Indianapolis, March 3-6, 2020.