Tina Albright
NTEA Board Chair
Vice President – Human Relations & Safety
TBEI
(Lake Crystal, Minnesota)
This article was published in the October 2022 edition of NTEA News.
With the daylight savings time “fall back” switch happening early next month, I’m reminded of the saying “time flies when you’re having fun.” While we’re now in the pumpkin spiced days of autumn, it seems like just yesterday we were kicking off the year with Work Truck Week® 2022 right around the corner. As you know, NTEA hosts a variety of industry events and educational offerings throughout the year for the commercial vehicle industry. Let’s take a look at a few recent — and upcoming — opportunities.
NTEA’s Commercial Vehicle Upfitting Summit, formerly Truck Product Conference, was held Sept. 13–14, 2022, and offered work truck industry professionals the opportunity to connect with 12 leading OEMs on upfitting issues as well as product and chassis updates. This year’s event also featured Industry Resource Demos to aid in business operations and planning. We hope you were able to attend and engage with our industry’s technical community. View a recap in the October NTEA News.
This month, commercial vehicle industry leaders will gather in Baltimore, Maryland, for NTEA’s Executive Leadership Summit. This annual conference — designed to further industry knowledge, growth and profitability — addresses marketplace dynamics that impact work truck industry companies. During the event, economists, industry leaders, government agencies, and commercial vehicle manufacturers will share targeted information, key trends, forecasts and insights. Watch for a recap in November’s NTEA News.
Registration opened in late August for the upcoming Work Truck Industry Welder Certification Program’s fall 2022 Train-the-Trainer session. As I mentioned in my September NTEA News column, this session is scheduled Nov. 8–10, 2022, at Lincoln Electric Welding Technology and Training Center in Cleveland, Ohio.
This initiative provides industry businesses with access to a consistent training curriculum they can utilize to train welders within their organizations. Included as part of the program is the Train-the-Trainer course (sessions available in the spring and fall) for companies that apply and are admitted to the program. Visit ntea.com/weldercertification for additional program details and to access Train-the-Trainer session information.
Work Truck Week 2023 will be held March 7–10, 2023, at Indiana Convention Center (Indianapolis, Indiana). Be sure to visit worktruckweek.com to sign up for event updates and notification when registration and housing open.
As time continues to fly by with the end of the year and holiday season quickly approaching, I hope this year has been productive so far for you… and yes, fun.