DON MILLS, Ont. – Embrace the Internet because, if you don’t, it will steamroll over you, TruckLite’s Greg Jordan warned fleet managers attending the 37th annual Canadian Fleet Maintenance Seminar.

“If you think it’s another fad you’re sorely mistaken… It will really replace many of the things you’re used to. All I say is plow forward, go for it,” Jordan told the fleet managers, many of whom admitted their children knew more about the Internet than they did. “If you think it’s like climbing Mount Everest, it’s not. It’s as easy as opening the refrigerator.”

For example, the Internet is making paper-based maintenance manuals and the CD-ROMs extinct, he predicted.

Jordan, along with Freightliner’s Wayne Scott and Mike Bryan, then walked fleet managers through Internet basics such as bookmarking, searching, downloading, and using multimedia features.

Scott said working your way through that learning curve is well worth it, considering the amount of information available on the Internet – up-to-date service literature, manufacturer information, product comparisons, spec’s on products, legislative updates and troubleshooting information.

“I’ve seen people play phone tag for half a day trying to get a part number or order a catalogue. Yet so much of that is available on the Internet,” said Scott. “It’s limitless. It’s really up to you what you want to get out of it.”

Another benefit for technicians is on-line service bulletins. The immediacy and low-cost delivery available over the Internet means such bulletins can be fired out “fast and furious”, usually long before they make it into paper-based manuals. n