“Virtual is the way of the future and Navistar is well positioned to take advantage of this new technology for the benefit of our dealers, our customers and our company,” said Rommel Miranda, vice president of sales and marketing for Navistar Parts. 

“In the current environment, incurring costs that would have been typical for previous year’s annual sales conferences, didn’t fit the lean, responsible model for business that we were striving toward,” said Kathy Seegebrecht, vice president, marketing and brand for Navistar Parts. “Bringing people together in an online environment — a virtual trade show and education session — made sense for both Navistar and our dealers. It was clearly a win-win situation as demonstrated by the fact that our online participation was three times greater than last year’s in-person attendance, at one- fifth of the cost. ”

Suppliers, dealers and Navistar achieved time and cost savings, and in addition Navistar Parts sales at their conference this year exceeded last year’s sales by almost 30 percent. Power Up, Expo 2009, allowed more dealers to participate in online education sessions and interact with suppliers in the virtual trade show environment, where participants could finalize their deals via chat rooms, fill virtual bags with product literature and network with colleagues in real time.

“Normally, I would send maybe three or four staff people to the annual conference,” said Malcolm Pierson, director of parts operations for Westrux, an International truck dealer in California. “This year, we had 21 people from our operation take advantage of online education through Power Up.  In a year where everyone’s been hit hard, this made a lot of sense.”

Available 24/7, Power Up allowed dealers to focus on their customers during the day and participate in training on their own schedule. More than 237,000 product information documents were downloaded in a single week, and 36,000 educational and speaker videos were viewed. Based on positive feedback and dealer requests, the online platform availability has been extended through August, allowing participants the ability to continue to review materials or train new employees. 

“Navistar Parts has worked to become a leader in best use of technologies and already has an online presence on Twitter and YouTube,” said Seegebrecht. “We’ve seen suppliers and dealers embrace this new technology as a way to connect more efficiently to do business.

Navistar International Corporation (NYSE: NAV) is a holding company whose subsidiaries and affiliates produce International® brand commercial and military trucks, MaxxForce® brand diesel engines, IC BusTM brand school and commercial buses, the Monaco®, Holiday Rambler®, Safari®, Beaver®, McKenzieTM and R-Vision® brand RVs, and Workhorse® brand chassis for motor homes and step vans. It also is a private-label designer and manufacturer of diesel engines for the pickup truck, van and SUV markets. The company also provides truck and diesel engine service parts. Another affiliate offers financing services. Additional information is available at www.Navistar.com/newsroom.

The Syracuse office is one of four existing corporate facilities for Innovation Fuels.  The company also has offices in and distributes renewable fuels from New York harbor, specifically Newark, NJ, and the Port of Milwaukee on Lake Michigan.  A fourth office and renewable fuels distribution hub is scheduled to open in New England in early summer 2009, located in New Haven, Connecticut.  Finally, Innovation Fuels markets and distributes renewable fuels to the European market from Antwerp, Belgium.  

“With our increased focus and investment on growing renewable fuels crops throughout New York State, it is highly advantageous for us to operate from an office in Syracuse due to its central location,” commented John Fox, CEO for Innovation Fuels.   

Added Fox, “Our Syracuse office provides us with easy access to our partners at SUNY Morrisville and Cornell University.  Furthermore, we have a long history and association with Syracuse University and look forward to developing alliances in the immediate area as well, particularly with the university’s renewable energy activities going on there.”  

”We are aggressively seeking distribution points in the Syracuse area to serve local customers and hope to have that operational before the heating oil season starting in September 2009,” remarked Joe Dickson.  “We are very pleased to have a presence here at the Tech Garden at Syracuse in order to be able to execute these strategic alliances.”  

Paul Brooks, Executive Director for the Syracuse Tech Garden said, “We have enjoyed a relationship with Innovation Fuels for quite awhile and we are overjoyed that the company will now operate from a local office here at the Tech Garden.” 

“We are looking forward to Innovation Fuels’ renewable energy products and services benefiting the local community here in central New York,” added Brooks.

About Innovation Fuels

With shovel-ready projects in New York, New Jersey, New Haven and Wisconsin, Innovation Fuels is a leading biodiesel company with a global reach and mission to promote sustainably produced biodiesel.   Innovation Fuels takes a proactive and solution-oriented approach to its business with a focus on fiduciary responsibility, social and environmental stewardship, and community safety.

Innovation Fuels currently operates integrated biorefineries within the United States at strategic port locations including New York Harbor and Port of Milwaukee that provide for the supply to regional customers and a network of international partners.  Innovation Fuels is also dedicated toward creating green jobs including more than thirty (30) local green jobs at its New York Harbor biorefinery in Newark, NJ.

Biodiesel is produced by chemically reacting alcohol with vegetable oils, fats, or greases. Using innovative, proprietary production technology, Innovation Fuels biodiesel is the highest quality at the lowest cost to its customers.  The company is also working toward the development of next generation feedstocks including pennycress, camelina and algae - all crops that don’t divert resources away from feeding people.

Layover.com acquires Truck.net in merger of Online Trucking Leaders

Layover.com announced today that it has acquired the assets of Truck.net. The acquisition is a merger of industry-leading online information portals to the trucking industry. According to Bruce Martin, President and CEO of Layover.com, the acquisition furthers his company’s growth strategy and strengthens its overall offerings to the online trucking community.

Since 1996, Layover.com has provided online services to truck drivers, owneroperators, trucking families and employers. These services include, truck driving opportunities, load boards, driver education, entertainment and product information. Its website attracts about 600,000 page views per month.

The merger continues Layover.com’s recent drive to expand its reach and scope. In May, the company announced a marketing affiliate agreement with leading trucking products provider Anything Trucker. The agreement allows Layover.com users direct access to Anything Trucker’s products via website links (http://www.anythingtrucker.com/). In 2008, Layover.com acquired MyTruckingSpace.com (http://www.mytruckingspace.com/), the leading social networking site for truck drivers.

Since 1995, Truck.net has been a leading information portal to truck drivers, featuring internet and website design services and job-database access. Its Driver’s Roundtable has become an industry staple, receiving over 500,000 page views per month.

“Both operations will realize efficiency gains from merging under one ownership,” said Layover.com’s Bruce Martin. “However, the big winners will be the truck drivers, who have come to depend on the products and services supplied by the two sites”.

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