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2023 DeliveryCon: Strategies to Keep Wheels on the Road

Operations•Photos 24•October 24, 2023

The first-ever DeliveryCon convened Oct. 16-18 at Virgin Hotels, Las Vegas. The event is guided by three principles  "fleet, uptime, and community." The agenda was designed to help not only last-mile delivery operations, but also businesses that run trucks and vans high miles and for which fleet is mission critical.

Plenary sessions offered big-picture perspectives on big-picture market trends, while concurrent seminars focused on resources addressing driver and technician shortages, vehicle availability, rising costs, and servicing delays.

Topics:Supply ChainDeliveryConindustry educationSpec'ingState of the Fleet IndustryOperations

The Black Fleet Network kicked off the event with a seminar on how to use diversity as a hiring and retention advantage. From left to right: Lora Dunton of J3 Management Group, Devin Biglow of ZEVx, and Dr. Tyra Jones of JA Consulting. 

Photo: Ross Stewart, RMS3 Digital

The conference kicked off with a cocktail party on Monday night. 

Photo: Ross Stewart, RMS3 Digital

EVs as delivery vehicles? Sure - this VW ID.4 is equipped with a Sortimo pullout rack-and-bin system.

Photo: Ross Stewart, RMS3 Digital

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Kingbee Vans exhibited its work-ready Ram Promaster cargo van. 

Photo: Ross Stewart, RMS3 Digital

The Bobit fleet team gathers with Paras Maniar, CEO of Bobit. 

Photo: Ross Stewart, RMS3 Digital

Paul Loewer of Mullen Automotive shares insights into how early adopters can electrify delivery fleets. He was joined by Ryan Pritchard of Pritchard Automotive, Paul Gioupis of Zeem Solutions, Jimmy Eberhard of Fluid Truck, and Tim Manzano of Tom's Truck Center (right). 

Photo: Ross Stewart, RMS3 Digital

In the closing keynote, and under the pillar of community, Brenton Messner of the City of Las Vegas fleet shares how his team is tackling technician and supply shortages. 

Photo: Ross Stewart, RMS3 Digital

Toni Tovi, founder and president of Bright Flag Recruiting, moderated the keynote panel and in a different session offered tips on how to recruit and retain drivers. 

Photo: Ross Stewart, RMS3 Digital

Grace Bay of Hello Truck Lease discusses market dynamics with Dan McDonough of Auto Park Fleet. 

Photo: Ross Stewart, RMS3 Digital

Lauren Fletcher, executive editor of the Fleet, Trucking & Transportation group at Bobit, moderated two sessions. 

Photo: Ross Stewart, RMS3 Digital

Sunjay Dodani of Revvo discussed tires from a data perspective and what that means for purchasing and maintenance. 

The Mullen Automotive Class 3 EV chassis cab is ready for a delivery body. 

Photo: Ross Stewart, RMS3 Digital

Brad Sigmon of Randy Marion Automotive shares how to get creative with procuring vehicles in this constrained market. He's flanked by Steve DiPiero of Kingbee Vans (left) and Jack Lord of SpaceKAP. 

Photo: Ross Stewart, RMS3 Digital

Did you know that Ram now sells a "super high roof ProMaster with an 86-inch cargo height? Cooper shared the latest. 

Photo: Ross Stewart, RMS3 Digital

“The curb is a mess!” was one message from Matt Daus of the Windels Marx Transportation Practice Group. He and moderator Kathryn Schifferle of Work Truck Solutions and Bill Klehm of eBliss Global discussed the growing and complicated need for fleets to prepare now for more curb disruption to come. 

Photo: Ross Stewart, RMS3 Digital

Sterling Pratz of Car IQ explains trends in fleet payment solutions as Jason Walton of Ridecell looks on. 

Photo: Ross Stewart, RMS3 Digital

Kathryn Schifferle (left) is joined by Dean Cerimeli and Patrick LaRiviere of National Fleet Services and Sidney Miller of Midway Ford (center). The panel discussed how to spec for different route types, payloads, and duty cycles.

Photo: Ross Stewart, RMS3 Digital

Jeb Lopez joined the opening keynote panel. With a fleet of over 300 units and as founder of Wheelz Up, Lopez is one of the largest Amazon DSPs in the country and an Amazon ISP as well. 

Photo: Ross Stewart, RMS3 Digital

Andrew Wrobel of Escalent gave a window into the future in his seminar, which examined the development of powertrains in the new EV era. 

Photo: Ross Stewart, RMS3 Digital

The show floor allowed time for networking and exhibit interaction. 

Photo: Ross Stewart, RMS3 Digital

Bobit's Lauren Fletcher moderated a panel with Shay Misra of Fleetio (center) and Kevin Kell, a Ford certified master technician. The trio discussed best practices in maintenance management to decrease downtime. 

Photo: Ross Stewart, RMS3 Digital

The opening keynote, moderated by Toni Tovi of Bright Flag (left), featured panelists Grace Bay of Patton Logistics and Hello Truck Lease, Dan McDonough of Auto Park Fleet, Tony Rimas of Autotech Ventures, and Jeb Lopez (right) owner of WheelzUp and FedEx and Amazon contractor. 

Photo: Ross Stewart, RMS3 Digital

Delivery fleets are turning to passenger cars to get creative with last-mile deliveries. This Nissan Kicks is upfit with a delivery package, consisting of a metal partition set up between the front and back seats of the car, along with a cargo floor mat.

Photo: Ross Stewart, RMS3 Digital

Dustin Lancy of Goodyear discussed tires and maintenance tips.