[EDITOR’S NOTE]


Unless you participate in it, towing and recovery is probably not an industry you have thought much about. And let’s face it, if your car is being towed, you are probably not having your best day. But it’s a remarkable business with a fascinating history.


In the United States alone there are tens of thousands of independent businesses engaged in these activities, and they in turn employee hundreds of thousands of people. In this issue, we visit the International Towing & Recovery Hall of Fame & Museum in Chattanooga. Te tow truck or


“wrecker” was invented in Chattanooga in 1916, and the inventor and his son built their Ernest Holmes Company into the dominant producer for the industry for many years. Te Hall of Fame and Museum began operating at its current location in 1995 with


several goals in mind. In addition to recording the history of the industry and displaying artifacts – trucks, equipment and much more – related to towing, part of the mission is to build public awareness for the industry and how it serves the public. Additionally, through the Hall of Fame and the Wall of the Fallen, the Museum also seeks to spotlight individuals who contributed to the development of the industry, or died performing what can be remarkably dangerous work. It’s worth considering that a tow truck driver doesn’t have the benefit of a lift plan, they


have to work that out on the spot! Elsewhere in this issue, our WRE Advisor welcomes Tawnia Weiss, President of A1A


Software LLC, makers of 3D Lift Plan and iCraneTrax software. In this article, adapted from a presentation Ms. Weiss gave at last year’s CRAC Conference, she shares thoughts on the emerging revolution in telematics data, and lays out five ways you can put that data to work for your business right away. In this issue we also take a look at some of the challenges the larger industry faces in


recruiting and developing the younger workers it will need to sustain itself in the future. We touched on this subject in our last issue in the form of Succession Planning – and we hope this provides more perspective that you can use. We also have a lot of industry news to share, and of course be sure to shop our


members’ listings in the WRE Catalog in this issue and online. We hope to see you at an industry event soon – and please let us know if you have news


to share or anything you would like us to write about in a future issue! Best Regards,


Bob Glenn, Publisher | Wire Rope Exchange P.O. Box 159323, Nashville, TN 37215 Email: bglenn@wireropeexchange.com


Upcoming Events AWRF General Meeting and PIE


April 7-10 | Cleveland, OH awrf.org


bauma April 8-14 | Munich, Germany bauma.de


SC&RA Annual Conference April 23-27 | Carlsbad, CA scranet.org


Offshore Technology Conference May 6-9 | Houston, TX 2019.otcnet.org


WSTDA 2019 Annual Meeting May 6-8, 2019 | Cancun, Mexico www.wstda.com


ACRP General Assembly May 14-16, 2019 | Lexington, KY acrp.net


AWEA Windpower May 20-23 | Houston, TX www.windpowerexpo.org


AIST 26th Annual Crane Symposium June 2-4 | Louisville, KY aist.org


CRAC Conference and General Meeting June 5-8 | Charlottetown, PE, Canada www.crac-aclg.ca


SC&RA Crane and Rigging Workshop September 18-20 | Glendale, AZ scranet.org


ICUEE Demo Expo October 1-3, 2019 | Louisville, KY icuee.com


GIS Expo October 3-5 | Piacenza, Italy gisexpo.it


WSTDA 2019 Fall Meeting October 7-9, 2019 | Montreal, Canada www.wstda.com


WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU, SHARE YOUR NEWS WITH US: bglenn@wireropeexchange.com


CHECK IT OUT: www.wireropeexchange.com


Facebook “f ” Logo CMYK / .ai THEWREXCHANGE 2 MARCH–APRIL 2019 WIRE ROPE EXCHANGE Facebook “f ” Logo CMYK / .ai


AWRF Fall General Meeting October 27-30 | San Diego, CA awrf.org


ConExpo-Con/Agg 2020 March 10-14, 2020 | Las Vegas, NV www.conexpoconagg.com


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