Podcast: Ford Pro's take on tech shortage, work truck TCO, and journey to zero downtime
Modern work trucks must be more than a sturdy cab and bed or body, evolving in recent years into mobile offices and sometimes even power stations for the jobsite. To keep up, OEMs such as Ford have also had to evolve, updating their strategies to manage these trucks. To explain how that is happening in 2026, we spoke to Ford Pro's Eric Rice, the general manager of U.S. fleet sales. During the discussion, he detailed the industry's latest trends, from advanced driver assistance systems to predictive maintenance and the technician shortage.
Catch this episode of The Fleet Lead podcast here or search for The Fleet Lead on your favorite podcast app.
Timestamps:
- 02:23 - Total cost of ownership
- 07:35 - Advanced safety tech
- 11:35 - The technician shortage
- 16:30 - Machine learning for actionable data
- 18:30 - Race to zero downtime
About the Author
John Hitch
Editor-in-chief, Fleet Maintenance
John Hitch is the award-winning editor-in-chief of Fleet Maintenance, where his mission is to provide maintenance leaders and technicians with the the latest information on tools, strategies, and best practices to keep their fleets' commercial vehicles moving.
He is based out of Cleveland, Ohio, and has worked in the B2B journalism space for more than a decade. Hitch was previously senior editor for FleetOwner and before that was technology editor for IndustryWeek and and managing editor of New Equipment Digest.
Hitch graduated from Kent State University and was editor of the student magazine The Burr in 2009.
The former sonar technician served honorably aboard the fast-attack submarine USS Oklahoma City (SSN-723), where he participated in counter-drug ops, an under-ice expedition, and other missions he's not allowed to talk about for several more decades.