Wisconsin's Marten Transport invests in Kenworth T680s

Marten Transport, headquartered in Mondovi, Wis., is one of the leading temperature-sensitive truckload carriers in the United States. The 69-year-old company specializes in transporting and distributing food and other consumer packaged goods that require a temperature-controlled or insulated environment. Employing more than 3,500 people, Marten Transport offers service throughout the United States, Canada and Mexico.

With thousands of trucks operating from regional facilities across the country, Marten has purchased more than 600 new Kenworth T680s over the past few years through Wisconsin Kenworth, a CSM Company. The last order for 105 T680 day cabs are spec’d with the PACCAR MX-13 engine for even greater fuel economy. The No. 1 reason Marten prefers new Kenworth T680s is simple, said CEO Randy Marten: “The World’s Best(R) trucks help attract and retain the world’s best drivers.”

Son of founder Roger Marten, Randy has overseen the transition of the company’s business model in recent years from largely over the road to predominately regional operations. “We’re a long-haul intermodal business, and we’ve regionalized our truck deliveries by putting more than 700 trailers each day on trains,” said Marten. With terminals in Wisconsin, Georgia, California, Oregon, Indiana, Kansas, Texas, Virginia, Tennessee, Florida, Pennsylvania and Arizona, the average length of haul has shrunk by half, from 1,200 to 650 miles. “Our goal is to get drivers home at night as often as possible.”

Marten Transport takes driver satisfaction seriously, especially when it comes to the equipment they operate. “We’ve been running Kenworths since 1967, but this newest evolution of Kenworth truck is incredible,” he said. “We like everything about the T680 – the design, performance, fuel economy – but our drivers like Kenworths for the interior comfort and quiet ride.”

From bumper to rear crossmember, the Kenworth T680 has been precision-honed through exhaustive design testing to perfect airflow for greater fuel efficiency. Inside, the large panoramic one-piece windshield combines with Kenworth-signature DayLite(R) doors and a forward sloping dash to dramatically expand the driver’s field of vision. The dashboard control center delivers real-time information for maximum efficiency and performance.

The Kenworth Driver Performance Center tells Marten drivers everything they need to know about operating in the sweet spot between performance and efficiency. Truck diagnostics and performance indicators alert the driver.

Marten drivers keep electronic logs to track fuel and vehicle system performance. To accommodate electronic logging during driver downtime, Marten Transport has modified its driver compensation package. In combination with the inter modal and regionalization efforts, Marten said, “We’ve made a lot of changes in our efforts to provide drivers with a nice, even paycheck. To compete in this business, you have to serve your drivers with safe and comfortable work environments, and you have to have quality equipment that doesn’t break down. Kenworth gives us all that and more.”

The “and more” includes the excellent parts and service support that Marten Transport receives from Wisconsin Kenworth. That support includes high parts availability through an extensive parts inventory and daily parts van delivery to help Marten complete its own service work on time. Quality service and warranty work is also performed by factory-trained certified technicians both at Wisconsin Kenworth locations and as required at Marten terminals.