Kenworth featured in ‘Fortune’ mag

Fortune magazine’s Tech Transformations series last week detailed the supercomputing power harnessed via the web as part of truck maker Kenworth’s efforts to design the ultra-fuel-efficient T660 tractor currently on offer. Senior writer Jon Fortt leads with a chronicle of the exposure of the seemingly mundane mudflap to intense design effort. “>Most people don’t spend much time thinking about mudflaps — those strips of rubber behind a big rig’s wheels that repel grime and maybe show a gun-toting Yosemite Sam, warning ‘Back off!’ But by using sophisticated design technology, engineers at truckmaker Kenworth discovered that the little flaps were also a major source of drag. Simply trimming and tapering the flaps will cut about $400 from a typical truck’s annual [fuel] bill.”