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Diesel’s black smoke may be gone, but another threat is still draining fleets: downtime.
When Diesel Particulate Filters (DPFs) were introduced in 2007, fleets were promised a simple fix—trap the soot, “clean” the filter, and keep moving. Fast forward nearly two decades, and the reality is much harsher: cleaning doesn’t restore, and downtime costs more than ever.
Wayne Skinner, Senior Vice President of Fleet Maintenance & Procurement at Durham School Services, manages more than 17,000 buses across North America. For him, the issue is clear:
“We love planned maintenance because you can schedule it. Unplanned downtime? That’s a fire drill. And when it comes to DPFs, unplanned events happen a lot faster than anyone expected.”
A clogged filter isn’t just a maintenance headache—it can mean thousands in repair bills, lost routes, and wasted technician hours. That’s why Durham tracks a strict KPI of less than 5% of buses out of service at any time.
Even with those controls in place, aftertreatment continues to drive costs higher than expected. As Skinner notes, fleets that don’t get proactive about restoration will keep paying the price in avoidable failures.
For years, fleets turned to local dealer agreements, bake-and-blow systems, or air-blade machines. While these approaches kept filters moving, they didn’t solve the real issue: inconsistent quality, incomplete results, and repeat failures.
Skinner puts it simply:
“Air-blade cleaning extends life, but it doesn’t restore. It doesn’t bring the filter back to spec. And if you’re not restoring, you’re just creating another failure down the road.”
Fleets like Durham are moving away from short-term fixes and toward solutions that deliver proof of performance. That’s why many now turn to Ceramex.
With a patented aqueous restoration process validated to OEM standards, Ceramex brings filters back to like-new condition—and does so at scale. Whether you’re running locally or nationwide, fleets get the same level of quality and assurance.
As Skinner emphasizes:
“These aren’t just parts. These are our assets, carrying our most precious cargo every day. I can’t afford a solution that’s temporary. I need validated restoration that I can build ROI on.”
Modern fleets aren’t just restoring filters—they’re rethinking how they manage emissions altogether.
Durham has centralized maintenance data under Maximo, eliminated unnecessary parts SKUs, and tied every labor hour to real-time costs. By focusing on scale, they’ve replaced patchwork local solutions with consistent nationwide partners. And by investing in technician certifications and driver training, they’ve reduced idling, misdiagnoses, and preventable failures.
Black smoke may be gone, but downtime is still the silent killer of profitability.
As Skinner puts it:
“Cleaning isn’t enough. None of it restores. The only way forward is validated restoration.”
For fleets, the choice is clear: move beyond cleaning and embrace restoration as a strategy—one that delivers OEM-level performance, cuts downtime, and protects budgets.
👉 Ready to stop losing the downtime battle?
Explore how Ceramex restoration transforms fleet performance: ceramexna.com