Winter is over, but the Iowa Department of Transportation just purchased its largest fleet of snowplows ever, pending winter-like weather this weekend. Shelling out big bucks now -- millions of dollars -- could help relieve the department down the road. DOT mechanics are preparing 143 brand new trucks for whatever weather is thrown their way. As much as 10 inches of snow could fall in northwestern Iowa, while the metro could see some light accumulation.“I don’t know anything about mechanics or trucks, but I do know data,” said Kevin Scheibe, a professor at the Ivy College of Business, who, along with his partner, helped the department score the new rides. A couple of years ago, the Iowa DOT handed over loads of data to the two professors at Iowa State University. The researchers combed through the information, “over a million repair records from our trucks over a 10-year history,” Iowa DOT fleet manager David May said. It proved what the department always thought: “We found that like we suspected, they were keeping their vehicles too long,” Scheibe said. May said, “because we were keeping our trucks so long, we were spending additional money toward the tail end of their life that they would not need to be spending.” The typical lifespan of a DOT snowplow was 15-17 years, but the research showed that by cutting the lifespan in half, $2 million to $5 million per year would be saved. That was enough reason for the Iowa Legislature to approve the department’s recent purchase. “Without this, none of this would have been possible,” May said. “To actually do something that brings value to the DOT and to the state of Iowa, to the taxpayers, yeah, that’s very gratifying,” Scheibe said. The Iowa DOT and Iowa State University plan on continuing the collaboration, even looking at data from this fleet of new trucks, which include safety features such as blue lights to alert drivers.