april2022 - 10

Telematics and connectivity provide an easy-touse
solution for most fleets, Reeves said.
" Fleet managers can now better understand
maintenance requirements, truck conditions, and
even predict potential areas to address, " he said.
" The days of simple telematics-that only provide
asset location-are long behind us. "
Fleets with thousands of assets know about
these abilities, how they provide transparency,
and more importantly, how they help plan scheduled
downtime and decrease unplanned maintenance.
But with this evolution of connectivity
and telematics solutions, changes are happening
so rapidly, there are now several strategies and
options for all fleets.
Low-hanging fruit
Every organization has its own preference on what
fleet management software and hardware is used
to optimize operations. Minneapolis-based carrier
Dart Transit's fleet, which comprises about 1,100
trucks from three OEMs, has embraced several
telematics provider solutions and uses them in
their daily operations, according to Paul Pettit,
Dart's VP of maintenance.
This has enabled Dart to find connectivity solutions
for both the truck and trailer sides, he said.
" There are several suppliers that have given
fleets the ability to take what was a pretty simple
trailer in years past and now have as much data
sent to you as you want, " Pettit explained.
Sensors are included to address tire concerns,
potential bearing failures, and inoperable lights,
as well as cargo monitoring.
" Trucks can be even more detailed, with data
coming from the engine, transmission, and tires,
to name just a few, " he added.
These features are now standard on engines.
For example, Detroit Diesel's DD13 Gen 5 comes
with the Detroit Connect suite of connected vehicle
services. These inform fleets of vehicle health,
fuel efficiency, and safety data. Specifically, the
Detroit Connect Virtual Technician remote diagnostics
service allows fleet managers to see within
minutes if a fault event occurs, along with severity,
and when, where, and how to best resolve the issue.
Daimler Truck North America took this a step
further by partnering with Platform Science to
offer Virtual Vehicle, an open OEM platform that
lets fleets access telematics, software solutions,
real-time vehicle data, and third-party applications
right from the truck.
" With Virtual Vehicle, we offer our customers
an open digital solutions and services platform
that allows them to choose fleet applications that
best meet their needs, " said Sanjiv Khurana, head
of the connected services group at Daimler Truck.
" The system is seamlessly enabled in our trucks
without the need for installing any additional
telematics hardware or the associated costs and
loss of uptime. "
Navistar offers OnCommand Connect, an
all-makes remote diagnostics platform, which
for the OEM's customers integrates with the
International 360 solution, while Mack uses
GuardDog Connect, Volvo has Remote Diagnostics,
and Paccar relies on Paccar Solutions. There are
numerous third-party providers as well.
10 Fleet Maintenance | April 2022
»Willie Reeves, PacLease director of maintenance, assists a technician in running diagnostics.
Photo: Paccar
Pettit identified spot-checking assets' fuel efficiency
as a major advantage.
" We use our telematics to review them on a
truck-by-truck basis versus looking at one specific
make model year and seeing how that entire
model year is looking, " Pettit said. " From there,
we look at what kind of outliers we are having,
and if that idle percentage is driving down fuel
economy or anything like that, and try to work
toward educating drivers where we can on how
to reduce idle. "
When it's done right, these solutions can lead to
a faster ROI, improve uptime, and increase vehicle
total cost of ownership.
" If the fleet is able to act on the data and avoid
costly repairs, the initial charge and possible
monthly charge is not as painful, " Pettit said.
Data management
As maintenance VP, Pettit has many more responsibilities
other than tracking asset data, so he does
his best to avoid data overload-the point at which
all that data becomes white noise.
" The challenge is having the systems in place
to act on the data and take advantage of the technology
chosen for your fleet, " he explained. " The
amount of data incoming can be overwhelming,
and it is too easy for maintenance teams to simply
not act on any of the issues. You have to be able to
choose strategically what data you want, and then
work with it once you have received it. "
For Dart, this meant picking out what alerts
to prioritize, such as those that would signal a
breakdown.
" Those would be acted on quickly to help get the
driver into a safer situation, expedite the breakdown,
and still service the customer at the same
time, " Pettit said. " By being proactive, we are able
to help steer the course of action, which works for
us much better than being reactive and working
with a situation completely out of your control. "
Martin Günsberg, Ford Motor Company's director
of connectivity and new business communications,
agreed.
" Access to real-time vehicle health helps fleet
managers proactively service a vehicle to help
avoid more costly repairs or worse, unplanned
downtime, " he said.
Ford is newer to the telematics game but has
picked up momentum with the creation of a new
commercial vehicle-centric business, Ford Pro,
and the launch of Ford Pro Telematics. With it,
the light- and medium-duty segment now has a
free option to gather data to improve performance,
efficiency, and total cost of ownership.
It works with gas, diesel, hybrid, and electric
vehicles, and comprises several cost-saving
features such as instant odometer readings, diagnostic
trouble codes, recall notifications, trackable
maintenance alerts, and information around
engine hours and oil life.
As customers transition to electric vehicles, Ford
Pro Intelligence will link the services they need,
including electric vehicle data such as live range,
optimal time to charge, and charging products and
services across depot, home, and public.
Günsberg reiterated the importance of collecting
real-time data from your fleets' operations.
" Vehicle health insights are critical to maintaining
uptime, " he said. " A fleet manager no longer
has to rely on a driver to inform them of a vehicle
health issue. Vehicle health information is available
in the dashboard to help make immediate
decisions about a vehicle to maximize uptime. "
Empowering predictive
maintenance
The latest way to avoid data overload is by letting
the cloud-based platforms do the heavy lifting
through predictive maintenance.
One example is sending sensor data from the
powertrain to an electronic control unit. From
there, the data is transferred to connectivity
devices that send the information off to the
cloud. The platform then cleans and analyzes
the numerous points of data to distill them into
actionable insights for fleet management.
And it's becoming more available for fleets big
and small.
" Combining artificial intelligence and data off
the trucks and from the shop, fleet maintenance

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