june2023 - 34

GUE ST EDITORIA L
Getting started with
predictive maintenance
It can be difficult to navigate how best to get
started with a predictive maintenance program.
The best first step is to consider the equipment
that not only carries a high maintenance
burden, but also causes the greatest damage
when it fails. To take a cue from the insurance
industry, trucking can benefit by first focusing
on " high-severity and high-frequency " incidents;
those that are almost certain to occur
and would be more likely to have devastating
outcomes when they happen.
Aperia Technologies Inc.
How IoT reshapes
maintenance
By taking the guesswork out of preventive maintenance
and avoiding emergency road calls, IoT shifts the focus
to data-driven decisions before the truck hits the road.
Most fleets today take a preventive approach
to maintenance - pulling a truck off the road
for scheduled service based on a predetermined
number of miles or hours in operation.
If a problem is not caught in time, what started
as a minor issue can rapidly snowball into a
more expensive repair that forces a vehicle
out of service for an extended length of time.
For the trucking industry, connectivity,
machine learning, and artificial intelligence
technologies are now capable of revolutionizing
maintenance practices. Predictive maintenance
shifts the focus to data-driven decisions.
Instead of repairing a truck as something
breaks, data can help spot and fix a potentially
weak link in advance.
With the aid of real-time telematics data and
analytics, fleets can begin to shift to a predictive
maintenance program from the reactive or
preventive plans that are commonplace today.
Know your data
For many fleets, new technologies can be a
double-edged sword, with the excitement of
unlocking savings and boosting productivity
giving way to the reality of information overload.
So, while the transition to predictive mainteBy
Judith Monte
VICE PRESIDENT OF CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE
& MARKETING, APERIA
Judith Monte is vice president of customer experience &
marketing at Aperia Technologies. She has worked in the
transportation industry for 25 years with a primary focus
on uncovering and addressing client needs and creating
personalized experiences that increase client value, loyalty,
and retention. She holds a Master's degree in Business
Administration from the University of Michigan.
nance can boost vehicle utilization and driver
satisfaction by identifying emerging problems
before they become larger headaches, the
data generated from the countless IoT sensors
being added to the rapidly growing number of
connected trucks can quickly overwhelm fleets.
While the data from each IoT sensor can be
used to positively impact fleet maintenance,
their respective benefits are far from equal
when focusing on the frequency and severity
of component failures.
34 Fleet Maintenance | June 2023
" Studies by the
American Trucking
Associations'
Technology &
Maintenance Council
(TMC) found that one
out of five commercial
vehicles is operating
with one or more tires
underinflated by at
least 20 pounds per
square inch (psi). "
Judith Monte, vice president of customer
experience & marketing, Aperia
When considering these factors, it becomes
clear that tires are the logical choice for an
IoT-related investment.
Underinflated tires foreshadow premature
tire wear, tire failure, or even a tire-related
accident in the future. That can be seen in
statistics from the National Highway Traffic
Safety Administration (NHTSA), which
show 35% of accidents attributed to " vehicle
malfunctions " are primarily attributed to
tire-related problems.
The main reason behind this troubling figure
is how significant a problem tire underinflation
is throughout the industry. Studies by the
American Trucking Associations' Technology &
Maintenance Council (TMC) found that one out
of five commercial vehicles is operating with
one or more tires underinflated by at least 20
psi and that only 46% of all tractor tires and
38% of all trailer tires are within plus or minus
5 psi of the target pressure.
TMC recommends that any tire found to be
inflated to less than 80% of target pressure
should be inspected, and that a tire underinflated
by 50% or more should be considered
flat and taken out of service.
june2023

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