A fleet’s tire usage and cost assessment can benefit from more accurate and comprehensive monitoring and analysis since tires are one of the top expenses for fleets. Digital tire management programs can help to not only monitor the current status of vehicle tires on the road and in the shop, but can also help provide insight on total lifecycle costs for tires. Dana’s Shaun Hartoog provides insight on the benefits of implementing a tire management program.
Transcription of interview:
Erica Schueller, editorial director, Fleet Maintenance: Welcome to Fleet Maintenance Uptime Update. I am your host Erica Schueller, editorial director of Fleet Maintenance magazine, covering all maintenance, all vehicle classes, all management, all the time.
Digital data collection and assessment drives fleet maintenance operations efficiencies today. More accurate and comprehensive monitoring and analysis for tire usage and cost can be of particular interest since tires are one of the top expenses for fleets. Implementing a digital tire management program can help to not only monitor the current status of vehicle tires on the road and in the shop, but can also help provide insight on total lifecycle costs for tires.
I talked with Shaun Hartoog, digital solutions specialist for Dana, about tire management processes and programs used by fleets today. He first shared insight on what fleets have traditionally done to monitor tire usage, wear, and replacement.
Shaun Hartoog, digital solutions specialist, Dana: Methods can vary greatly for fleets at different stages of maturity in tire management. Traditional methods could be none at all, pencil and paper, maybe the use of spreadsheets, but it’s most commonly the aggregate view of tire spend. These approaches don’t give you visibility on how your program is operating, or what’s driving your tire costs.
Schueller, Fleet Maintenance: Hartoog provides insight on how a tire management program directly impacts maintenance.
Hartoog, Dana: You want a best practice inspection process and a cloud-based system of record. This impacts a customer’s fleet maintenance by providing visibility, accountability, and consistency, thereby increasing tire life and reducing over-the-road breakdowns.
Schueller, Fleet Maintenance: Next, Hartoog talks about the process, benefits, and challenges of implementing a tire management program for fleets.
Hartoog, Dana: It’s more than data collection. Fleets need a consistent guided inspection process and you want that process to include visibility across the organization and decision making. The benefits are increased tire life, fewer breakdowns, better customer satisfaction, [and] improved safety and CSA scores.
Traditionally, implementing new technology can mean months of effort. With the [Dana Rhombus] cloud-based approach, a fleet can be up and running in days, with little IT involvement because it leverages your existing infrastructure.
A well-designed system that provides guided usage requires only a couple of hours instead of days for training, giving our customers a rapid time to value.
Schueller, Fleet Maintenance: Accountability during the vehicle inspection process is key to ensure a successful tire management program. Hartoog shares more.
Hartoog, Dana: Our application is a guided inspection process. It guides the technician step by step beyond inspecting a tire and collecting tire pressure and tread depth, you note conditions [of the tire] and even have the ability to capture images. It’s an expanded inspection process which is guided by our application that becomes a consistent process improvement and adds a level of accountability for the technician in conducting his inspection.
Schueller, Fleet Maintenance: What type of actionable information can be provided through tire management programs? Hartoog provides examples.
Hartoog, Dana: Our program includes automated alerts for fleet exceptions. For example, one of our customers is using the system now to identify when a tire was stolen. This is an example of some of the unexpected benefits our customers are finding on top of the benefits the system was designed to provide such as identifying tires when there are repeated inflation and mismatched tread depths.
Another recent example is one of our customer’s third-party service providers were installing different tire sizes.
Beyond the immediate value of tire maintenance insights, Rhombus provides deep tire analytics that allow you to see how your program is improving as well as the ability to select the best tire for the job by application, axle position, and region.
Schueller, Fleet Maintenance: If you’re interested in reading more about tire monitoring and management, visit the link below for more information.
Thank you for tuning in to Fleet Maintenance Uptime Update, I’m your host Erica Schueller.
Until our next broadcast, keep up with this, and other industry topics, by visiting us online at FleetMaintenance.com.
