Preventing Tire and Wheel Failures on Fleet Vehicles
Jonathan Stotts
Senior PR & Communications Manager
When companies merge cutting-edge hardware with modern software solutions, big things happen. Innovation in the fleet industry is happening rapidly as a direct result. Not only can this combination help to improve how a business earns revenue and grows value, but it also impacts safety and efficiencies overall.
In a recent conversation with Michael Hartman, the Senior Director of Heavy-Duty Sales Vehicle Aftermarket in North America for SKF, we discussed the importance of preventing tire and wheel failures within fleets, using data as a supportive strategy in doing just that.
On the Ground Insights
Noting how fast technology is growing and changing, Michael shares what SKF is doing. “We’ve taken some of the core competencies [we developed] over the last 20 years and are now taking them to the commercial vehicle market.” He also states, “This is now giving data-driven analytics to the end user fleets, either through a telematics provider or a standalone version through a simple bold on the device.” This allows the company to provide very accurate data, including the condition of the wheels. That allows end users and fleets to “make some important decisions well before a catastrophic event were to happen.”
The company is poised to offer this type of data insight. As noted by Michael, “We’re in over 50% of the commercial vehicle market today. And so, the great part about that is we get a lot of those insights and data and having a fleet team that’s out there working directly with fleets to look at this innovation and to essentially guarantee that uptime.” The company works closely to achieve key goals. “… For us being there on that infrastructure helps us really understand what’s going on in the market today and looking for potential solutions and creating great ideas like the tracks, wheel, and monitor and creating good components like the tracks we monitor to offer solutions to fleets.”
Utilizing Data
“Utilizing the data through a telematics provider, they can really spec their equipment and really look specifically at their business to say, does this make sense or do I need to put a different type of component on there to make sure I can meet the lifecycle and the demand of the fleet?” he notes.
It’s about preventative maintenance as well. The company is using predictive data and machine learning to provide end users with insights into their fleet. That lets them “schedule and plan maintenance if they identify a problem through the telematics,” he states. By providing this resource, companies can have more control over what was once uncontrollable and utilize downtime more effectively.
The goal is always to enhance safety in any way possible. “If we can give any type of insight to the fleets to have them fix one of those, so you don’t have a thermal event or have a catastrophic wheel failure, that’s the biggest thing we want to do…is to make sure that we have safety first, guaranteeing them uptime and making sure they can control their costs,” states Michael.
At the same time, it’s critical to realize that it’s one thing to collect the data but something very different in taking that data and applying it to make decisions.
The Future
Sharing a bit about what the company is doing, Michael states, “The big thing that we’re looking at now is advanced propulsion – powering with hydrogen and EV, creating lower friction products that are also sustainable solutions for the years to come. SKF has very ambitious goals and takes them very seriously when it comes to sustainability by 2030 … we’re going to be there for sure because that’s the environment that we want to personally live in and thrive.”
With all this great data being created, it’s about putting that together, and that’s where the company is now, on the cusp of making the best use of this incredible amount of data.
