NASHVILLE. The new intelligent trailer control module (ITCM) unveiled here by Haldex at the 2017 Technology & Maintenance Council (TMC) annual meeting is designed to allow for more “plug and play” system additions to trailers, as way as way to extract more data from them, too, noted Scott Walpole, the company's North America product manager for ABS/EBS and valves.
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...Read the rest of this storyAt the 2017 Technology & Maintenance Council (TMC) annual conference in Nashville, TN, several suppliers to the trucking industry unveiled a broad range of products, from a new tandem axle and terminal tractor fifth wheel to numerous “connectivity solutions” for trailers and a couple of electronic logging devices (ELDs). (Photos by Sean Kilcarr for Fleet Owner)
...Read the rest of this storyLarry Bennett, director of the vehicle technology center for the vehicle group at Eaton Corp., explained during a presentation at the 2017 TMC conference that “electrification” of commercial trucks is going to become a more prominent trend – and as a result trucks will need to step up to a 48 volt environment.
...Read the rest of this storyNASHVILLE -- TMW has launched a new, affordable and user-friendly maintenance management solution designed to help fleets with fewer than 150 trucks improve cost control and maintain DOT complianc, as well as a parts inventory app for technicians.
"Many smaller fleets have found themselves priced out of the market for modern maintenance solutions, whether the work is performed in their own shops or outsourced," explained Renaldo Adler, principal, asset maintenance, fleets and service centers for the company, at the Technology & Maintenance Council meeting Sunday. "TMW FleetCheck levels the playing field by providing many of the same tools, reporting capabilities and other features that are helping larger fleets run smarter and more profitably."
TMW FleetCheck enables users to integrate the management of multiple areas that impact operational efficiency and cost per mile such as preventive maintenance schedules, fuel usage and warranty recovery for fleets that outsource their maintenance.
Fleets that have their own shops can use FleetCheck to monitor parts inventory, track labor rates with extensive reporting capabilities that allow users to analyze and improve equipment and parts procurement, review technician performance, negotiate vendor pricing and manage a full range of costs in real time. The system also ensures that DOT registrations are renewed on time and inspections are completed according to schedule.
TMW also introduced a mobile app that allows technicians to perform a variety of parts inventory management processes quickly and easily with an Android or iOS device.
Called Parts Room, the new TMW app allows technicians to perform a complete physical inventory for a parts room, or narrow the list by individual bin, part number range or part type. Several filters can also streamline the process, including the ability to scan only uncounted parts or parts that show a quality variance. Users can also scan a part number for lookup in ...Read the rest of this story
NASHVILLE -- Like many "legacy" companies with ancient roots in the trucking industry, Dana Corp. says it is today undergoing a rapid and mandatory transformation to a more digitally oriented company in order to better meet the needs of its customers.
Dana's new Rhombus TireAnalytics platform, introduced Sunday at the ATA's Technology & Maintenance Council meeting in Nashville, is a first-step toward seeing that new focus bear fruit.
Rhombus is a cloud-based telematics platform that helps fleets in identifying and analyzing tire wear trends, predict and avert maintenance issues, and establish optimal timeframes to balance tire use with replacement demands. The system integrates portable communications and computing platforms, advanced data collections and analysis systems with a cloud-based system that allows fleets to use existing mobile computing hardware such as tablets, smartphones or PCs to examine information and act quickly on it.
According to Tim Farley, vice president of global sales for Dana, Rhombus is a "first-to-market," easy-to-use solution that will enable truck owners to throughly assess the success of tire management strategies using Big Data.
"Over the lifetime of a truck, tire maintenance is a top spend item and leading cause of over-the-road truck-down incidents that drive roadside assistance costs and late delivery penalties. Rhombus is a powerful tool that will help fleets control those costs while fine-tuning maintenance practices and zeroing in on ones that are successful."
Dana also took advantage of TMC to introduce its new SPL 350 Lite driveshaft, specifically engineered for downspeeding applications. The new driveshaft is 35 pounds lighter than existing models in its class. Dana says the new axle will offer improved performance for powertrains that enable engine downspeeding by supporting axle ratios lower than 2:26:1, which is the fastest ratio on the market today for 6x4 tandem configurations.
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NASHVILLE -- Global technology provider ERoad announced the commercial availability of its Electronic Logging Device (ELD) at the 2017 TMC Annual Meeting & Transportation Technology Exhibition on Sunday.
ERoad's ELD features a driver-friendly, in-vehicle device with simple display and transfer capabilities for facilitating roadside enforcement and reducing administrative time and paperwork. With minimal training, drivers and fleet managers can monitor hours of service records with summaries and reports of on-duty status, rests and resets.
Additionally, the new ERoad ELD provides fleet managers the ability to review and edit logs that drivers can accept on the in-vehicle display. Using a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform, Eroad's ELD gives commercial vehicle operators additional compliance and operational solutions including fuel tax management, GPS tracking and driver performance monitoring.
“Our 17 years of experience in trucking technology and management solutions led to the design and development of what will currently be the only FMCSA-registered provider to offer permanent in-cab hardware as part of a comprehensive ELD solution,” said Norm Ellis, president of ERoad. “App-based ELD solutions face a number of issues including poor Bluetooth connectivity, battery dependence, and a lack of a permanent compliant connection to the truck. If a driver misplaces, drops, or forgets his or her smartphone or tablet, they won't be able to stay in compliance with the ELD mandate. All of these issues are why we built a fixed, in-cab solution.”
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NASHVILLE -- Haldex's new Intelligent Trailer Control Module (ITCM) expands the capability of trailer ABS systems to include faster communication and increased functionality. Haldex announced the new control module at the Technology & Maintenance Council Annual Meeting here on Sunday.
With two communication protocols -- Power Line Carrier (PLC) and Controller Area Network (CAN) -- the ITCM offers multiple auxiliary ports for additional device connection, such as:
Trailer Roll Stability Control such as Haldex's plug-in Stability Module – a plug-in auxiliary device for rollover control and automatic braking,Trailer Roll Stability Control, The Haldex Stability Module communicates through the CAN port and works with ITCM to potentially prevent trailer stability events. The Stability Module also acts as a brake-apply valve for future auxiliaries and functions like soft-docking.Trailer Lift Axle Control, such as the Haldex ILAS E that controls the position of lift axles during operation.Switch Control, which acts as an on/off switch to provide an action determined by pressures, temperature, power voltage and other inputs from various sources such as open doors, lights left on, brake lining wear sensors, actuator stroke sensing and more.Brake monitoring control. The brake monitoring function monitors airline (service/emergency) inputs to detect potential braking problems, such as dragging brakes, air system leaks, false charging, and Incorrect glad-hand connections. External System Monitoring provides monitoring and reporting on non-Haldex systems such as tire pressure monitoring systems.The system can also be integrated into fleet GPS systems, and in-cab warnings are provided through the existing ABS dash lamp.
“The new ITCM is one more step that we are taking in the technology arena to provide more flexibility and control to our fleet customers," said Walt Frankiewicz, senior vice president, North America Sales. "We continue to expand our ABS and air brake systems to increase functionality.”
The expanded diagnostics capability of ITCM offers several ways ...Read the rest of this story
