Faced with increasing margin pressure and ever-tighter cost controls, anyone managing a fleet looks to technology for relief.

According to industry sources:

• Truck maintenance costs have increased an estimated 50 percent over the past five years.
• Up to 20 percent of these costs are associated with vehicle breakdowns and unplanned service events.

This creates an enormous incentive to control on-road breakdowns.

Four critical factors inflate the expense of on-road breakdowns: Towing, incremental labor and parts, shipper penalties and lost margin. Together, costs average $1,400 per event, not including the damage to a client relationship.

“Preventing just 35% of unplanned repairs can save fleet managers thousands in hard costs alone,” said Renaldo Adler, Principal, Asset Maintenance for TMW. “Unchecked service issues can have a cascading effect on other vehicle systems if they aren’t caught in time.”

Applying PeopleNet data science to better predict outcomes, TMW developed a model to more accurately “prescribe” service requirements, to improve on-road productivity and customer response.

Enter Proactive Analysis

TMT Predict.Fault Code is “prescriptive” modeling’s first-generation application. It’s the first tool offered under TMW’s new TMT Predict Series of maintenance analytics solutions, developed specifically to help prevent breakdowns and avoid costly unscheduled service.

“TMW’s new model takes predictive maintenance further,” explained Thomas Fansler, President, Trimble Transportation – TTM Analytics, Vusion. “It not only predicts that service will be needed, it prescribes service and assigns urgency.”

How TMT Prescriptive Modeling Works

The TMT Predict.Fault Code application works with the PeopleNet Mobile Gateway (PMG) and Vusion data science to capture running data and analyze vehicle fault codes and other signal values representing more than 80 vehicle performance variables.

“That data is used to project outcomes based on algorithms. TMT Fleet Maintenance software then calculates a failure probability score associated with each component of a drive system,” Fansler said.

A high failure probability score triggers a dashboard alert. The alert identifies the fleet’s assigned equipment number, VIN, Diagnostic Trouble Code (DTC), performance variables triggering the probability, and other key equipment and signal values.

Scheduling Based On Actual Probabilities

“The TMT Predict.Fault Code dashboard alerts the shop to a serious failure and timeframe. The shop manager can then decide to initiate immediate action or add service to an upcoming maintenance work order,” said Adler. “It allows managers to better set priorities.”

Either way, this helps prevent unexpected breakdowns and expensive emergency repairs. “It’s all about protecting revenue stream and customer response scores, and keeping drivers driving,” Adler emphasized.

Looking Ahead, More Control Down the Road

Increasingly sophisticated truck technology calls for more advanced analytics to ensure timely service response.

“The TMT Predict.Fault Code dashboard gives fleets a precise real-time rapid –response reporting system. New tools in the TMT Predict Series toolbox will be coming soon,” Adler indicated.

Further advances in prescriptive fleet maintenance promise incremental cost controls as TMW and PeopleNet continue to apply analytics science to software technology. Need more information now, contact marketing@tmwsystems.com today.