As fleets increasingly employ telematics and remote diagnostics to drive down maintenance costs and limit downtime, Senior Contributing Editor Seth Skydel discusses the subject with Alec Johnson, product manager at Noregon, and Andy Turnbull, vice president of customer solutions at Decisiv.
How do telematics capabilities benefit fleets and their maintenance operations?
Johnson: Fleets are using service telematics tools to improve asset utilization. Remote diagnostics give fleets unprecedented insight into the state of their vehicles at all times, and the ability to detect issues before they lead to a breakdown or costly repair.
Turnbull: Telematics data becomes highly actionable when you’re able to leverage remote diagnostic and preventive maintenance information in a way that helps you make more intelligent maintenance and repair decisions at the point of service.
In what ways do telematics streamline repairs when a vehicle arrives at a shop or when a service need arises on the road?
Turnbull: With telematics, beyond knowing immediately if a truck encounters an issue that needs repair, fleets have a growing amount of actionable data. For example, having parts identified and at the shop before the truck arrives can go a long way toward returning it to service quickly.
Johnson: Using remote diagnostics, technicians can view detailed diagnostic reports and begin triage before a truck arrives at a service center. Because these applications monitor the truck in real time, sensor data can help a technician understand a truck’s operating conditions at the time of a failure and pinpoint the cause for quicker repairs.
How do integrations with maintenance management systems add to the value of telematics and remote diagnostics solutions?
Johnson: The integration of remote diagnostics and maintenance systems is a natural pairing. By merging telematics data with maintenance information, fleets gain transparency into a truck’s historical faults, which leads to the detection of recurring or intermittent issues.
Turnbull: Service telematics can allow you to monitor compliance with PM schedules and be alerted in a maintenance management system when any of your assets approaches or passes the threshold for the next maintenance event. That makes telematics data a great indicator of the health of your fleet’s vehicles.
How do the technologies and systems you offer help facilitate the effective use of service telematics systems?
Johnson: Our TripVision product integrates with telematics systems for managing the health and performance of assets. Also, our in-shop tool JPRO shares vehicle histories with TripVision to present technicians with valuable information for detecting recurring or intermittent issues.
Turnbull: The Decisiv Service Relationship Management (SRM) Ecosystem connects service telematics information from on-board systems, service locations, management systems and diagnostic tools on one platform to enable your service supply chain to lower costs and improve asset utilization.
