Bridgestone Americas and Pilot Company announced that they have created a service network for commercial fleets to use Bridgestone’s tire monitoring technology at more than 300 Pilot and Flying J travel centers.
Fleets have been using this network since initial launch in July 2022, and as part of this news, the companies shared results from one fleet. According to the company, Watsontown Trucking Company, which owns and operates a fleet of more than 475 tractors, 1,200 van trailers, 90 open-top vans, 75 flatbed trailers, and 5 Volvo VNR Electric Trucks, has begun to leverage the network and has achieved benefits that include the following:
- 867 annual labor hours saved on pre-trip and safety lane inspections.
- An emergency roadside incident rate reduction of 10%, eliminating nearly 1,300 annual breakdown hours.
- Operational and maintenance savings totaling an estimated $126,000.
Each router installed in the fuel canopies of select Pilot and Flying J travel centers is linked to Bridgestone Fleet Care’s tire monitoring service and transmits real-time tire data in two minutes or less from trucks and buses to fleet managers, the company notes. Bridgestone Fleet Care’s technology combines hardware with a software application to allow fleet operators to address specific tire issues and mitigate unplanned maintenance. Fleets using this solution have access to critical data such as tire inflation pressure and temperature, enabling them to continually monitor the health of each tire throughout its lifecycle.
