The two companies’ team approach resulted in the first 7,200 units being installed at 14 sites in 12 states – all in a record rate of 514 per day.

“Purchasers of trailer-tracking systems often neglect the fact that in order to quickly realize the productivity and security benefits of their investment, fast and proper installation is a must,” said Deryk Powell, chief operating officer of Velociti. “It can be a challenge when these assets are in constant motion, and far from their home base in various parts of the country.”

Although GE mechanics install VeriWise at the 100 branches of its Trailer Fleet Services business – and Wal-Mart had its own mechanics as well – the initial deployment had to be completed in a short period while the trailers were available.

Enter Velociti.  After a three-day training seminar, including one day at an actual Wal-Mart site, 80 Velociti technicians were staged at 14 Wal-Mart sites in 12 southeastern states.  They worked with both GE and Wal-Mart to schedule trailers for installation.  The technicians installed transceivers, antennas and power management devices – as well as interior-mounted cargo sensors and solar trickle charging systems. Handheld association units were used to scan completed trailers and post critical installation data to a secure web-based project management system. The timely reporting enabled GE and Wal-Mart to maintain complete visibility of the project’s progress.

“Velociti is flexible in how we can either do installations single-handedly or augment installers at a customer or distributor site,” Powell noted.  “We share the same commitment to perform these installs in a time-sensitive, safe and appropriate manner.”

During that critical first deployment, Velociti installed 5,800 units and GE mechanics completed the remaining 1,400 in parallel.  The team effort resulted in meeting the overall commitment without negatively impacting trailer utilization for Wal-Mart’s distribution network. For the remainder of the order, Velociti has been helping GE’s 30-member Wal-Mart installation team complete job before the fall surge in trailer demand for holiday shipments.

“It’s terrific to know that when we have large and geographically complex installation challenges, we can count on both our GE mechanics and Velociti team to help us meet our customer commitments,” said Thomas Konditi, president and CEO of the Asset Intelligence business of GE Equipment Services.  "We certainly expect more deals of this type, and our experience with the Wal-Mart installation demonstrates we have the resources available to help our customers use our technology sooner, and give them a much earlier return on investment." 

First introduced by GE in April 2003, VeriWise consists of a fully protected, trailer-mounted transceiver, a discreet antenna, and a patented power management system.  The system uses the Orbcomm low earth orbit satellite network, and is supported by the Asset Intelligence business with advanced research and engineering resources from GE’s four global research centers.  VeriWise options include an interior-mounted cargo sensor and a solar trickle charging system to further extend battery life.

Trucking companies are using GE’s trailer monitoring technology to increase security as well as efficiency.  VeriWise customers can avoid losing trailers, locate stolen trailers and the cargo they contain, or to detect and prevent unauthorized transport by “dropped” trailers in between loads – all situations that drive up operating costs for shippers and ultimately consumers.

More information is available at branch offices of GE’s Trailer Fleet Services business and at the Asset Intelligence Web site www.ge.com/assetintelligence.