Analytics Provide Hidden Gains for Tire Management
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The data-driven approach has sparked an ongoing evolution for truck fleets in how to manage and understand key aspects of their operations. Normally used in maintenance for engines, drivetrains and emissions performance, this approach has found its way into one of the more underappreciated aspects of trucking literally where the rubber meets the road: tires.
Data-driven strategies and tools are beginning to drive a transformation in tire management. Various types of telematics platforms, sensors and on-board systems are in various stages of deployment. The result is a growing ability for fleets to optimize tire performance, reduce maintenance costs, improve overall efficiency and fuel mileage, and get longer life and better return on investment out of what is the third most costly element of truck operations.
The Hidden Secret
With a fleet of 1,600 tractors and 5,600 trailers, El Paso, Texas-based Mesilla Valley Transportation Solutions routinely test tires and validates manufacturer’s claims of fuel efficiency.
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“The hidden secret with tires is how they affect fuel mileage,” said Royal Jones, president and CEO. “There can be a huge difference between tire brands, and their impact on fuel use and the overall cost per mile to operate, between better fuel mileage and better wear characteristics.”
The discussion on tires and fuel economy “tends to be bleak; often it’s just not a major focus for fleets,” notes Daryl Bear, chief operating officer and lead engineer for MVTS. Bear runs MVTS’ analysis lab. “On the one hand, when tires wear, the rolling resistance decreases, which saves fuel,” he added. “Yet as they wear, the tire literally gets smaller in diameter and requires more revolutions per mile. And that affects fuel mileage.”
His testing helps fleets understand the difference between different tire brands’ fuel efficiency. It’s an instance of leaving easy money on the table. The delta between good and bad, Bear says, can be massive.
“There are some tires out there that you would not put on your fleet because the mileage is so poor,” he explained, adding that other tires pay for themselves in higher fuel efficiency and decreased cost per mile. “Tires are the easiest way to improve fuel economy and get a fast ROI.”
Mesilla Valley Transportation ranks No. 73 on the Transport Topics Top 100 list of the largest for-hire carriers in North America.
Bob Ramsdell, executive vice president of operations for Amerit Fleet Solutions, noted that one important distinction in managing tires is the need to consider many factors not present with other preventive maintenance activities.
“For example, there is tire composition, load, environment, application, proper inflation and impacts of driver behavior,” he said. “These all can create variability in tire performance. By comparison, the need to change oil and replace air filters is more static.”
One important distinction in managing tires is the need to consider many factors not present with other preventive maintenance activities. (Amerit Fleet Solutions)
Providing Accurate Data
Adding more sensors that have unique data-capture roles and writing the code and business logic to help the software incorporate that data and provide more accurate analysis and predictive capabilities is the next step. Pressure Systems International offers a product called “TireView” for trailers, which includes tire temperature and pressure measurement, which all tire pressure monitoring systems do, and automated inflation capability, notes James Sharkey, PSI’s president.
Within its sensor package, PSI also incorporates a digital sensor — which Sharkey calls a “Digital ThermALERT” — that will alert a fleet if a user-set temperature threshold exceeds a set point.
“[It’s installed] on the trailer axle spindle and can tell if bearings are running too hot,” he explained. “We can create temperature gradients that say where the heat is coming from, whether it’s tires, wheels or bearings.”
One of PSI’s product offerings also can take into account ambient temperature and extreme weather conditions. Brake wear sensors also provide data on brake pad conditions. The data is uploaded via cellular network to the cloud and into the maintenance technician’s dashboard, and where appropriate, to the driver. The product also uses GPS to identify where the truck is when an event occurs.
“We get a holistic view of the undercarriage because all that can influence what’s going on with the tires,” Sharkey said.
As for artificial intelligence and its role in tire analytics, he noted that industry is still at the very beginning of getting all the data and digesting it.
“Our job is to help the fleet stop drinking from the [data] fire hose,” Sharkey observed, adding that he believes “the next great opportunity” is helping fleets effectively manage and organize these huge “data lakes” of information, then rationalize and organize that data so that it supports faster, more accurate decision-making and better predictive capabilities.
‘A Single Pane of Glass’
Cindy Hunter, director of technology sales of the connected vehicle group at Rush Enterprises, agrees that the ability to rationalize and organize mountains of data and make it relevant and easy to use for fleets is paramount. She calls it “providing a single pane of glass” where tire, brake and wheel sensor data, fault codes from the engine, vehicle inspection reports and other operating and safety information are organized into one dashboard, updated in real time with data collected through a custom on-board fleet management platform available from Rush.
“It’s more than just a driver doing a walk-around trying to measure tread depth,” she said. The key to tracking and optimizing tread and tire issues “is to automate the capture of data and avoid handwritten forms. Inspection tools, once integrated into telematics data and mileage, can generally accurately predict tire wear and replacement cycles” when part of a digital data unification platform, she noted. The tools and data, she added, “can also feed alerts and ‘calls to action’ associated with parts and supplier information to further reduce labor costs and drive more efficient operations.”
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One new development just beginning to go mainstream, said Hunter, is the use of radio-frequency identification as tires go from factory to fleet to retread and recycling. She noted major manufacturers will soon be embedding RFID tags into tires to enable this life cycle tracking, “which will greatly enhance the visibility of tire status within a fleet.”
Sensors, data and telematics are great tools, noted Mark Finger, senior vice president of maintenance, operations and safety for Transervice Logistics. However, “they don’t fix the truck,” he said. In his view, maintenance techs and drivers are the ones on “the front lines” to address tire management issues.
Finger, with nearly 30 years in the fleet maintenance field, has witnessed an ongoing evolution in fleet tire maintenance strategies and the use of data and analytics.
Brian Antonellis of Fleet Advantage and TMC General Chairman Radu Mihai discuss the need for targeted training programs for heavy-duty technicians that build a capable, future-ready workforce. Tune in above or by going to .
“We focus on opportunities to actually see and touch the tires,” he said, adding that those moments are typically pre-trip inspections by drivers and shop visits, during which techs examine the tires and take tread depth readings.
“We’re making sure tires are at the appropriate inflation level,” he said. “We’re assessing tread wear and patterns to identify if we have an imbalance in a wheel or tire, an impact break and tire mismatches. It goes well beyond checking if they are round and black.”
Finger also brings in his tire suppliers twice a year to do an independent audit of the entire fleet.
“It’s a full-on canvassing of the fleet. They come on-site and inspect every tire, record make and model, tire pressure, condition and tread depth,” he noted. “That helps us identify any issues that could impact tire life and fuel efficiency.”
Transervice Logistics ranks No. 92 on the for-hire TT100 and No. 80 on the TT Top 100 list of the largest logistics companies.
Low Costs, High Efficiency
Ryder System recently launched a tire pressure reporting and monitoring system across fleets in its network, providing real-time visibility into tire pressure and temperature, notes Robert Chernow, director of national tire maintenance.
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Chernow didn’t have exposure to that data on a fleetwide basis before. One initial discovery in those fleets where the technology has been implemented was finding that 30-35% of tires in tested fleets were out of spec, mostly underinflated. It was a wake-up call that’s become “a catalyst for changing operational behavior, providing incentive to manage tires more proactively and treat them as the important asset investment they are,” Chernow explained.
And it’s not a small investment. Ryder has 3 million tires on the road.
Before, all his tire reports were manual, visually checking tires at various intervals and inputting that data into a report, he said.
“Now TPMS is doing the work of digitally capturing the data in real time, auto-populating reports and a management dashboard,” and enabling his team to act on issues before they become critical, he added. “It removes the gap in time” between getting data and acting on its findings, he said.
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The low-hanging fruit was both in reduced tire maintenance cost and increased fuel efficiency, impacts that are not inconsequential for a large fleet, he explained.
“When a tire is 22 psi underinflated, fuel consumption increases by 1%. With TPMS, now we can fix tires in the yard before they get on the road,” Chernow said. “We have seen miles-per-gallon improvement of 1.6% to 1.8% from ensuring optimal tire pressure at all times. And we’re getting improved tread life.”
Ryder ranks No. 6 on the for-hire TT100 and No. 7 on the logistics TT100.
