Truck Parts and Service | Heavy Duty Trucking, Aftermarket, Service Info
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/599520
information (VIN, model year, spec'ing information, etc.) to ECU data on system and component performance is automatically communi- cated to fl eets through today's telematics systems. Dealer service departments can receive this information, too. OEMs have the ability to route maintenance informa- tion gleaned though factory- installed telematics systems to a fl eet's preferred dealer service facility, Jain says. Decisiv Vice President of Channel Marketing Michael Riemer says the time-saving benefi ts of this communica- tion are two-fold. Either the fl eet or dealer is required to manually record the asset information at the beginning of the repair, and by provid- ing fault code information in advance, the service depart- ment gets a head start on diagnosing the problem. "It allows you to get the right information into the right hands," he says. And Powell says that's just the beginning. As vehicle ECU technology continues to grow, so too will the amount of data mined from these systems. A world where telemat- ics providers can leverage comprehensive component, system and fl eet data against live asset reports to predict fu- ture problems is just around the corner. Prognostics is the fu- ture of fl eet maintenance, and telematics will make it possible. "We can analyze data trends and in certain cases we can anticipate faults before they actually happen," says Jain. "We can fi nd where there is a high probability of a certain kind of fault, and with the OEM, we can notify the fl eet" of the potential break- down risk. "If something happens repetitively, that's probably an area you want to address," adds Jackson. Fortuna says telemat- ics also will supplement the industry's burgeoning interest in vehicle autonomy, collect- ing and distributing data to track vehicle movement and the performance of collision avoidance systems. Telematics won't eliminate downtime, but coupled with prognostics and autonom- ics, it will unquestionably minimize it. Yet how the independent aftermarket fi gures into this uptime revolution remains to be seen. Most data transferred us- ing telematics goes directly to vehicle owners. OEMs guide fl eets with factory-installed telematics systems to dealers when relevant, but the service provider only acquires the information if the fl eet agrees to outsource the work. Telematics allow for faster diagnostics because they transmit vehicle performance data to a fl eet and OEM well before the vehicle reaches a service bay. Telematics systems also allow fl eet managers and drivers to access the vehicle data at any time, albeit through entirely different platforms. Cover Story 18 T R U C K P A R T S & S E R V I C E | N o v e m b e r 2 0 1 5