Spireon Introduces Intelligent Trailer Management Portfolio

Extending Beyond Basic Sensors and Trailer Components, Intelligent Trailer Management Provides Solutions to Bring Rich Data and Actionable Intelligence to the Forefront of the Trucking Industry

Spireon, the vehicle intelligence company, unveiled Intelligent Trailer Management (ITM), the company’s new portfolio defining the industry term of “Smart Trailer,” timed with American Trucking Association’s (ATA) Management Conference & Exhibition (MCE). Building upon Spireon’s award-winning trailer management solutions, ITM brings a new generation of intelligent tools to carriers, helping to leverage the right data and provide actionable intelligence.

“Today the term ‘Smart Trailer’ is broad, blurry and leaves carriers unsure of how an investment in such systems would generate a clear return,” said Roni Taylor, senior vice president of strategy and business development at Spireon. “This is why we have defined Intelligent Trailer Management for the industry a newly enhanced trailer platform that makes it easy for carriers to gather and use data to reduce cost and increase utilization.”

Read More: Atos Unveils North American Google Cloud Artificial Intelligence Lab

“With the number of trailer sensors and technology systems available today, most fleets could be inundated with volumes of data and lack the resources to properly analyze and identify what will result in actionable insights,” said Clem Driscoll of C.J. Driscoll & Associates, who just published Survey of Trucking Fleet Operator Interest in MRM Systems and Services 2019-2020, with a focus on smart trailer technology.

“When Spireon first introduced its telematics solution in 2011, it centered around rich data and actionable intelligence to elevate telematics above simple trailer tracking and introduce comprehensive trailer management. Intelligent Trailer Management is the next generation of rich data,” Taylor said.

Spireon’s award-winning FleetLocate, the comprehensive fleet and asset intelligence solution that leverages state-of-the-art telematics technology and the powerful NSpire^® platform, is the cornerstone of this portfolio. Collecting over one billion data events per month, FleetLocate is designed to translate these data points into actionable intelligence so fleet and asset managers have the information they need to operate safely, efficiently, and profitably.

Read More: 5 Ways Artificial Intelligence is Reinventing HR Technology

A vast influx of data events can be overwhelming for fleet managers to process, Spireon’s ITM equips fleets with the tools to organize and analyze the data that means the most, improves fleet operational efficiency and generate true ROI. Spireon’s ITM provides:

• Smart Sensor Integration—Integration with proprietary and third-party smart sensors to increase trailer visibility, drive operational efficiency, mitigate maintenance costs and reduce CSA violations. Expanded sensor suites including Automatic Tire Inflation Systems (ATIS), Tire Pressure Monitoring Systems (TPMS), door sensors, temperature probes, and more can be customized because no two fleets’ needs are the same.
• Advanced IntelliScan Platform—Enhanced architecture of Spireon’s patented IntelliScan cargo sensing technology, which leverages time of flight lasers and optical imaging to deliver 99.9% cargo detection accuracy. Advanced feature sets allow for image capture inside the trailer to go beyond simple loaded/unloaded status into visualizing cargo and pinpointing when load status change or damages have occurred. It also includes volumetric analysis so less-than-truckload (LTL) carriers can maximize capacity.
• Enabling Data Sharing and Custom Analytics—Expanded ability to share data with customers via new APIs, extended TMS integration, and data warehouse sharing via Spireon’s partnership with Snowflake. Spireon’s partnership with Snowflake allows fleets to access thousands of assets and years of historical data in seconds. It also opens the door for fleets to combine telematics data with third-party data sources to create net-new custom business intelligence modules and customizable KPIs.
• Actionable Intelligence—Providing the right insight at the right time by leveraging telematics and sensor data to generate new business intelligence, more advanced KPIs, dashboard visualizations, and targeted maintenance modules. All of these pave the way for fleets to be proactive versus reactive, reduce downtime, and extend the life of their trailers.

Larry Hall, executive vice president of sales and marketing for Premier Trailer Leasing, anticipates where ITM is headed. “We look out into the future where the data derived from these systems eventually becomes predictive through heuristics – ways to help humans crunch this information. So instead of saying, ‘Hey, you’ve got 18,000 miles on this trailer, so at 25,000, you should do a maintenance inspection.’ It can say, ‘Hey, we have sensed how many times the brakes have been applied, and not only the application of the brakes, but the pressure on the pedal.’ And that information is analyzed to predict how it will affect the brake shoes, so we know that within the next 60 days, we’re going to need a brake job, or a wheel end, or more closely check the tire tread depth,” Hall said.

Read More: Enterprises Are Leaving IoT Devices Vulnerable to Cybersecurity Threats, Finds nCipher Security

“Proactively handling potential issues is going to be the biggest benefit, and it’s all about keeping your drivers driving, turning revenue and earning miles – not dead miles,” Hall said.