PeopleNet, a provider of innovative and integrated onboard computing and mobile communications systems, announced that Old Dominion Freight Line Inc. is using PeopleNet’s real-time engine monitoring to enable FleetNet America to proactively manage its fleet maintenance and reduce maintenance costs.
PeopleNet’s Vehicle Management application is designed to collect fault code information from the vehicles’ ECM and send the data to FleetNet over the PeopleNet network. FleetNet interprets the data and immediately contacts and instructs the driver of the vehicle with the fault code alarm to pull over and park the vehicle.
According to Old Dominion director of field maintenance, Tom Newby, PeopleNet-FleetNet monitoring has been installed on 3,500 vehicles, and by late spring, the remaining 2,200 trucks will be equipped. Newby says that the system delivered a pay-off before day one.
“While we were testing the system, just a few days before we went live, we saved the $20,000-plus cost of a catastrophic engine failure,” Newby says. “FleetNet received a fault code from PeopleNet indicating low oil pressure. A FleetNet maintenance representative called the driver and instructed him to pull over and park. As a result, we incurred minor repair costs, compared to the engine failure that would have occurred if attention to the problem had been deferred until the driver returned to the terminal for diagnosis.”
The company’s maintenance department identified urgent fault codes that could result in catastrophic engine failure and should be sent to FleetNet immediately: high temperature, low coolant, low oil pressure and high oil temperature. “The fault code gives FleetNet a better idea of what’s needed,” Newby says. “The last thing we want to do is have a technician dispatched to the truck, only to learn that it can’t be fixed at roadside and will need a tow. It’s all about better visibility and analysis that will keep our maintenance costs and vehicle/driver downtime in check.”
Old Dominion currently is talking with vehicle manufacturers as they consider adding more fault codes.
