The trucking industry is embracing technology, though perhaps slower than other sectors like financial services, which has sophisticated its use of data decades ago. At the latest Trimble Insight Conference in New Orleans, Adam McElhinney, CEO of Uptake, discussed how his company is bridging this gap by embedding subject matter expertise directly into predictive maintenance software, thereby reducing unplanned downtime and lowering maintenance costs.
Modern Class A trucks are essentially rolling computers, generating upwards of 600 different sensor data points live and in real-time. Fleets are increasingly "drowning in all this data" from multiple sources, including reefer systems, lift gates, and tire pressure monitoring systems. Traditional maintenance approaches often rely on the expertise of seasoned maintenance supervisors, but as these experts retire, fleets must find innovative ways to capture and leverage that knowledge.
Uptake's predictive software runs this vast quantity of data through pre-trained machine learning algorithms. This allows them to be highly precise in their maintenance predictions. McElhinney highlights that they can look at truck 1234 and identify a "coolant issue," distinguishing between a coolant sensor issue, a coolant pump issue, or even a coolant leak.
McElhinney emphasizes that simply having dashboards is often too late, as the problem has already occurred or impacted operations. The future lies in getting ahead of these patterns before they manifest. In today's market, where trucking companies are under pressure to "squeeze every penny" and are holding onto trucks longer due to environmental uncertainty, optimizing asset value is critical.
A key piece of advice McElhinney offers fleets is to meticulously track one core KPI: fleet availability. This metric determines, at any given time, what percentage of a fleet’s trucks are available to make money. Understanding why trucks are unavailable (waiting for parts, planned maintenance, unplanned maintenance, or violations) is essential for effective cost control and management. Uptake focuses on ensuring that its technology delivers a clear, tangible ROI, aiming for customers to get "four or five dollars back" for every dollar spent.