Page 27 - Newcom

TRUCK BUSINESS NEWS
April 2016
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Trucking just ‘scratching the surface’ of what connectivity can achieve
Volvo Trucks North America president Goran Nyberg believes technology and connectivity have even greater potential for the trucking industry
By James Menzies
WASHINGTON, D.C.
Goran Nyberg wants Volvo’s trucks
to be the iPhones of the trucking in- dustry. The president of Volvo Trucks North America told trucking journal- ists in February the future of trucking is all about connectivity and creating a vehicle that can be enhanced with third-party applications.
“We will be focused on being ex- perts of the trucks and the perfor- mance of the trucks and whatever apps may come in the future, we need to have an open mind to make sure they work with our features,” Nyberg said during a wide-ranging discus- sion with journalists that returned frequently to technology and connec- tivity.
Nyberg said trucking is just “scratching the surface” of what can be achieved through emerging tech- nologies. He pointed out there are now 100,000 Volvo trucks using Re- mote Diagnostics and that the system is becoming more predictive.
The vast amount of data collected from those trucks now allows Volvo to predict when certain parts will fail and to warn customers. However, Ny- berg said a change of mindset is re- quired by fleets to truly take advan- tage of this opportunity.
“The culture in our business is, we repair trucks when they break down,” Nyberg said. “We can bring more val- ue to (customers) if we are allowed to be proactive in our approach.”
Nyberg used the airline industry as an example.
Aircraft parts are replaced before they break because unplanned stops and failures aren’t acceptable.
With Volvo collecting data from thousands of trucks it can now pre- dict when parts will fail and encour- age fleets to be more proactive about replacing those parts.
“Why should I run the truck until it breaks down if I know this compo- nent has reached its end of life?” Ny- berg questioned.
This data also allows Volvo to act
more quickly to identify trends and activate campaigns.
Volvo continues its war against downtime, with the opening of its Uptime Center last year and now with the rollout of a Certified Uptime Cen- ters program that recognizes dealers that have implemented strategies to repair trucks faster.
These dealers guarantee a diagno- sis within two hours of a truck’s arriv- al and have special lanes available for quick repairs.
So far, seven Volvo dealers have re- ceived the Certified Uptime Center designation, Nyberg said.
Volvo is also continuing to explore the potential of truck platooning. Lat- er this year it will conduct trial runs with the University of California, Berkeley, running three VNL670s in platoon formation.
Nyberg stressed this technology won’t replace drivers.
“In all technology, you need to have the human factor that can override the system when it’s not working,” he said.
Volvo officials acknowledged in- terest in alternative fuels, includ- ing natural gas and dimethyl ether (DME), has waned as diesel prices have fallen.
“I think we can all agree that alter- native fuels will be a part of the fu- ture,” Nyberg said. “We still believe in DME, but we don’t think the market is ready...At $2 a gallon (for diesel), it’s
a challenge for any alternative fuel to be financially feasible. I think we all know fuel prices will come back. It might take time, but if fuel goes back to somewhat normal, the appetite and interest in alternative fuels will increase again.”
Volvo executives also hinted of a major powertrain breakthrough that will be announced in late March.
But despite the best efforts of jour- nalists, they weren’t revealing any de- tails about what it will involve.
Check www.TruckNews.com March 23 for details on Volvo’s new pow- ertrain announcement.
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Cat exits truck business
PEORIA, ILLINOIS
Caterpillar announced Feb. 26 it is discontinuing production of its on-highway vocational trucks.
It cited the current business climate in the truck industry and a thorough evaluation of its own business as its reasons for withdrawing from the market.
It will no longer take orders for vocational trucks, though the company says it will con- tinue to support existing truck customers and vehicles that are currently on the road.
Cat entered the truck market in 2011 through a partnership with Navistar. That partner- ship came to an end last year and Navistar earlier this year released its new HX Series vo- cational truck, which it acknowledged was inspired by its partnership with Cat.
Caterpillar was preparing to bring production of its trucks in-house at its Victoria, Texas production facility.
“Remaining a viable competitor in this market would require significant additional in- vestment to develop and launch a complete portfolio of trucks, and upon an updated re- view, we determined there was not a sufficient market opportunity to justify the invest- ment,” said Ramin Younessi, vice-president with responsibility for Caterpillar’s Industrial Power Systems Division. “We have not yet started truck production in Victoria, and this decision allows us to exit this business before the transition occurs.”
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About 70 jobs will be affected as a result of the move.
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