Michelin Americas Truck Tires said Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology is being added to commercial truck tyres and retreads, enabling fleets to better manage their tyres throughout the full life cycle.

Its tyre maintenance programme is being upgraded to include new features for fleets.

“Michelin is the first manufacturer to integrate RFID into its full commercial truck tyre portfolio. Technology is transforming the trucking industry and Michelin is leading this effort to improve fleet performance and bottom line,” said Ralph Dimenna, chief operating officer.

Currently Michelin services over 260 fleets and more than 36,000 commercial vehicles nationwide in the US.

Key upgrades and options to its Tire Care maintenance package include:

• Improved program hardware and software: rugged CAT Smart device has Android smartphone look and feel with 4G capability and PDA Windows App. New measurement devices allow for faster and more accurate readings.
• Actionable Fleet dashboard: shows in-depth tyre summary including critical analysis of Red Tag and Yellow Tag events, number of vehicles inspected, number of tyres inspected and top 10 issues.
• Red Tag Resolution: as Red and Yellow tag event are identified during an inspection, programme helps ensure that all critical issues are corrected. The vehicle history shows the work performed and when it was completed.
• Pricing options: In addition to a flat per-inspection fee, a new hourly pricing option provides an easy tyre maintenance program rolled into one set hourly rate.
• Self Fit: an in-house solution that allows fleets to perform their own inspections via a flat monthly fee with no restrictions on the number of inspections.
• Road Ready: this option uses a Love’s TirePass lane to perform inspections.

Read more at http://www.just-auto.com/news/michelin-adds-rfid-to-truck-tyres_id175139.aspx