GREENVILLE, S.C. – Michelin senior vice-president of services and solutions Ralph Dimenna gave a keynote presentation at the virtual Internet of Things World conference Aug. 11, outlining how connectivity is enabling the company to deliver value to customers that reaches far beyond tires.

As an example, he cited the company’s Memos Evolution 4 mining application, which is completely integrated with mine vehicles and the surrounding mining ecosystem to help companies better lay out the mine, and run vehicles more efficiently within the mine. Dimenna explained what began as a tire-centric program has expanded thanks to connectivity to enhance overall mine operations.

In Europe’s trucking industry, Michelin’s Truckfly app helps drivers find parking, and which restaurants are open to serve them. This proved vital as businesses shut down due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

“These truckers in Europe could find food and parking in a secure area, even though much of the economy in Europe was shut down,” he explained, adding usage of the app increased 25% over the past six months.

Also in Europe, Michelin is collecting information on driving behaviors and aggregating it to improve driver performance and reduce accidents. It is also providing that aggregated data to infrastructure companies so they can build safer roads and better maintain them.

Here in North America, Michelin has launched its Maestro program, a digital platform it says will help fleets better track service done to their vehicles.

“In over-the-road trucking much of the service provided is done in an opaque way, a paper and pencil – maybe even still fax machine – way,” he said. “(With Maestro) you as a fleet manager will always know who has touched your vehicle and what operations were done and how it was done. It gives you the peace of mind in knowing your fleet was maintained because all the information and work is being done on a digital platform.”

All this is possible, said Dimenna, thanks to connectivity.

“The connected objects allow us to create intelligent insights around the objects we connect to, so we can provide more benefits and more information for our customers that will drive progress and drive them to make better decisions,” he explained. “Connected objects are simply enablers to creating this intelligence and driving better decision-making by us and by our customers.”