Big Data
Data Driven: ELD’s can open door to big data
If knowledge is power, then Electronic Logging Devices (ELD) could be the most powerful device on the truck. Sure, the device at its most basic is responsible only for monitoring hours of service, but the potential of networking and integrating data is impossible to ignore. Why settle for simple electronic logging when it can serve as a total fleet management solution in a box? A friend of mine drives for a 10-truck floral distribution company and makes regular runs from Ontario's Niagara region to Chicago, Michigan, and western New Jersey. The picture he paints of his distribution manager would be amusing if it were not (most likely) true. The manager must be a fellow who grew up trucking in the '60s, and still listens to eight-track tapes of Red Sovine and Dave Dudley. The routes are badly planned, trucks are frequently diverted en route, the vehicles are always breaking down, and all communication with drivers is done over the -telephone. And he doesn't believe in ELDs. My friend says his boss will wait until the last possible moment to equip his fleet - and then only because he must.
Big data can guide big maintenance decisions: Panel
The electronic revolution is a reality in the trucking industry. Electronic Control Modules now feed data from engines and transmissions alike. Maintenance software can spit out reams of reports, measuring just about every imaginable operating parameter. As important as all the underlying data can be, however, the secret is to turn it into actionable information.