MILWAUKEE, Wisc. – Mack Trucks’ GuardDog Connect system can now offer further insights into maintenance intervals, using a new Dynamic Maintenance program that will better match the tasks to specific duty cycles.

“It could be that you could wait for that maintenance further down the road,” explains Roy Horton, Mack’s director of product strategy.

The guidance emerges through the data from about 100,000 trucks currently monitored through the GuardDog Connect telematics system, and is supported by Noregon’s telematics platform.

“This is geared more toward powertrain-related items than anything else – engines, transmissions, and exhaust aftertreatment,” Horton added. But it’s seen as a further step toward the goal of predictive maintenance, which identifies maintenance needs before they actually occur.

Truck owners will need to contact their dealers for information on pricing and a related software upgrade.

It isn’t the only way Mack is leveraging the power of data. The OEM has also unveiled a separate consulting service that will offer free guidance on factors such as fuel economy and idle times, to help optimize different operations.

Fleets will be able to compare their performance against benchmarks established by peers.

“We won’t provide competitive customer data, but we can certainly [compare a fleet’s experience to such data] within our wheelhouse,” said senior vice-president of sales and marketing, Jonathan Randall.

In the midst of it all, Mack continues to see growth in the number of over-the-air updates to the underlying engine software.

Since October 2017, nearly 750 customers that represent 12,700 vehicles have completed more than 2,500 of the software updates.

Each update lasts about 20 minutes, which means the service has collectively saved 3,000 days of downtime when considering how long the process would take if all the trucks were taken to service bays for the work.