Boughey Distribution invests in trailer telematics for entire fleet

Boughey Distribution, part of NWF Group, is rolling out Michelin’s EffiTrailer telematics system across all 236 trailers in its fleet. The move follows a trial organised by local Michelin advocate dealer Quinton Tyres. which demonstrated the potential further safety and efficiency improvements of the technology. The Nantwich-based logistics firm ran EffiTrailer on 12 standard length trailers and 10 Longer Semi-Trailers (LSTs) for more than a year, collecting a wealth of data and experience, before making the investment.

Paul Brimelow, NWF Group fleet engineer, says: “We initially looked at the system for its ringfencing and tracking functionality; we have a lot of dropped trailers and knowing where each one is and when it was last used is increasingly important for maintenance scheduling.

“Plus, we saw an opportunity for the tyre pressure monitoring system within EffiTrailer to help protect us against roadside breakdowns. We’re already meticulous about fleet maintenance, which made this harder to justify to our management team. However, Quinton Tyres analysed five years’ worth of our trailer breakdown data and associated costs – concluding we could unlock further savings.”

Its close working relationship with Quinton Tyres means Boughey Distribution put full trust in their supplier to manage all tyre-related data generated by EffiTrailer – with a team at the dealership following an agreed critical path reporting structure for dealing with all tyre alerts.

Stuart Quinn, managing director of Quinton Tyres, says: “EffiTrailer is constantly monitoring pressure and heat sensor readings across the fleet, reporting anything which falls out of scope. We monitor these alerts 24/7 and notify our customer accordingly.”

Quinton Tyres has tailored alerts to suit Boughey’s 130psi standard trailer tyre inflation pressures. As soon as a tyre starts to lose pressure the EffiTrailer system notifies Quinton Tyres of a potential issue. The team at Quinton Tyres then use pre-defined thresholds to determine the level of action to be taken, whilst remaining in constant communication with the customer.

“During the first week of the EffiTrailer roll-out we picked up two slow punctures and we were able to complete the repairs and get the trailers back into service quickly,” explains Quinn. “This saved Boughey Distribution the expense of a roadside call-out and a possible new tyre.”

Deploying the system across 100 per cent of the Boughey Distribution fleet makes the firm one of the largest EffiTrailer customers in the UK.

The accuracy of Michelin’s real-time pressure alerts also means they no longer require quarterly fleet-wide pressure checks by Quinton Tyres – which helps to offset the cost of EffiTrailer.

The system will be installed across all trailers by the end of July, with Boughey’s fleet consisting primarily of tri-axle models from Tiger Trailers.

In addition to constant geolocation and a TPMS, Michelin EffiTrailer can analyse data from the electronic braking system and details each trailer’s mileage, the length of any periods of abnormal downtime, the ‘unhooked’ or ‘towed’ status of the asset, and whether the trailer is overloaded.

The system can be installed on all trailers equipped with EBS, regardless of age or manufacturer, and is available regardless of current or future tyre policy.