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COMPANY NEWS
WheelRight Completes
Field Trials of In-Motion Tyre Pressure Measuring System
account the cost of tyre pressure checks, puncture avoidances as well as fuel and tyre savings, WheelRight estimates savings of approximately £33,000 per year for Thamesdown, equivalent to £375 per bus. This figure does not include unquantifiable additional benefits such as improved safety, environmental impact and enhanced service that the adoption of the new tyre monitoring system has achieved.
Head of Engineering at Thamesdown, Dave Spencer, said: “With this new technology, our passengers can be assured of even greater safety on the road. More consistent tyre pressure monitoring will improve braking performance on our buses, reduce the time needed for tyre maintenance and improve the efficiency of our fleet. This smart piece of kit has also been proven to spot punctures before buses even leave the depot, thus enabling us to change or repair tyres before they become a problem on route. This has reduced the number of instances where we’ve had to attend buses in the event of unexpected tyre failures,
which in turn has reduced disruptions to our services.
“Adopting the WheelRight system also reduces our impact on the environment, saving fuel, cutting CO2 emissions and reducing the number of tyres sent to landfill early.” According to John Catling, the system is already carrying out 4,000 tyre pressure measurements every day at the three trial sites. The company’s aim is now to distribute the system more widely and get more fleets to adopt it. In order to overcome barriers to adoption, WheelRight does not actually sell the equipment, opting instead for a monthly charge over a 3- 4 year contract. The customer only pays up-front for the construction work at his premises.
According to Catling, WheelRight is currently only active in the UK but is potentially looking at a global market for the product. The company is also looking to extend the functionality of the equipment by adding tread depth and sidewall damage recognition devices to the package of services available to the fleet operator.
Oxford based company WheelRight has announced the successful completion of field trials of an innovative new tyre pressure monitoring system, which is claimed to be able to save truck and bus fleets thousands of pounds in fuel costs, whilst simultaneously improving the safety of passengers, drivers and maintenance engineers alike.
over the sensors, the data from which is processed using algorithms developed by WheelRight’s team of engineers. Within seconds of driving over the monitoring strip, a series of calculations is carried out, with the real-time pressures being sent directly to the fleet manager, via text or email. The system also produces a report for the fleet manager rating all vehicles
red, amber or green. Any vehicle with a tyre more than 20% out of the recommended pressure is categorised as red and earmarked for immediate attention. According to John Catling, WheelRight’s CEO, a key benefit of the system, which also measures vehicle and axle weight as well as incorporating a heat sensor, is that the system removes the need for manual checking and is hence much quicker. “Speed is vital,” says Catling. “The results appear on screen in two seconds and on your mobile in ten. The system also measures the pressures ‘in-motion’ and with the exception of trailer tyres where an RFID tag is used, it functions without the need to touch the valves or add a measuring device to the tyres.”
Thamesdown Transport, which employs approximately 220 people and operates a fleet of 80 buses, began to trial the system two years ago, installing a monitoring strip between the fuel bay and the bus wash. During the seven month, full scale trial Thamesdown say they confirmed significant benefits from the WheelRight system. Taking into
John Catling
Bridgestone Roadshows Explain Cost Saving Benefits of New Regional Tyre Range
Hundreds of commercial vehicle dealers have been giving Bridgestone’s new generation of regional tyres an encouraging ‘thumbs-up’, after they were officially unveiled at a series of roadshows across the UK. Bridgestone and its Truck Point network hit the road to reveal its R- STEER 001 and R-DRIVE 001 products to sizeable audiences in Glasgow, Leeds, Crewe, Bristol and Brentwood.
Dealers who attended the workshop style events were given an insight into the cost saving
benefits of fitting the new range, which will ultimately replace the highly successful R297 and M729. Bridgestone’s UK product and marketing manager Andy Mathias said: “In what is still a challenging economic climate, one of the best ways for fleets to optimise their operations is to get the greatest possible use out of each one of their trucks. To be able to communicate this message so concisely to so many dealers was invaluable and we were delighted with the success of each roadshow as a result.”
Andy Mathias explains the benefits of Bridgestone’s new range of regional tyres at one of the roadshows.
The system, which has been trialled by Swindon based bus operator Thamesdown Transport as well as by logistics company Howard Tenens, consists of a flush mounted monitoring strip embedded into the road that contains highly sensitive, yet robust sensors. To check tyre pressures, vehicles are simply driven
The measuring strip at Thamesdown’s premises in Swindon
16 Commercial Tyre Business