Brent Hickman Brings Motorsports Expertise to Trucking Tech – Fleet Administration
HDT 2023 Truck Fleet Innovator Brent Hickman
HDT/Canva graphic from Pilot Firm/Brent Hickman photographs
A dragster travels 1,320 toes, 1 / 4 mile, in about 5.2 seconds. Throughout that point, the whole lot taking place on the automotive is monitored and measured, from the wheel velocity to the clutch to the best way the automotive flexes.
“With out understanding what these elements are doing in the middle of that 5 seconds, you don’t know what to tune to get that additional velocity and that additional little bit that’s going that can assist you recover from the hump and win,” says Brent Hickman, senior supervisor of kit upkeep and gross sales for Pilot Firm, explaining how he applies his racing-team expertise to operating a extra environment friendly trucking fleet. “A slight adjustment makes the distinction of profitable or shedding.”
Hickman has been with Pilot for 14 years, however he actually grew up round motorsports. The household enterprise was drag racing, competing throughout the U.S. and Canada and within the Center East. He additionally spent 4 years in NASCAR with Stewart Haas racing as a CNC programmer and rear ends and suspension specialist for Tony Stewart within the 14 automotive. He nonetheless does some NHRA racing on the facet.
Brent Hickman grew up round motorsports.
Picture courtesy Brent Hickman
Hickman makes use of that very same strategy to profitable in relation to the 1,600 vehicles and 1,850 trailers within the mixed Pilot fleet — which incorporates Pilot Flying J in addition to quite a few different fleets serving the whole lot from oil fields to hauling DEF and hydrogen. Not touring over 300 mph, in fact, however utilizing information to extend efficiencies.
Hickman works with truck makers, trailer builders, telematics suppliers and others to glean data on issues reminiscent of fault codes, predictive analytics, how tires carry out in several situations, and the way a lot gasoline a truck is loading and the way a lot room is left.
He discovered Pilot was spending some huge cash on aftertreatment, engine and powertrain repairs, compounded by lengthy wait occasions at dealerships.
“How will we get forward of that?” he asks. “How do we all know when one thing is beginning to have a problem, so we will go forward and get one thing minor mounted earlier than we find yourself with $20,000, $30,000, $40,000 in engine repairs, and maintain the truck on the highway longer?”
Picture courtesy Brent Hickman
As an example, he says, a set of injectors prices round $20,000 to restore. But each time, he says, it seems the injector cups been leaking for fairly a while.
“Very similar to I do on the racecar, we’re monitoring that gasoline circulate. And so when that gasoline circulate drops at a sure parameter, we are saying, you will have a problem, after which we get away with perhaps one injector cup, and as a substitute of $20,000, we’re $800 or $900.”
Managing the Knowledge Movement
One of many challenges confronted by Hickman and different fleet managers at present is making sense of the huge quantity of information accessible.
“You stroll round TMC or any of these present flooring, and there’s sufficient stuff on the ground to run a extremely, actually environment friendly fleet,” he says. “The issue proper now’s to make the most of all that stuff, you would wish about 20 totally different subscriptions and about 25 screens in entrance of you and a bunch of different individuals. After which how do you refine that to actionable information, the issues it is advisable take motion on straight away, versus the issues which can be operating within the background that we’ve got a group of analysts ? With all this information circulate, how do you handle it?”
Hickman was in search of a single, customizable system to handle the circulate of information coming from the tractors and trailers. He discovered a solution with Drōv Applied sciences’ AirBoxOne sensible trailer answer, which integrates sensible elements and sensors all alongside the trailer. Key operational and security data flows from the automobile to the fleet and the driving force, relaying diagnostics in actual time. By way of its Car Well being Show, an in-cab cell app and an internet dashboard, real-time well being alerts and notifications are wirelessly communicated to the cab and saved within the cloud.
Every time sensors detect modifications in situations, alerts and real-time data on trailer standing and placement are transmitted from the cloud to fleets utilizing an API.
Engineered Transportation Worldwide (EnTrans) has partnered with Drōv to outfit its Heil Trailer and Polar Tank merchandise with Drōv’s AirBoxOne.
“The AirBoxOne would not attempt to exchange the OEM components; it simply directs visitors,” Hickman says. “And that’s actually what we wanted, one thing to direct the visitors, the information, and be capable of set the parameters as to what you need to see, who must see it, and when,” as a substitute of getting inboxes flooded with alerts.
Pilot began testing 5 trailers with the system final 12 months and has added 25 extra to date this 12 months. It can deploy them in several areas of the nation and totally different purposes for additional analysis. However to date, Hickman says, the system is “a giant win.”
Picture: Pilot Firm
“We’ve detected the bearing failures early by means of a harmonic sensor vibration sensor,” he says. “We’re capable of inform alignment points primarily based on the warmth on the tires, as a result of the identical system is measuring warmth of the air contained in the tire. When you have 4 wheel areas and the 2 crossing one another diagonally from one another are hotter than the opposite two, you already know you bought an alignment situation.
“It’s simply getting forward of these issues and in the end saving prices and maintaining the truck from being on the facet of the highway.”
Measuring ROI
Proving out return on funding on one thing this new could be robust.
Hickman expects the Drov dynamic inflation system to increase tire life, because it routinely inflates or deflates tires primarily based on the altering weight of the trailer as the driving force makes deliveries. However he notes that it might be three years earlier than a tire must be changed. He turned once more to his racing background to discover a solution to measure tire life.
“One of many issues we do in tuning the race vehicles is play with what’s known as rollout, which is actually the circumference of the tire,” he explains. “Speaking with the tire OEs and their engineering groups, I stated, ‘I would like a tire calculator. What number of revolutions at a sure stress per GPS mile is appropriate?”
As a tire reaches 100 psi and travels greater than 3 miles, the system takes a snapshot of every hub rotation.
Picture courtesy Brent Hickman
“With the algorithm and our calculator, it tells you your treadwear by hub location, your complete tire life, and in addition gives a notification once you get down inside a 32nd of the DOT [standard],” Hickman says. “It can notify you to alter the tire within the subsequent no matter miles, primarily based on the mileage you’ve been touring.”
Hickman additionally shares what has been profitable with the trucking fleets which can be Pilot clients.
“We regularly benchmark with these people, and something that we discover that makes our fleet extra environment friendly, we’re at all times completely satisfied to share,” he says. “As a result of on the finish of the day, we’d like everyone to remain in enterprise. in order that they’ll maintain shopping for gasoline and taking showers and all that, proper? So we share it with lots of people. as a result of I believe as a complete we need to higher the trucking business.”
