A ZF, a global technology company that provides advanced mobility products and systems for passenger cars, commercial vehicles, and industrial technology, and Goodyear, a global manufacturer of tires for aviation, automobiles, vans, pickups, SUVs, trucks, and buses, announced today a strategic partnership that brings together advanced Fleet Management solutions, specifically for monitoring high-performance tires that equip commercial vehicles and multi-brand road implements. To this end, ZF has made available the SCALAR EVO Pulse, a technology capable of gathering data on transport operations continuously and sending them in real-time to the Goodyear Mobility Cloud, an information portal that will operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week, from where alerts will be sent to fleet operators.
“The partnership that debuts between ZF and Goodyear in Brazil combines the automotive and digital expertise of two of the largest companies in their sectors, generating value for fleet operators in safety and profitability,” says Maurício Paguaga, Senior Manager of the Digital and Industrial Solutions Business Line at ZF Aftermarket. The robust automotive engineering of ZF, together with Goodyear’s extensive knowledge of the tire universe, ensure a fully integrated offering focused on the needs of fleet customers,” concludes the executive.
In addition to TPMS – Tire Pressure Monitoring System – real-time Tire Pressure Monitoring System, the partnership includes vehicle geolocation and odometer. To make this possible, TPMS sensors are installed on the vehicle, and the data is collected and transmitted by the SCALAR EVO Pulse to the monitoring service, Goodyear TPMS PLUS. Additionally, if the customer has the EBS brake system, a vast amount of data including braking alerts, stability control, total load, implement health among others, can also be processed through the ZF SCALAR orchestration platform.
Together, the companies tested the solution in operation, and the results showed an average 13% increase in tire mileage performance, along with other indirect gains. Remote monitoring of tire conditions in trucks and trailers offers a series of advantages, from increasing their useful life, preventing accidents, reducing the total cost of transport operations through fuel savings, with consequent reduction in CO2 emissions. Geolocation, in turn, will bring more security to operations.
Market Differentiators
According to Maurício Paguaga, the package of solutions conceptualized between the two companies, and that will be offered by Goodyear to the market, brings a series of differentiators for the segment in Brazil. Starting with active management by Goodyear, which will monitor alerts in real-time and establish contact with the fleet owner whenever action is necessary.
Another advantage is related to the useful life of the components used in the solution. ZF sensors, for example, have a minimum useful life of six years, as they are developed with armored material resistant to weather. ‘ZF has over a century of automotive engineering know-how. We bring this technical and quality knowledge to our products, which means they are designed and developed according to the rigorous needs of automotive applications,’ says Maurício Paguaga.
A differentiator is the independence from existing vehicle brands, models, and technologies, being applicable to various tractor and trailer configurations and combinations. Another benefit for fleet operators is the internal battery installed in the ZF equipment, allowing information to continue to be sent to the Goodyear Mobility Cloud portal for long periods, even if the tractor is disconnected from the trailer.
‘Goodyear conducted research in Brazil to validate the impact of technology and preventive and corrective maintenance on tire performance, finding an average of 13% increase in mileage performance in the test tires of such research, and ensuring that the tires rolled with the correct pressure and temperature, positively impacting the preservation of the carcass and consequently increasing tire life even after retreading,’ says Fernanda Baré, Senior Manager of Services & Solutions at Goodyear Brazil. ‘In response to customer needs, Goodyear and ZF have developed this value proposition – Goodyear TPMS PLUS, which allows customers financial gain and other indirect benefits. Furthermore, the solution reinforces the commitment to sustainability, an increasingly central theme in modern logistics operations,’ concludes the executive.
