SkyBitz, PSI combine for ‘perfect marriage’ of trailer tracking, tire inflation technologies

The combined offering provides the ability to monitor tire pressure events and trailer location in real-time, and customers can benefit from various maintenance improvements such as minimizing tire related roadside service calls, improving fuel economy, and reducing early tire removal due to irregular wear.

“Trailer tires historically have the poorest air pressure on an 18-wheeler. By providing tire fault alerts into SkyBitz’s system, customers can monitor tire pressure in real-time and avoid costly roadside breakdowns,” said Al Cohn (pictured above), director, New Market Development & Engineering Support for PSI. “We are excited to work alongside SkyBitz to help solve some of the industry’s biggest challenges.”

Improved utilization through trailer tracking allows SkyBitz customers typically to reduce assets by 15 percent, explained John Higgins, VP of sales.

“We got together with PSI to help solve the problem of relying on the driver to get tire alerts back to maintenance in a timely fashion,” Higgins said.

Through this new partnership, enhanced tire status and asset information from PSI and SkyBitz will be delivered through SkyBitz InSight, a Web application that provides a complete, real-time view of assets and cargo status and location information.

Now both the driver and the dispatcher will get real-time notifications if there is a tire system fault.

The bottom line: “There’s not many things in trucking that have a return on investment of less than 12 months. This system typically costs less than the price of two tires,” Cohn said. “When you put that in the scheme of things, it’s a win-win.”