Mack Trucks Announces Deal With Telogis to Provide Built-In Management Technology

This story appears in the Oct. 6 print edition of Transport Topics.

Mack Trucks said it has partnered with Telogis to offer fleet-management services that utilize built-in telematics hardware.

The services, which include vehicle tracking, electronic hours-of-service logging and truck-specific navigation, will use the same equipment as Mack’s GuardDog Connect, a remote diagnostics platform.

Offering those services straight from the factory eliminates the need for truck buyers to purchase and install hardware in the aftermarket, the companies said.

“Mack Fleet Management Services offer customers tools to effectively and efficiently manage their operations, improving their total cost of ownership,” said Stephen Roy, president of North American sales and marketing at Mack. “Integrating technology and services facilitates customer choice and offers them the best return on investment.”

Susan Heystee, executive vice president of worldwide sales at Telogis, said Mack customers “now have the easiest path to comprehensive fleet management, easy-to-use compliance apps and truck-specific navigation from Telogis.”

The fleet-management services are available on Mack’s Pinnacle, Granite and Titan models, which come standard with the remote diagnostics hardware.

John Walsh, Mack’s vice president of marketing, said the manufacturer’s strategy is to utilize that built-in hardware while partnering with third-party providers of fleet-management services.

“We’re going to do what we do best, which is build high-quality products in our plants, and let the experts in fleet management software do what they do best, resulting in the best of both worlds for our customers,” he said.

Walsh also said Mack plans to offer integrated fleet-management services from other technology suppliers.

“We are talking to a number of other industry leaders in this area,” he said.

By repurposing its remote diagnostics hardware, Mack is offering a simplified approach to implementing fleet-management services, said David Pardue, the company’s vice president of aftermarket business development.

“We’ve heard clearly from fleets, from our customers, about frustration with the growing amount of hardware and in-cab displays that the telematics movement has brought,” he said.

Kevin Moore, vice president of global OEM sales at Telogis, offered a similar assessment.

“We’ve heard loud and clear for a long time from our customers: ‘Why can’t I just get this stuff factory fit? Why do I need to add another black box?’ ”

Mack’s new fleet-management capabilities are available for order now with new trucks. Customers with existing telematics-equipped Mack trucks built since January also can subscribe to the services, Pardue added. For older trucks, dealers can install an aftermarket kit to enable GuardDog Connect and the fleet-management services.

The driver display options available at launch include a variety of Android and Apple smart phones and tablets, said Moore, of Telogis.

The company’s developers are working to validate and test its software on the newly launched iPhone 6 devices, he added.

“Our goal is to make sure our customers have the best experience possible, so our application has to be bulletproof,” Moore said.

However, any initial glitches that could potentially arise within a new operating system are ultimately outside the control of the Telogis application, he added.

Mack said the initial fleet-management offering is available in three packages — Telogis Compliance and Navigation, Telogis Fleet and a combination of the two. Telogis Compliance and Navigation provides applications for hours of service, driver vehicle inspection reports and commercial navigation, while Telogis Fleet offers driver and vehicle performance monitoring.

Mack’s sister company, Volvo Trucks, launched a similar partnership with Telogis in July. Mack and Volvo are part of the Volvo Group.

Telogis, based in Aliso Viejo, California, is also integrating its software with other OEMs, including Hino Trucks, Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Co.

Meanwhile, Mack is “very close” to officially opening its new “uptime center” in Greensboro, North Carolina, Walsh said.

The facility will house nearly 1,000 workers, including customer-support staff for GuardDog Connect and parts inventory managers.