Peterbilt Rolls Out SmartLINQ Prognostics Software Addition

A technician works on a Peterbilt truck engine. (Peterbilt)

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Peterbilt recently launched a broader rollout of its Prognostics diagnostics software, a senior executive said.

Part of the SmartLINQ diagnostics and updates platform offered by the truck maker, Prognostics monitors data, and works to predict and prevent engine failures. The Prognostics product is available to SmartLINQ subscribers whose Peterbilt trucks have an EPA2017 or newer Paccar MX-11 or MX-13 engine. Peterbilt is a unit of Paccar Inc.

Customers will not have to pay extra for the expanded diagnostics package, Peterbilt Director-After Sales Bruce Croker told Transport Topics in a July 16 interview, an effort to help Peterbilt customers reduce downtime.

“We get to that component before there is a failure. The failure can take weeks to emerge. We catch them before they cause major damage,” he said.

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Croker 

Major internal problems that Prognostics monitoring works to prevent include failures tied to the camshaft, head gasket or turbocharger, Croker said, noting that one or more of these being down at the same time could keep a truck off the road for an extended period.

“There’s a lot of data that comes off the truck,” he said. “We’ve been looking at it for a long time. You’re looking for obvious and [less] obvious correlations. You’re looking for clumps of data that help you. Oftentimes that data is messy, so it is tricky. It really takes large artificial intelligence programs to crunch the data.”

As a result of the need for the number crunching, the Paccar Technical Center in Mount Vernon, Wash., took a prominent role in the development of Prognostics.

PTC data engineers are still carrying out modeling for the program, said Croker, doing weekly runs on the models that are being deployed to the field. “It’s that commitment to vertical thinking that drives what we’re doing and that drives the impact of Prognostics,” he said.

There are 15 to 20 people on the Prognostics team, but the commitment is companywide, said Croker, who leads the Peterbilt team responsible for every task after each truck sale goes through, from customer service to warranties to recalls.

“Every part of our business has to be tapped into it to make it work,” he said.

That includes dealers. Every Peterbilt dealer will be able to carry out the work needed once an issue is identified by Prognostics, with early recognition allowing the repairs to be bundled into a truck’s regular maintenance schedule to minimize downtime.

“The value of Prognostics increases as the truck becomes older. We’re trying to get ahead of the maintenance as the trucks age,” Croker said.

Before Prognostics’ widespread introduction, SmartLINQ — part of Peterbilt’s Connected Services product suite — already offered advanced health monitoring, detailed truck information and over-the-air updates.