The City of Orlando, Florida, has been working with smart tire technology and predictive data analytics company Revvo Technologies to implement its solution into all the organization’s solid waste trucks, saving time and money when it comes to recapping tires. As of May 25, there are 48 trucks actively installed with a total of 433 tires being monitored.

Since Orlando is installing tires as needed on the solid waste trucks, there may be a truck with a couple of active tires, then a few more when they are replaced until all tires on a truck have sensors and are being tracked. This makes it so fleets don't incur additional downtime or expenses replacing tires that are not ready to be replaced with a smart tire.

This deployment will eventually grow to cover all 71 solid waste trucks.

David Dunn, Fleet & Facilities Management division manager for the city, said the initial pilot started in the fall of 2019 on eight vehicles, seven of which were light-duty and one of which was a solid waste side loader.

Because tires are tracked and monitored in real-time, knowing which tires have a problem and need priority repairs or replacements is vital. With the use of Revvo, these tires are identified immediately without the need to walk the yard.

“The number of unplanned tire repairs during preventive maintenance are being minimized because tires are being proactively repaired by our supporting vendor, giving technicians more time to focus on other critical components during preventive maintenance,” Dunn said.

Saving Money and Improving Safety

Between August 2020 and February 2021, the city recapped 188 more tires than in its 2019-2020 period.

“While the number of increasing recaps can’t entirely be attributed to Revvo, the significant decline in tire low pressure events and behavior change through the use of data has led to better quality casings that can be recapped. It’s resulted in a cost avoidance of $71,064 in six months,” Dunn said.

It's also saved in terms of the resources necessary to respond to road calls.

“Not too long ago, we hit a million tire miles monitored by Revvo. This coverage includes hundreds of automated pre- and post-trip tire inspections. In addition, during the first 60 days of deployment, we had only 90 tires outfitted with Revvo, triggering 771 low pressure alerts compared to the last 60 days, with nearly 413 tires monitored by Revvo and only 349 low pressure alerts. This results in a 359% increase in the number of total tires being monitored, while the number of low-pressure alerts has dropped by 56%. We are seeing an active shift in behavior towards tires,” he explained.

Other Benefits

City of Orlando drivers do not have to undergo any special training to learn how to work the platform, and Revvo staff came in to train the city’s tire vendors.

“Revvo actually enabled our tire support vendors to receive alerts so the process can be streamlined, creating a true tire maintenance program, not just a program to replace tires,” he stated.

Dunn believes the program will reduce premature tire waste, adding to the city’s efforts to improve the environment.

According to Dunn, the ability to see tires in between shop visits is critical. In addition, clear, actionable data results in no resources or time lost for analysis.

“Revvo has a customer success team that consistently engages with our staff to address any questions and ensure we are getting the most out of our investment in the solution. This constant communication has actually led to a new feature created by Revvo called the ‘Supervisor View,’” he said.

Ken, a shop supervisor for the city’s tire vendor, was tracking several Revvo-related items on a spreadsheet, and, while his efforts were appreciated, Revvo’s intention is to help simplify tire management, not make it a burden. The company worked with Ken to automate this tire data and host it on Revvo’s portal, which will now be available to any fleet using Revvo.

“Tires are one of the most expensive line items for most fleets, yet the way they are maintained has remained the same for quite some time. Government fleet managers struggle with accountability of drivers and the quality of pre- and post-trip inspections, assuming they are, in fact, conducted. Revvo offers a solution that enables fleet managers and supervisors to have their tires centrally connected to not only help prevent premature tire failures, but to immediately change tire safety,” Dunn explained.