TIP has now fitted 10,000 TIP Insight telematics units to trailers on UK and Ireland roads to reduce transport costs, boost compliance and beat criminals.
Since the launch of TIP’s range of telematics solutions in 2020, the leading trailer and truck rental, leasing and maintenance business has recently reached a significant milestone, with 10,000 units now fitted to trailers on the roads of the UK and Ireland. The units have been fitted, not only to many of TIP’s vast fleet of trailers on hire to transport operators, but also to operator-owned trailers, providing multiple benefits to all parties concerned. TIP attributes the successful uptake of TIP Insight to several factors.
Cost efficiencies for operators with TIP Insight fitted to their fleet have been realised as a consequence of being able to report on their trailer’s journeys via the system’s reporting suite, FleetConnected Reports. The recently re-vamped reporting suite, which now has extensive reporting capability following feedback from its users, reports on anything from time spent on the road, including route data, time stood still and in ‘geofenced’ locations and even on loads carried. Such reporting is helping transport operators to make better decisions concerning their fleet and to become more competitive in the process.
Security of transport assets and their cargo remains an issue for operators. Telematics can help provide some support in this regard, real-time location data helping to trace trailers in the event of theft. One transport operator using TIP Insight recently recovered one of its trailers that had been stolen, together with its cargo, within hours of its theft.
Paul Southern, UK Network Manager of Uniserve, commented: “The telematics supplied by TIP has made a measurable difference to the efficiency of our assets, but with the recent theft and immediate recovery of one of our trailers, together with its cargo, it has really shown its worth. Thanks to its live tracking capability, we were able to lead the police straight to the stolen trailer, fully recover its full contents, avoiding multiple insurance claims in the process.”
TIP Insight has a modular approach and the addition of the DoorPlus module further enhances the security of cargo by using sensors on the rear doors of box-van and reefer trailers to detect the doors opening.
Likewise, its tyre pressure monitoring system module, TyrePlus, enables constant monitoring of trailer tyre pressures to provide safety and operational efficiency benefits to operators.
It is the inclusion of BrakePlus, TIP’s electronic performance monitoring system (EBPMS), as one of those modules, however, that has driven the adoption of TIP Insight units by the UK’s trailer fleet.
Launched in the early part of 2021, BrakePlus was introduced to address the need for an alternative to performing regular roller brake tests and, in doing so, follow the recommendations published in the DVSA’s ‘Guide to Maintaining Roadworthiness’. With BrakePlus activated, operators may only need to perform one roller brake test a year in order to stay complaint, whilst boosting the safety of trailers with continuous monitoring of the performance of their braking system.
Last year it was announced that those recommendations were set to change in the spring of 2025, so that regular roller brake tests or use of EBPMS will be the only means of assessing brake performance.
The system’s ability to alert operators to a deterioration in performance of a trailer’s braking system, combined with TIP’s comprehensive network of branches, supported by its authorised third-party service providers, that are ready to address performance issues detected, offers a unique proposition for transport operators.
Mike Furnival, managing director of TIP for UK & Ireland, commented: “We’re really proud of reaching this milestone and it is testament, not only to the solution itself, but to our operations’ teams and, of course, those who have carried out the installations in such volumes. Whilst TIP Insight provides our customers with a great all-round telematics experience, we have no doubt that its EBPMS module, BrakePlus, has been the main driving force behind demand from transport operators. With changes to guidance from the DVSA coming into effect early next year, demand for BrakePlus is only expected to increase. We are gearing up for that and we invite transport operators that have not yet explored EBPMS to get involved sooner rather than later in readiness for the changes. Here’s to the next 10,000!”
