OREANDA-NEWS. July 15, 2016. That’s high praise from Kevin Henggeler, director of maintenance for Tribe Transportation, for the new Kenworth TruckTech+ remote diagnostics system.  “TruckTech+ takes the blinders off when it comes to issues with trucks on the road,” he said. “It gives us a tool so we can make informed decisions on what to do should a fault code go off.  We could never go back to trucks that don’t have the system – the information is that important to us.”

Tribe Transportation, based in Gainesville, Ga., runs 195 Kenworth T680s with 76-inch sleepers, with an additional 73 scheduled to be delivered by the end of the year. The trucks are spec’d with the PACCAR MX-13 engine rated at 455 horsepower, and feature the Eaton Fuller Advantage® 10-speed automated transmission. Purchased through MHC Kenworth – Gainesville, each new truck comes equipped with Kenworth TruckTech+, which processes fault codes and provides vital information on vehicle status so fleet managers can make informed decisions.  

“We will be a 100 percent T680 fleet by year-end,” said Todd Gooch, vice president of Tribe. “We’ve had great success with the truck in reducing costs, improving fuel economy, and it’s helped keep our driver turnover rate among the lowest in the industry. We’re also seeing the future with TruckTech+ and are big believers in how remote diagnostics will improve our uptime. It’s doing it already.”

Tribe was one of Kenworth’s first customers to use Kenworth TruckTech+ when they agreed to participate in a pilot program in 2015. “This allowed us to see how the system worked, and it didn’t take long before we saw its value,” said Gooch.

“Email alerts come to Kevin’s team in our maintenance department and they’re quick to make decisions based on the information they receive. They know immediately what’s wrong with the truck so there is no time lost trying to figure out what’s happening. The tools and web portal also give us so much visibility. We can see each of our trucks on a map and the closest Kenworth dealer for service. And if service is needed immediately, we can call that dealer to let them now when we’ll arrive.  If parts are required, they have them ready, so they can be installed immediately. This saves us a lot of time and gets us back on the road faster. And, that’s the name of the game in our business,” he said.

“All of this is good for business,” added Gooch. “We feel our service separates us from other companies – we’re very customer centric and have an industry-leading on-time delivery rate percentage. TruckTech+ is adding to our uptime, and thus our on-time delivery rate.”

Kenworth is the driver’s truck. See what drivers are saying at www.kenworth.com/drivers.

Kenworth Truck Company is the manufacturer of The World’s Best® heavy and medium duty trucks. Kenworth's Internet home page is at www.kenworth.com. Kenworth is a PACCAR company.