SKF TraX monitoring and Road Ready telematics partnership helps Maverick Transportation avoid costly incidents

Southfield, Michigan, February 20, 2024 – SKF TraX wheel end monitoring (WEM) system and Road Ready’s advanced trailer telematics system are helping Maverick Transportation, LLC., a leading provider of transportation and logistics services, avoid costly wheel bearing incidents while on the road. 

Maverick Transportation, which is based in North Little Rock, Arkansas, with approximately 2,400 flatbed trailers and other specialty units, is leveraging TraX and Road Ready advanced trailer telematics and fleet management solution on 900 trailers currently and aims to equip its entire fleet by the end of 2024.

“Wheel separation is a catastrophic failure that sends a wheel assembly rolling down a highway—and it’s incredibly dangerous,” said Mike Jeffress, Vice President of Maintenance, Maverick Transportation. “With Road Ready and TraX, we caught this failing wheel bearing way ahead of true failure—and that’s a significant cost savings.” Spalling—pitting or flaking away of bearing material— is a very early sign of future failure, and knowing about it early allowed Maverick to address the issue well before there was any danger on the road.

“Maverick is a prime example of how fleets can lead the industry by using technology to prevent critical failures rather than reacting after they occur,” said Dane Hollar, Vice President of Road Ready Sales. “A proactive response, like this one, sends a clear message that Maverick is willing to go the extra mile to ensure their customers’ cargo is delivered safely and on time.” 

Maverick was able to harness the power SKF’s TraX WEM sensor through the Road Ready platform. Because Road Ready is designed to integrate multiple data feeds from a single trailer, the TraX WEM, installed at the outboard side of the truck wheel rim, alerted the system to unusual vibrations from the bearing so Maverick could service the trailer before catastrophic failure.

“Trax WEM is a small but extremely effective way to monitor the truck and trailer bearings as well as abnormal wheel end temperatures and detect potential problems before they occur,” said Cengiz Shevket, President of Vehicle Aftermarket Sales, North America at SKF. “Detecting wheel ends problems early helps reduce unscheduled downtime, saves money from more costly repairs and makes the truck safer for the driver and the vehicles around it.”

An estimated 750-1050 wheel separations occur per year and 7,000 truck fires happen on the nation’s roadways every year. The Technology & Maintenance Council of the American Truckers Association cites the top four causes of truck fires are failures of brakes, wheel bearings, air leaks, and tires–all of which are preventable if monitored and maintained. 

Learn more about SKF’s TraX wheel end monitoring system.

Learn more about Road Ready’s advanced trailer telematics solution. 

About SKF

SKF is a world-leading provider of innovative solutions that help industries become more competitive and sustainable. By making products lighter, more efficient, longer lasting, and repairable, we help our customers improve their rotating equipment performance and reduce their environmental impact. Our offering around the rotating shaft includes bearings, seals, lubrication management, condition monitoring, and services. Founded in 1907, SKF is represented in approximately 130 countries and has around 17,000 distributor locations worldwide. Annual sales in 2023 were SEK 103,881 million and the number of employees was 40,396. www.skf.com

® SKF is a registered trademark of the SKF Group.

Automotive

SKF offers customized bearings, seals, related products and services for wheel-end, driveline, engine, e-powertrain, suspension, and steering applications to manufacturers of cars, light and heavy trucks, trailers, buses, and two-wheelers. We also supply the vehicle aftermarket with premium spare parts, both directly and indirectly, through a network of more than 10,000 distributors.

About Road Ready

Road Ready from Clarience Technologies is a vertically integrated advanced telematics and digital fleet solutions provider based in Southfield, Michigan. Road Ready offers custom telematics solutions to help fleets see, manage and optimize their fleet assets. Coupled with an expansive network of premier integration partners, customers can do more through a single interface, Road Ready continues to implement groundbreaking research and development to make impactful contributions to the transportation industry.

About Clarience Technologies

Clarience Technologies is a global leader of visibility and safety technologies for transportation. Born from a collection of premium brands each with a long track record of innovation, its solutions include vehicle lighting, camera and vision systems, telematics and safety solutions that protect our world and our livelihoods by keeping people, assets and businesses safe, secure and productive. Its team of companies includes Truck-Lite, DAVCO, Road Ready, RIGID, Lumitec, ECCO, Code 3, Fleetilla, LED Autolamps, Pressure Systems International and Safe Fleet. For more information visit www.clariencetechnologies.com.

For media inquiries, please contact:
María Pintado, Communication Expert, SKF Vehicle Aftermarket
maria.pintado@skf.com