Transport Refrigeration Units: The Brain Behind the Cold Chain
In the intricate world of refrigerated transport, ensuring the integrity of the cold chain is paramount.
Transport refrigeration units (TRUs) are an indispensable part of every temperature-sensitive load, especially since even a small amount of downtime can wreak havoc with the precise coordination needed for the cold chain to function seamlessly. Thermo King’s advanced telematics systems and dedicated dealer network play a crucial role in enhancing vehicle uptime and ensuring the smooth operation of refrigerated fleets.
Maximize uptime with advanced fleet telematics
Optimizing vehicle uptime is crucial in the transportation industry, particularly among for-hire carriers whose revenue depends on being on the road.
“If fleet uptime is impacted by unplanned maintenance, that’s time fleets are not making money,” said Dominic Hand, Vice President of Information Technology and Connected Products at Thermo King.
Often, that also means a driver is waiting for the vehicle to be ready and back on the road. If the driver is planning to pick up a load with a trailer, the chances of having another trailer available within close proximity to collect that load typically are unfavorabled, resulting in a situation that could disappoint their customer and impact potential future business.
An essential element in delivering what customers need is state-of-the-art telematics solutions that offer real-time insights into the performance and status of TRUs. Reefer unit performance can be tracked and verified by Thermo King’s suite of telematics solutions, including TracKing® telematics and TracKing Pro® telematics, which act proactively and reactively to mitigate issues.
Telematics provide visibility to actionable reefer data for entire fleets and the insights needed to make informed operational decisions. Whether it’s a matter of monitoring temperatures or identifying maintenance needs, this technology ensures fleet managers have the meaningful data they need at their fingertips.
“If a fleet manager wants to turn on all their TRUs to start cooling down their loads, they can enter a batch command, and, for example, 100 transport refrigeration units will turn on all at once and cool down to a specific set point,” said Tyler Luzinski, Senior Product Manager – Trailer at Thermo King.
And when issues arise, they can be addressed immediately or, sometimes, even before they occur. Thermo King’s advanced machine learning algorithms can predict potential issues allowing for preemptive maintenance actions. As highlighted by Suad Sherif, Digital Offerings Leader, the ability to foresee and mitigate issues before they occur significantly enhances operational efficiency.
“We have algorithms that with 95 percent accuracy can identify a problem two weeks out so that proactive action can be taken as opposed to removing a vehicle from an active route,” Hand said . This predictive maintenance is a game-changer because it’s not just, alerting you that your TRU has a problem. It’s notifying you that your TRU is about to have a problem, and you should service it before the issue occurs.
Customer-centric service, engineering and dealer network
Buoyed by vast knowledge gained since inventing transport refrigeration in the 1930s, Thermo King has a uniquely seasoned perspective both for its customers and from its customers.
“We make sure the voice of the customer is represented in specification requirements when product development begins,” said Preeti Subramanian, Senior Product Manager – Truck. “There's rigorous testing at all conditions of temperature and a lot of process involved to pass all the shock and vibration tests.”
Because of this customer-centric engineering, every unit meets high standards of performance and reliability and must be road ready long before it reaches the customer.
When service is needed, Thermo King’s extensive dealer network of more than 180 service locations and a support team combined with direct access to in-house engineers, provide a trusted foundation that keeps vehicles and their refrigeration units on the road. Customers are reassured by the fact that they have a heightened level of support and relationship with their local dealer all backed by the trusted Thermo King brand.
When customers troubleshoot an issue, “they know that they're talking to Thermo King, who has the expertise, and knowledge, number one,” said Sherif. “And number two, generally, they have the consistency of solving problems with a reliable point of contact.”
Thermo King’s service doesn’t end with problem resolution. The dealer network’s comprehensive training and certification programs set it apart even further. Every dealer is equipped with the knowledge and tools necessary to maintain and repair TRUs efficiently — and held to a high standard of service and ongoing education.
Looking ahead: Cold chain innovation and sustainability
Decarbonization, along with an added emphasis on actionable data and artificial intelligence will be essential to ensuring customer satisfaction, enabling the future of a secure cold chain and the brand’s continued leadership in refrigerated transport solutions.
“All our future electrified products are being designed and developed to incorporate telematics,” said Adam Jaberi, Strategic Account Digital Sales Manager. “That's fundamental to our electrification journey because inputs such as range anxiety will sprout from transitioning to either an electric or battery electric architecture. The level of data will rise significantly.”
“We’re developing technology utilizing AI tools and machine learning,” said Luzinski. “We're able to tell, with certain unit parameters, when a TRU failure is most likely to occur in the foreseeable future, and then we train the model. The technology will then automatically learn from that scenario and provide proactive, predictive recommendations moving forward. That's going to completely revolutionize fleet uptime.”
