Michelin North America’s Services and Solutions division, launched in 2018, introduced a new product to help fleets improve trailer uptime and DOT compliance. The new service, Michelin Mechanical Care, allows fleets to schedule outsourced light mechanical repairs and maintenance for trailers.
Services available through Michelin Mechanical Care include DOT annual inspections and preventative maintenance and repairs for brakes, wheel ends and tires, lights, electrical, mud flaps, and body repair.
"Services have been part of Michelin’s DNA for more than 125 years," said Ralph Dimenna, global director of Michelin Services and Solutions, during a press conference at the Technology & Maintenance Council (TMC) Annual Meeting & Transportation Technology Exhibition. “The development of new and enriched services and solutions will open new avenues of growth for our customers and contribute to improved safety, greater sustainability, optimized fleet operations, and a better travel and driving experience. Fleets want to focus on what makes their businesses profitable. Solving the pain points and providing solutions for fleets contributes to their success. Mechanical Care is a tool to help them achieve that goal.”
The goal of the program is to offer fleets an easy way to schedule and track trailer service with fixed pricing. Dimenna explained that timing and pricing for services are based on TMC standards.
“We are using the actual codes [and] the labor times that are prescribed by TMC for an operation,” he said. “That is our guarantee to the fleet ... whoever's touching your vehicle is going to respect those guidelines in terms of time in the shop.”
Dimmena went on to say that if the service time exceeds the allotted period, the fleet still pays the original set price - the extra labor time is not billed.
The new platform, which uses Decisiv’s Service Relationship Management (SRM) technology, can be used to schedule service from any connected device. Currently available in select areas, Michelin plans to expand the service to additional markets throughout the year.
“As we get more demand for the offer, we are setting up new locations and rolling it out with our with our network and the locations that fleets demand,” Dimenna said. “Now it's just a question of how much demand we get to how fast it goes to a full nationwide offering. Eventually we think this offer is going to go coast to coast, [and] we're going to need several hundred, if not several thousand locations.”
