Michelin and Komatsu America Corp. have announced a joint program to offer Michelin MEMS 4 (Michelin Earthmover Management System) as a factory-installed option on select electric-drive trucks manufactured at the Komatsu facility in Peoria, Ill.
Komatsu’s 930E-5 mining truck will be the first available model with MEMS4 as an option with other models to follow. Komatsu will factory-install the MEMS4 transceiver, antennas and related harnesses. MEMS4 will be integrated with the current existing electronic display panel. Michelin will coordinate the installation of the sensors in the tires at the customer’s site.
“In an effort to better serve our common customers, Michelin and Komatsu have signed the first OEM fitment agreement for MEMS4,” said Bruce Brackett, senior vice president of Michelin global mining business line. “The benefit for the mining customer is the integration of the tire pressure monitoring system (TPMS) and the truck at the factory. With MEMS4, the customer receives a complete monitoring platform for tires, site conditions and productivity gains as soon as the new equipment arrives at the site.”
Originally launched in 2006, Michelin says the current MEMS4 version provides increased safety and tire life; reduced unscheduled downtime, tire budgets and maintenance costs; reduced fuel consumption and improve truck availability; and savings on on-site pressure check labor.
This factory-installed system captures real-time tire temperatures, pressures and mapping for proactive fleet management, Michelin says. Using GPS and accelerometers, a sensor installed in the tire sends critical tire-related data to alert operators online, via email or by SMS to laptops, tablets or smartphones. Each truck is geo-localized on a map in real time. A data-capture tool and mobile-device connection transfers information via Ethernet or 3G to cloud storage. Data are reported to dispatchers to provide tire performance and anomalies.
