One of the more unique devices in their new line-up, the SmartLock Gladhand, enables fleets to protect against unauthorized trailer hook-ups which not only stems from theft but from mistakes in the yard.
“We worked with JB Hunt on this project,” said Phillips CEO and founder Rob Phillips. “It’s a big issue. The larger the fleet the more this happens. A driver pulls into to take number 127 and they pull out with 125 by accident. They get 100, 200 or 300 miles out before anyone realizes they’ve got the wrong trailer. It’s a big expense for fleets. They don’t like to admit it, but it happens all the time.”
SmartLock Gladhand prevents unauthorized use of trailers by preventing the secure connection of the tractor air line supply to release the brakes. The sensor allows carriers to have the power to say who can and cannot use their equipment.
Other hardware products launched by Phillips today:
- Smart7 expands on Phillips’ most popular trailer nose-box by adding solar to the lid, a large-capacity battery, and an ABS decoder chip. It also includes PCT’s telematics gateway for GPS and communicating and reporting on multiple health sensors like light out detection, door open/closed, tire status, cargo status, air tank and trailer tail status, SmartLock Gladhand status, tractor pairing, and weight status. Smart7 has PCT’s patented remote Pre-Check feature built-in.
- Pre-Check Smart System functions through Smart7 and allows fleets to run a diagnostic on trailer status from a remote location. With the ability to view the trailer’s health remotely, fleet operators can dispatch healthy assets and reroute flagged assets for scheduled maintenance.
- IntelliSense Harness System is an integrated 7-way smart harness that allows multiple sensors to connect to PCT gateways. A data communication harness is woven into the trailer’s main harness to speed up installation time and improve reliability. Phillips said harness compatibility.
- SmartPair is designed to make tractor/trailer pairing easy. When the asset is attached to tractor power, the SmartPair will immediately start looking for nearby sensors. Any tractor with the SmartPair will be picked up by PCT’s tracking products. Multiple layers of logic are included when making the pairing—so if more than one tractor is present, the right tractor is paired with the trailer.
