Donaldson Company, Inc. announced that it would be integrating Filter Minder, its filter monitoring system, into Geotab Inc.’s fleet management dashboard. Donaldson, which is headquartered in Bloomington, Minnesota, made the announcement at the North American Commercial Vehicle Show (NACV)
Filter Minder, a 2015 acquisition by Donaldson, is a wireless technology that helps manage air filter maintenance. Partnering with Geotab helps deliver “the best filtration monitoring in the market,” said Nathan Zambon, Director of Filter Minder at Donaldson.
Geotab’s dashboard currently manages 450,000 Class 6, 7 and 8 trucks all over the world. Geotab Inc. is a privately held company based in Oakville, Ontario, that specializes in telematics, including GPS fleet management and vehicle tracking.
“Geotab is proud to have the capability to integrate our open platform technology with incredibly dynamic partners, such as Donaldson,” said Scott Sutark, Vice President of Commercial Vehicle Solutions at Geotab, in a statement. “We strongly believe that the future of maintenance revolves around connected solutions, such as Filter Minder, which provide value to our customers through improved fuel efficiency, decreased filter costs and increased overall truck uptime.”
While this integration is still in field testing, Donaldson hopes to release this solution in 2020 for commercial trucks, which will increase visibility for fleet managers and ultimately save the fleets money. Managers will have the ability to adjust the alert function on the dashboard, according to each truck’s and driver’s performance. The Filter Minder system can be retrofitted onto existing filter systems.
“Instead of adding more cell-phone connectivity to trucks, we’re leveraging the built-in connectivity that’s already in place with the geotab. It’s an efficient way to get information to customers and help them manage their fleets,” explained Zambon.
When asked if other telematics systems can integrate with Filter Minder, Zambon responded that currently, Geotab is the only platform Donaldson supports.
To continue addressing the industry-wide concerns around the bottom line and high fuel costs, Donaldson also announced at NACV the results of a recent analysis of its Genuine PowerCore air filters, which revealed that with consistent use, the filter can save up to $215 annually per truck.
Genuine PowerCore filters were introduced 20 years ago. When compared to competitors, they show 26% more improvement in air quality and boast partners in Freightliner, International Trucks and Daimler.
“While truck engineers have long known the benefits of PowerCore filters, this new data quantifies the value to fleet operators – and provides a good reason to question substitutes,” said Al Hovda, General Manager of Donaldson Air Products.
