Case study

How eMaint X5 Halved Downtime and Revolutionized Maintenance at Torc Robotics

Customer Since: 2023 | Industry: Automotive

Automotive

Customer since 2023 6 min read

Summary

Torc Robotics, an autonomous self-driving truck manufacturer, needed a customizable Computerized Maintenance Management Software (CMMS) solution to help address operational complexities and maintain efficiency and reliability for their customers.

They turned to eMaint X5 to tackle their challenges head-on.

Using the CMMS’s features, including a business intelligence (BI) tooling integration and a mobile app, Torc standardized its maintenance processes and centralized all asset management. This, in turn, helped the company improve its workflows, monitor asset conditions, and address issues early with preventive maintenance. As a result, they halved their downtime numbers.

Cut downtime by 50% most months thanks to eMaint X5 centralizing and standardizing operational processes.
Technicians used the X5 mobile app to report and document issues with assets in real-time, making problem-solving quicker.
Analytics, powered by eMaint’s BI integration, allowed Torc to identify causes of downtime and improve preventive maintenance.

BACKGROUND

Torc Robotics (Torc) is an American autonomous self-driving truck manufacturer and an independent subsidiary of Daimler Truck AG.

Headquartered in Blacksburg, Virginia, and with operations in Albuquerque, New Mexico; Austin, Texas; Montreal, Quebec; and Stuttgart, Germany, the company is pioneering the next generation of transportation technologies, and fundamentally transforming the way the world moves goods and services.

But as Torc has grown, so have the organization’s operational complexities. Finding an out-of-the-box solution that could help Torc maintain efficiency and reliability for its customers was important.

CHALLENGES

High on Torc’s list of challenges was implementing an operational framework, something the company’s program managers were quick to point out. “The way we worked depended on tribal knowledge and manually explaining or writing something down,” explains Brenton Papenfuse, Torc’s autonomous service program manager. “As a result, there was no standardization in our workflows, policies and procedures.”

“As TORC grew and began to scale its business operation, it was important to have a system for maintaining equipment, creating documentation, and assist new hires with the processes and procedures required to keep the Fleet functioning reliably and efficiently.

The company tried various software systems to tackle these challenges, but found them too limited, as they supported only specific applications.

Consequently, Torc turned to eMaint because of its high customizability, which allowed them to tailor the CMMS to their needs. “With us specializing in autonomous drive, we have sensors and hardware that are not currently in the transportation world,” explains Nick Grant, program manager of fleet operations systems. “We wanted a system that not only worked for that and could deliver out-of-the-box features, but also a partner in the industry who would work with us to meet our challenges and say yes to our ideas when we needed the system to work in a particular way.”

eMaint proved to be the partner they were looking for.

IMPLEMENTATION

Torc worked with an eMaint implementation specialist to extensively customize the CMMS. “It was a lot of deliberating what was possible — and then learning from our account specialist that every scenario we ran by him was possible,” recalls Papenfuse.

“In the end, it was ideal for what we needed it to do. We were able to implement inventory and service work, add all our assets from the vehicle side as well as additional autonomous sensors and components, as well as troubleshooting and repair procedures. It was everything we needed to bring in the standardization we wanted.”

Using the eMaint application programming interface (API), they easily connected their different systems to pull all their information together in one place.

RESULTS

With eMaint centralizing, standardizing, and streamlining the maintenance workflow at every level, Torc utilized X5 for better pattern identification in order to roll in additional routine maintenance measures that led to a decrease in downtime.

Standardized workflows: Torc’s maintenance information — inventory, tasks, structured procedures, asset details, and locations — is now detailed in eMaint, using a parent-child asset hierarchy for clarity and control. This promotes consistency across preventive maintenance, work orders, troubleshooting, and repairs, resulting in well-oiled workflows.“eMaint is instrumental in our PM schedule for our tunnels package,” says Papenfuse. “We perform daily, monthly, quarterly, and semi-annual vehicle inspections, using eMaint to detail procedures for parent and child assets that technicians can easily follow. They can update the status of each step, documenting it with pictures and notes. It is the first fully standardized routine maintenance we’ve rolled into our current project.”Furthermore, as vehicle maintenance processes are documented in eMaint, training new employees is much more straightforward. Since hiring for specialized roles is a challenge for the company, this is a significant benefit.
Condition monitoring for predictive maintenance: Standardization through eMaint has also let Torc teams establish clear performance baselines which they use to pre-emptively identify early signs of deterioration or faults, and automatically schedule preventive actions. “Thanks to our API, we can pinpoint patterns of failure and set up triggers that automatically generate a work order, add the assets involved, and provide a duty procedure for technicians to follow,” Papenfuse says.The CMMS has even helped identify engineering issues that need to be solved outside of routine maintenance.
X5 mobile app makes real-time reporting simple: The X5 mobile app adds real-time agility to Torc’s workflows and condition monitoring. Torc technicians use the X5 mobile app on tablets and smartphones to record issues with assets and take photos — quick data capture that leads to faster problem-solving.  In parallel, management staff uses the CMMS to assign work orders, manage inventory, and work with enterprise performance management (EPM) services, creating a seamless integration between field operations and backend management.
eMaint X5 and BI integration cut downtime by 50%: Dashboard analytics powered by BI tooling have let the Torc team drill down from high-level asset overviews to granular diagnostics that let them build on the benefits gained from eMaint’s other features. “The devil is in the details,” says Papenfuse. Identifying root and recurring causes of downtime per asset type and subtype — “whether a certain firmware, a mounting location or something even lower level” — and fixing them through monthly maintenance has cut their downtime in half.With eMaint, Torc finally has the means to accomplish and sustain overall operational efficiency. “Using eMaint is continually improving our business or organization,” says Grant. “It’s one thing to define the procedure at first, then become more reliable and then become more efficient, and then continually grow and get better with those metrics.”The company plans to continue using eMaint X5 to improve its autonomy kit and maintenance efficiency. “As we move forward it just seems like the process is going to get easier and easier while still steadily increasing the detail and the output of the system,” Papenfuse states.

“eMaint’s incredible customization has greatly improved our standardization and efficiency. I would recommend it because it will fit just about any detail or scenario.
And I also love the support we’ve had from the Fluke Reliability team to get the system running just as we wanted it to. Our account specialist, Chris, has been incredibly supportive, always ready to guide us or handle things directly, which has been fantastic.”

– Brenton Papenfuse, autonomous service program manager at Torc

“I would recommend eMaint to anyone who’s looking for a CMMS that’s customizable and (has) great customer service. Their staff is friendly, they’re always available, they answer in a timely manner and they’re willing to help us with any of the unique challenges we face. There are a lot of other companies and vendors that have software that does some type of maintenance, but eMaint is willing to work with its customers to make sure the solution delivers exactly what they need.”

– Nick Grant, program manager of fleet operations systems at Torc

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