enTIRE - Tyre and Rim Management Software
enTIRE is a tyre management software (TMS) that is used in mining, transport and ports. The software manages over a billion dollars of tyres throughout the world. It is PC based and the developers are about to embark on a Web interface development resulting in a multiple interface for our system (enTIRE Tyre and Rim Management Software). We have conducted an interview with the developers.
How did you start the enTIRE Project?
I started the company back in 1989 where I developed a system to save tyre costs for a bus fleet. I then attracted the interest of tyre manufacturers to modify the software to manage the huge mining tyres, which is where I learnt about the processes to manage tyres and reduce costs.
In 1992 I sold my first system into a mine in Indonesia and from that point began to expand into more mining and transport operations. At this stage our group began to grow and I moved from programming into marketing.
In 1995 we developed the first version of our current system called enTIRE Wheels.
In 1999 we were selected by a large tyre manufacturer as being “Best of Breed” software and our whole team flew to Europe for over a year to develop a huge tyre management system based on enTIRE.
Since this time our market has expanded rapidly and we are the only tyre software company independent of tyre manufactures and service providers. A few years ago we also setup a data center in Indonesia which handles data input for a number of our larger clients. Our development team now has over 70 years combined development experience and our clients are mostly long term user of enTIRE. Our longest user of enTIRE have been using our software for over 20 years!
What kind of benefits does your enTIRE tyre management software (TMS) provide for users?
We discovered back in 1989 when we originally developed this concept, with careful management we could reduce the cost of tyres used in transportation and mining fleets by around 30%.
We were able to identify types of tyres which perform better than others.
Also, we could identify operational issues that reduce tyre life at each of our customers. These operational issues could then be addressed to extend tyre life.
enTIRE collects and analyses tyre usage and performance information on each tyre in operation so fleet owners can make informed decisions about tyre purchasing and management.
Of course the biggest benefit to extending tyre life is a reduction in vehicle downtime since tyres need to be changed less often. As enTIRE currently tracks the performance of over a billion dollars throughout the World, so these savings are considerable.
Who do you recommend to use it?
Mining groups, transport operations and ports. These type operations have enormous tyre costs. Tyres are the third most expensive cost in running a vehicle. Some of our mining clients have annual tyre costs over $50 million, so there are clear financial reasons to implement tyre management software to reduce these costs.
Which are the awards you have won?
Our software won the AIIA Financial Reviews “Best Industrial Software Application” in 2005. This award created quite a bit of interest in enTIRE throughout the World. Since this time we have won a number of awards from our clients as contributors toward their businesses.
How does being independent from all tyre manufacturers and service providers differentiates you?
Tyre suppliers and service providers often try and supply their own software to manage their client’s tyre stock and performance data. The downside of this is the supplier of the software has access to all the information used in negotiating tyre supply contracts. These contacts can be valued at many millions of dollars so it makes sense to use an independent software product to track the performance and stock levels of tyre used at a site.
Our niche market are mining and transport operations who want to keep all this information confidential to obtain the best value when negotiating large tyre supply contracts.
What are the future developmental plans?
This is an interesting question.
With technology advancing so rapidly, there are a number of new products appearing. These include tyre pressure monitoring systems (TPMS), which involve transmitting tyre pressures from each tyre to a central location where each vehicle is managed.
With correct tyre pressure management, tyre life can be extended by 4%. Also there is an enormous labor cost as tyre fitters need only adjust pressures on tyres that are below recommended pressure instead of checking every tyre on all vehicles in their fleet.
Another development are automated tread gauges, which are devices with a small probe which are pushed into the remaining tread of a tyre and a remaining tread reading is taken. The data is then transferred via Bluetooth to a handheld device and then to a central location for tyre management. With regular tread readings you can calculate tread wear and also estimate when each tyre needs to be replaced.
Finally there is a move by tyre manufacturers to insert RFID chips into tyres for easy identification. These chips gave us the opportunity to automate the data collection processes within enTIRE. The automation of these readings is a large project we are working on at the moment.
