ITI Model

ITI is a new and innovative business cooperation which successfully transformed the Israeli truck market. ITI stands for Iveco, Traffilog, and Ituran, three leading Israeli companies who joined forces to provide an innovative product and enable a true win-win situation for the providers and especially the customer.

The global economic situation has heavily influenced the trucking market in Israel. Competition is tight and companies wishing to expand their truck fleet are looking for the most value they can gain from purchasing a new truck. Today, thanks to the ITI product, they find this added value with Iveco trucks. Iveco are capable of offering their customers much more than just the truck itself but value added service that saves the customer money down the line.

The ITI product consists of the Iveco truck, Traffilog's premium solution, and Ituran's SVR unit.

The model originally initiated as cooperation between Iveco and Traffilog. Iveco provides a two year warranty on every new truck they sell. Under the terms of this warranty, Iveco is responsible for servicing all defects that are caused to the truck within the warranty period including any malfunction caused to the engine, clutch system, gearbox, steering system, etc. Iveco trucks are extremely reliable; however there is little one can do against misuse of the truck by its drivers. In many instances new trucks would come in for servicing with damage that is not likely to have been caused due to natural wear and tear of the truck in such a short period of time. Iveco suspected that the human factor is the main cause of the problem but had no way to either verify or prove this. This all changed when Iveco were introduced to the Traffilog solution.

Traffilog's advanced Mobile Resource Management (MRM) solutions are based on proprietary technologies that combine vehicle and driver diagnostics, providing drivers and fleet managers with customized real-time alerts and periodic reports to ultimately improve safety and reduce vehicle operating costs.

Traffilog solutions are comprised of a single end-unit easily installed in the vehicle and a web-based application to view and display the critical information that is relevant to the customer. GPS and smart wireless technologies coupled with cutting-edge G-force measurements, and Traffilog's proprietary ECU decoder, are at the heart of the solution. This unique solution provides vital knowledge via real-time alerts and periodic reports of potential mechanical failures or safety events.

Iveco decided to install the Traffilog solution in each new vehicle that leaves its lot and is sold to the customer. Initially the idea was to monitor the trucks during their day to day work and see whether the customer's drivers were misusing the trucks. Very quickly Iveco noticed that this was indeed the case and that many serious events were being generated by the drivers' wrongful use of the truck. But instead of waiting for the truck to break down and come in for servicing under the warranty and then arguing with the customer that the damage to the truck was cause due to misuse of the vehicle, Iveco decided to take a bold and proactive approach to minimize damages and create substantial value to its customers.

Iveco set up a call center at its facilities which monitors all of Iveco's customer's vehicles. Iveco actively engages with the customer's conveying information generated by the Traffilog system. Iveco outlined a few crucial events and labeled them as "red light" events. These events are critical events which can cause damage to the truck in the immediate timeframe. Red light events include: drop in engine oil pressure, an increase in coolant temperature, and fuel theft. Once these events are generated via the Traffilog system they instantly arrive at Iveco's call center which in turn immediately notify the customer in real time that a critical event involving one of his vehicles is taking place.

The benefit to the customer is great, not only do such preventive measures saves the truck from further and more substantial damage but also it prevents unnecessary down time of the customer's vehicles. Every time the truck must go into the garage for servicing the customer in fact must change his day to day operations and loses money because his truck is not working. Preventing such unnecessary services utilizing the red light events therefore saves both money and frustration for the customers. In addition, even when a malfunction occurs in the vehicle which mandates that the vehicle enter the shop, using the Traffilog system you can identify the system in which the malfunction occurs and save precious time in searching for what went wrong.

So what does Iveco gain from all this?

• Utilizing the Traffilog solution, Iveco can now prevent substantial damage to the customer's truck. Damage that they would have had to repair at their own costs under the warranty terms.
  
• Iveco has transformed themselves from more than just a truck distributor to a Value Added Reseller which helps save the customer money in his day to day operations. This allows them to provide an added value that no other truck supplier can and get an edge over the competition.
  
• Due to the reliability of the Traffilog system and the fact that it cuts their costs substantially, Iveco provide their customers with an additional one year extended warranty on all new trucks installed with the ITI product.