Inspector Gadget and Sherlock Holmes have met their match. While Thermo King’s TracKing platform may be best known for its remote temperature management and transport refrigeration unit monitoring to ensure an uninterrupted Cold Chain, it has also proven its value in search and rescue missions. Just ask Thermo King customer iHaul Freight of British Columbia, Canada.
When the company had not one, but two brand new trailers with Thermo King Precedent C-600 refrigeration units stolen, they turned to Thermo King of British Columbia for help. After almost three months, the trail had turned cold on the first new trailer and unit that went missing. Worth upwards of $130K, Tri was not ready to give up.
customer service group
While TracKing, which is part of Thermo King’s ConnectedSuite platform of data-driven products, had not been previously activated on the missing trailers, Clint, Thermo King of British Columbia’s sales manager, decided to contact the TracKing customer service group for guidance.
“I reached out to the unit’s selling dealer to obtain the serial number on the refrigeration unit so that we could activate it,” said Clint. “We were able to establish the last known physical GPS location, but the unit was turned off so we could not get any additional information on its current whereabouts.”
check-in process
It became a ‘wait and see’ game where Clint would occasionally log in to see if he could learn anything new
It became a ‘wait and see’ game where Clint would occasionally log in to see if he could learn anything new. Ironically, the second trailer and unit went missing during the search for the first and a similar check-in process was put into action. “We were starting to think that the trailers and units were sold or completely disabled, but then I decided to check again and literally received a unit ping while I was on the site. I couldn’t believe it!”
Clint could see that the unit had moved locations and Tri was then able to locate the yard and direct police accordingly. The second trailer and unit was found in a similar fashion.
real-time temperature monitoring
“If it wasn’t for the TracKing technology and Clint’s determination to keep watch, we may have never seen our brand new trailers again,” said Tri. “This is a great example of the wonderful and on-going relationship we have with Thermo King and the people working there.
“And it’s a great example of the value unit connectivity offers fleets,” said Clint. “It truly shows that the advantages of data-driven fleet operation go beyond real-time temperature monitoring that can save loads and unit service notifications so that we can schedule maintenance proactively to improve uptime. TracKing and our ConnectedSuite offerings also provide asset security and ultimately, peace of mind. I am so pleased that this story had a happy ending for the customer.”
