The COVID-19 pandemic hit the tire industry hard, but they are coming back strong in 2021. Because people and businesses travelled less in 2020, less tires were needed due to wear and tear.
The economy is ready to get back on track and continue growing, with numbers backing up those claims. Commercial truck demand was up 101% year over year in June, according to DAT Freight & Analytics. FTR Transportation Intelligence have predicted a 14.5% YOY growth in freight for the second quarter of 2021 and will continue to grow as the year goes on.
The tire market has been growing alongside these numbers, as well. With the economy regrowing and route distribution being restructured, tires are being shipped regionally more than they ever have been before. Over the next 10 years, those regional shipments could very well eclipse long-haul ones.
There are still complications with supply chains, however. With travel restrictions during 2020, rubber producing countries like Malaysia and Thailand could not get the migrant workers needed to meet demand. Couple that with a fungal leaf disease that had affected the area, there production dropped drastically.
Thus, certain styles and sizes of tires are harder to come by for the time being, and it has proven difficult for manufacturers to pivot to the demands of the market. This has led to the supply shortages that we are seeing now in 2021.
However, the tire industry is learning from these challenges and carving a future to better handle these situations down the line. That includes handling fleet operations, how they maintain tires, better rubber recycling, and innovation in how tires can better do their jobs.
Material science engineers are working to improve tire durability and performance, and supply chain experts are working on ways to track tire lifecycle and how to get every mile out of each tire. They are also looking at ways to keep more rubber out of landfills by retreading and recycling tires.
Tire expenses for commercial fleets are typically only beaten by fuel and labor costs, so this is good news. For now, though, these new sciences require investment, testing, and training.
Smart tires can help their fleets gain more data in the form of routes, road conditions, and location services. Monitoring these things can help fleets see problems down the line and avoid them.
This can be harder for smaller fleets to match, but as the decade progresses, these technologies are looking to become so commonplace as to be the norm. That means that across the industry, tires will be able to provide the same data; pressure, speed, temperature, and any other factors they need to.
Tire failures lead to more than half of truck roadside breakdowns, and underinflation of the tires plays a key role. It’s difficult to determine when carrying a multi-ton load how it will affect the tires, and newer smarter tires can provide those answers and circumvent those problems.
Tires are manually checked these days, and technology has gotten better within the last decade to determine their lifespan and usage. But some of these are costly or time consuming and can’t be done by the driver half a continent away from home base.
Smart tires can help to change the difficulties that are posed to drivers and suppliers, with real-time data, accurate checks on the life of tires, and better materials and innovative technology to keep them spinning longer.
Source: fleetowner.com
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