Mack Premium Service Contracts Simplify Maintenance Management

Mack Trucks unveiled Premium Service Contracts and expanded over-the-air update capabilities to help improve fleet uptime.

Premium Service Contracts offer dedicated maintenance management with a single point of contact. The Premium Service Contract helps to increase customer uptime, increase a customer’s return on investment and offers improved service for small- and medium-sized fleets, according to Mack.

The local dealer manages the scheduling of maintenance based on each customer’s unique operation. Mack said this helps improve vehicle uptime while reducing costs for the customer.

The contract is built around what Mack calls its Maintenance Plan 2. That includes, among other things, a 74-point inspection, as well as an oil analysis done at every oil drain so planners can proactively identify any issues that may come up in the future.  

“Mack’s Premium Service Contracts are similar to our core service contracts, but it takes it one huge step forward by incorporating the adaptive maintenance model,” said Patrick Brown, Mack Trucks’ services and solutions strategy manager, during a news conference at the American Trucking Associations’ Technology & Maintenance council annual meeting in Orlando.

Adaptive maintenance takes vehicle operation data such as fuel consumption, idle time, miles or hours driven, etc., and feeds it into a proprietary regression model. The output of the regression model allows Mack to forecast when the next service event should occur based on how the truck has been run.

The Mack Premium Service Contract is available for normal-duty applications in 100,000-mile increments. Mack heavy-duty Premium Service Contracts are available in 50,000-mile increments. Vocational customers can also get these contracts quoted in hours.

Eligible vehicles for the Premium Service Contract are those that are powered by Mack engines with fewer than 150,000 miles. Preventive maintenance, adaptive maintenance, and fleet management by the dealer are included.

“Under the Premium Service Contracts, all parts and labor will be pre-indexed upfront, so the customer has complete visibility of what they'll be paying throughout the course of the contract,” Brown said. “That ultimately helps customers to better control costs of their operations.”

All service work is done at Mack Certified Uptime dealers, with Mack-certified technicians using genuine Mack parts.

Mack Expands Over-The-Air Update Capabilities

Mack Trucks is adding three new electronic control units enabled for Mack Over the Air (OTA) updates in the Mack Anthem, Pinnacle and Granite models. In addition to the engine, transmission, and aftertreatment ECUs, Mack is adding instrument cluster, vehicle ECU, and body builder modules.

These ECUs previously required a visit to a dealer to update.

“Mack OTA technology is constantly evolving to meet the demanding needs of our customers,” said David Pardue, vice president of connected vehicle services for Mack Trucks. “We set the standard when we launched the remote update capability, and this latest expansion puts us even further ahead with the number of vehicle optimizations possible through this service.”

What once required an in-person visit can now be done remotely to more ECUs and at a time most convenient for the customer.

“Our control software is constantly being updated, so if the software gets updated somewhere during the year, we can push out an update, just like on your phone,” said Stew Rizzoli, Mack Trucks’ highway product manager.

On top of correcting faults and resolving issues, updating control software can bring additional efficiency to fleet operations, such as changing fuel economy parameters on the fly, Rizzoli said.

“This capability offers fleets unparalleled control of their trucks,” he said. “If I'm running a guy down the highway, and I need the best fuel economy, I can set it up that way. But if I want to put that truck on a different route, say in the hills pulling heavier loads, I can actually change that over the air on the truck.”

Mack OTA updates are free for the first two years of ownership and can be extended by subscription after that period. OTA connectivity is a feature of Mack’s fully integrated telematics platform, Mack GuardDog Connect. Customers also have access to Mack OneCall, Mack’s 24/7 customer support and Mack ASIST, Mack’s web-based service management program.