Tire Giant Michelin Drives Digitalization with RFID
Already a Reality for Truck Fleets – Connected Car Tires Have Also Become the Standard Since 2020
Long since a reality: Fleet operators can retrieve important tire data from bus and truck tires via RFID chips. Sensors such as the tire pressure monitoring system already measure and capture data that plays an important role in driver safety as well as in maintenance and insurance issues. Michelin began integrating RFID into truck tires as early as 2012 and today, 8 out of 10 Michelin truck tires worldwide are equipped with RFID technology.
Michelin tires dominate the FIA Endurance Championship. The image shows the winning Toyota Gazoo Racing team at the 8th race of the 2019/2020 season in Bahrain.
Michelin tires have always triumphed in the six and eight-hour FIA WEC races in Bahrain since 2012. The winners Mike Conway (Great Britain), Kamui Kobayashi (Japan) and José María López (Argentina) completed 263 laps. They won on November 14th, 2020 with the Toyota Gazoo Racing Team.
Tire Giant Drives Digitalization
Manufacture Française des Pneumatiques Michelin, or Michelin for short, was founded in Clermont-Ferrand in 1889. Having started with 52 employees, the company now employs 120,000 people worldwide. The group has sales organizations in over 170 countries. Production takes place in 68 plants spread over 17 countries on five continents. The company is the second largest tire manufacturer in the world in terms of sales.
Traction with Potential
Tires are the only part of a vehicle that is constantly in contact with the ground. If tires are connected with the ecosystems that surround them, innovative services can be created for business and end customers. Capturing data via RFID in the tire therefore represents great potential. This is not just about direct benefits for logistics, supply chain and inventory, but rather about new, digital business models.
The Standard for RFID in Tires
RFID tags have already been installed in serial production tires in Michelin plants worldwide since 2012 for both trucks and buses, and since 2019 for passenger cars. Intensive research and development work has defined both the best possible placement and the insertion method in the production process so that all tires produced worldwide function with comparable precision and can be identified via RFID.