Staying in the agricultural hauling business means meeting weight regulations. Blue Ink Tech, a leader in trucking technology, has released the most recent addition to its BIT Full Service Platform: the BIT Air Scale, which gives ag and cattle haulers access to real-time weight information on their phone or tablet.
Utilizing two small, wireless sensors, BIT Air Scale self-installs in less than 15 minutes. “With time tighter than ever, BIT Air Scale frees truck drivers from the necessity of visiting an off-site scale to find out their weight,” said Mike Riegel, head of product development. “Anyone who hauls bulk, is paid by weight, or loads in locations without easy access to scales should be paying attention to this system.”
The system integrates into Blue Ink Tech’s existing web portal allowing carriers to see how much weight each of their trucks is carrying at any given moment. Riegel said Blue Ink Tech had moved to solve one of the biggest friction points in trucking. “If a grain or cattle hauler gets overloaded and doesn’t find out until they hit a scale 50 or 60 miles away, it really puts them in a tight spot,” Mike Riegel of Blue Ink Tech said. “They can either drive back to the loader and correct the load, which could waste a whole day, or they can drive illegally. Either option ends up with the truck driver bearing the brunt of the problem, and the carrier potentially losing money.”
Blue Ink Tech aimed to solve this problem by allowing Ag haulers to get accurate, real-time, weight at the point of loading, he said. “We wanted to make something as simple as possible on the drivers side. All the complexity, all the math, happens in the app. For the driver, it’s as simple as install sensors, calibrate, done.”
Because the app delivers real-time updates on weight, a truck driver can monitor weight as the truck is being loaded. “For anyone hauling grain, feed, produce, or cattle loads that are hard to measure with the eyes, this can be a huge time-saver. Ensuring the load is as full as it can be and within legal limits, before you leave can save hours”, Riegel said.
Blue Ink Tech has managed to make the process of installation and calibration easy. Sensors come mounted on DOT approved Tee-fittings. They install directly into the suspension airline, with no need for additional wiring. Once the sensors are in place, a driver weighs their truck twice, once empty and once full, and enters the weights into the app. After that, the system handles the rest.
“With Blue Ink Tech’s app doing the heavy lifting, the system even calculates your steer axle,” Riegel said. The Air Scales provide a 99 percent accurate axle weight and gross combined weight. The system integrates into Blue Ink Tech’s web portal allowing carriers to see how much weight each of their trucks is carrying at any given moment. Those using Blue Ink Tech’s other systems, will see weight, location, and the driver’s available hours of service, all in one place.
