SAF-HOLLAND Expands Digital Competence

The British Axscend Ltd. combines competence in engineering, sensor systems, electronics and software programming. The company’s solutions are intended for comprehensive digital trailer management, allowing fleet operators to save costs and increase efficiency. SAF-HOLLAND sees ideal combination options with its
suspension systems in the area of braking performance monitoring.

Growth potential for Axscend technology

SAF-HOLLAND sees clear growth potential for the Axscend technology in the years to come. “We see this technology acquisition as part of our innovation campaign for making our axles smart and contributing to the digitalization of our trailers. We are increasingly linking our mechanical components with sensors and electronics and are working on topics such as automatic coupling of tractor unit and trailer as well as preventive maintenance. Axscend makes trailers intelligent and its know-how will make a noticeable contribution to accelerating our development work, especially in the field of software,” explains SAF -HOLLAND CEO Detlef Borghardt.

Patented: TrailerMaster Connect Connectivity
Axscend concentrates on the digitalization of trailer management. With the patented TrailerMaster Connect Connectivity solution, an intelligent interface for line connection technology, any trailer can be upgraded or retrofitted to a smart trailer with numerous data-based functions. Data are also transmitted and evaluated while not coupled to the tractor unit, allowing fleets to make best possible use their resources. The most important functions that can be integrated are:
• checking lighting functions
• checking and optimising the load
• checking the maintenance status
• evaluating data from tyre pressure monitoring system and EBS
• patented performance data and condition evaluation of the braking system
• GPS data transmission for trailer tracking

Fleet operators have already purchased several thousand trailer licences through a licence-based model. “Digitalisation is a great opportunity for us. In addition to the valuable know-how and the technology input, we are also interested in the subscription-based Axscend business model which is already running successfully.
This will be an important component for us, for supplementary and completely new data-based business models,” says SAF-HOLLAND CFO Dr. Matthias Heiden. With the acquisition of the British specialist Axscend, SAF-HOLLAND reacts to the growing interest from fleet operators in intelligent applications for trailer management.