There are a number of tire management systems, but they have big differences. Those differences can open or close doors to improved maintenance practices. Some are tied to a computer in an office. Some are portable, but slow. Some are portable and fast.

If you could inspect one bus every other minute and spot a few problems you could schedule to fix, would you inspect them all in the shop or out in the yard? If a well-trained high school senior could inspect 100 buses in the yard in four hours, would you do it daily? If the reports produced prioritized work that needed to be done ASAP, do you have the ability to jump on the few critical ones and get them done before they become real problems?

Before embarking on a quest for the perfect process, look to your own maintenance limitations and practices and ask yourself why they exist. Sometimes we do things the way we do simply because it works, or because we just do not have the staff to do more. Tire tracking systems can absorb resources you do not have — or can free them up, depending on your own circumstances. Take your time to evaluate the alternatives. The system you choose must free up resources, reduce total costs and lower safety and liability risks.