Creating and Editing Equipment

It is key to running a successful trucking company to keep track of your tractors and trailers — where they are, who’s driving them, when they need maintenance, etc. Tailwind provides several tools to help you do so, and they all center around creating and maintaining your Equipment Records.

To see a list of all the Equipment records currently active in your database, navigate the Equipment List using the left navigation menu. This will bring up a searchable list of all the Equipment you have entered so far.

If you are setting up Tailwind or have been busy expanding your fleet, this list may be missing one or more pieces of equipment. In that case, click on the

‘Create Equipment’ button to add a new record.

This will bring up a blank Equipment record. Begin filling in the fields — note that required fields are displayed in red until they are filled in and marked with a *. Also, note that the record contains many tabs — you start on the ‘General’ tab, but there are also more fields for recording Certification information, Weights & Measurements, Purchase details, etc.

Once you have entered all the necessary information, click ‘Create’ to finish creating the record. At this point, you will see the new record, including several new tabs that can help you keep track of related Fuel Cards or Permits and track the Service record of the equipment. For example, the Certification tab allows you to track registration dates, safety inspections and IFTA decals — allowing the software to remind you when an item expires.

(To use these reminders, you will need to set a specific Personnel to receive the reminders; this is configured in the Configuration menu, under Company Information > Reminders.)

You do not have to fill out every field – other than the three required fields. It is up to you what information about your equipment you think is worth recording and what is not. However, it is important to try and be consistent. For example, if you enter weight information for one trailer but forget to put it in for another, it is hard for you to compare weight information across your trailers. Try to make some decisions and stick to entering the same data for each piece of equipment – but also remember that you can always go back through and add more details if you change your mind.

Associating one or more Fuel Cards with a particular tractor is essential if you want to use Tailwind’s Fuel Import tool — but even if you don’t plan on using the imports, it can also be handy just for your record-keeping to keep track of which card is where.

The ‘Service’ tab on a piece of equipment can be used to track the service history of the tractor (or trailer) — this can be useful for managing larger fleets, knowing when a piece of equipment is due for a PM service, or tracking the status and availability of particular equipment.

Service record, navigate to the ‘Services’ tab and click on ‘Add Service.’ This will bring up a screen where you can enter some basic information about the service — who is doing (or managing) the servicing, the service date, the tractor odometer, and a description of the ‘Reason’ for the service. Once you’ve filled this out, click ‘Create’ to add the record to the Services list.

Once you have your equipment set up, it will be available when Dispatching a load.