In a new series, HVIA’s Chief Engineer Rachel Michaud takes a sneak peek at what got the 2025 Product Innovation Award winner Airtec over the line in our most competitive award category.
By now, many in industry have probably seen this iconic LinkedIn shot of Jacinta Lane and David Morton from Airtec Corporation holding the 2025 HVIA Product Innovation Award (kindly sponsored by Geotab). It may also come as no surprise that the Product Innovation category was one of the most hotly contested awards in the portfolio, receiving the most nominations in 2025.
What you might wonder is why did Airtec’s SmartOBM product win an innovation award and what was it that caught the judges’ attention in the award nomination?
This article is the first of many we plan to release unlocking the winners and the secret sauce that got them over the line.
Before we go further, and for any members looking to nominate in 2026, we asked CEO David Hewett to comment on what winning the award meant to the Airtec team.
“Being recognised as an industry product innovator has significantly elevated awareness of the heavy vehicle sector, creating greater exposure to customers and opening valuable partnership opportunities,” he says.
“As a technology leader in the on-board mass (OBM) space, we are seeing increasing adoption of these solutions for both regulatory compliance and commercial performance, along with stronger collaboration with telematics partners locally and around the world.
“The Australian heavy vehicle market is something of a global anomaly. It is one of the few regions where high-productivity multi-combinations, such as B-doubles and road trains, operate at scale. This requires a hybrid regulatory framework that blends European and North American standards with uniquely Australian operating conditions.
“Our SmartOBM technology helps bridge this complexity by delivering real-time, connected solutions that support both operators and regulators. Recognition like this not only validates the work our team has done but also gives us the confidence to continue expanding our partner network and take this Australian innovation to the global stage.”
Smart OBM Systems
By way of background, smart OBM systems have become increasingly popular in Australia with on-board mass management being used as an incentive for fleets to access higher productivity freight vehicle road access in many states.
A smart OBM system is defined as a ‘device(s) that use digital technology to collect and transmit mass data from vehicles in a reliable and standardised way’.
Requirements for some high-productivity freight vehicles (HPFV’s) to fit smart OBM and OBM systems have around in some form now for over a decade and have been managed in this time by Transport Certification Australia (TCA).
Despite this, it was only in 2021 that the Telematics Monitoring Application (TMA) paired with a smart OBM became the ‘Goldilocks’ solution for industry and was rolled out almost nationally for HPFVs as the preferred regulatory solution for mass management.
This move was critical for the future of smart OBM solutions as with steady policy settings in place, the Australian market was finally ready to spend capital developing multiple compliant ‘Type Approved’ smart OBM offerings. The uniformity of incentives and requirements to fit smart OBM in Australia created a local landscape of innovation to address our unique challenges.
What was unique about the OBM/TMA requirements in Australia, is that no other global jurisdictions had mandated anything similar. An On Board Weighing (OBW) framework was considered by the European Union in 2019, but ended up becoming a non-legislative act, and optional fitment rather than mandatory.
Five years on, this has resulted in the latest-generation Airtec smart OBM offering which is available today.
Airtec’s AXS Series OBM System
For the 2025 award, Airtec submitted its latest-generation product, the AXS Series OBM system.
The product was locally created and modified to suit the Australian market conditions including an IP66 rating and reliable and lasting external and internal mounting options.
As this is a national awards program, being an Australian offering and generating jobs in our local manufacturing sector is always a big plus. But being tough and Aussie-made also fits the description of many other innovative products on the market. What else was there?
Quite critically, the Airtec submission included a powerful testimonial from customer Nolan’s Transport as field evidence of the product’s innovation and success.
The company also provided detail of the changes it had made to the original product to better adapt to large fleet operations and real-world use cases including a self-calibration ability which enabled fleets to ensure they could check, confirm and update the product accuracy more regularly and without excessive cost.
Tick number two? Having a large fleet commend, use and endorse the product was a big plus for this application. Additionally, this proved that Airtec’s product was already out in the marketplace and working at scale, rather than sitting on a test bench or fabricated environment.
Then there was the product itself. In the company’s submission it was clear every effort was made to streamline and perfect the offering in any way possible. Lights were added to the gauge for night-time loading and usage and visual light indicators to show axle group overload. The gauge is the lightest yet and the most cost-effective offering Airtec had to date.
The data transfer from the unit to the telematics was optimised using Bluetooth mesh connectivity which did away with the traditional one-to-one connection and instead utilises a network of nodes which allow many connections to communicate and relay data to one another. This resulted in a faster and hence more stable connection. So, this upgrade has no doubt had a major positive impact for Airtec’s customers.
If we call a generally great list of product improvements tick number three, then we think tick number four can go to consideration of the older generations of product in the market.
What happens to those who invested in the tech earlier and now have a lesser offering? Well, Airtec had an answer for that also with a Bluetooth mesh upgrade kit available and already rolled out across many fleets already using its product.
Another key award requirement is to include some context in how the product is transforming and improving industry. In this case, the key was productivity. The product was said to be smarter, tougher and more cost-effective. One point from the submission that stuck with me was this, ‘The reduced cost of the unit makes SmartOBM adoption more accessible, enabling more operators to benefit from access to PBS (Performance-Based Standards) and higher mass limits – ultimately driving increased productivity and profitability across their fleet.’
Given the current productivity landscape, increasing cost and operational pressures on our industry, getting a high-tech product for the right initial price, but also lowered maintenance price through self-calibration options for example, really matters to operators.
A big congratulations also to the other category finalists: Allotrac for its Allie: AI Transport Management Assistant; QTRS for its SolarEdge Powered Refrigeration Trailer; and Cooler for its Safe, Hygienic, More Durable Fridge Bodies.
2026 HVIA National Awards
Applications for the 2026 HVIA National Awards will open in July 2026 and we encourage all members to consider nominating for one or more awards to showcase their fantastic industry achievements.
Do you have a product innovation that we should know about that has been implemented in the past two years or is currently in use? A product that has had tangible improved business outcomes for your customers and our industry? Why not nominate it for a HVIA Product Innovation Award? Let’s make the judges work harder than ever to assess these nominations and find the next winner!
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