EXECUTIVE REPORT
Beyond asset tracking
Telematics is shifting beyond basic track-and-trace to offer greater insight into plant and equipment. Dan Jenkins talks to hire companies about their experiences with various systems.
Telematics providers had a strong presence at this year’s Executive Hire Show, with exhibitors including BigChange Apps, CanTrack, Enigma Telematics, and Trackunit. JCB dedicated part of its stand to its LiveLink system, while software specialists such as Point of Rental explained how they can import data feeds from the services.
Enigma and CanTrack both specialise in theft prevention and recovery of plant, providing a valuable service to hire companies and the police. Conversely, BigChange is primarily focused on workforce productivity - EHN included a case study from BigChange in our September 2019 issue.
Added bonus
Powered access hirer, Riwal, has worked with the Danish company Trackunit since 2012. Glenn Verburg is General Manager of Riwal Benelux and the hirer’s former group manager of operations. He played a key role in the adoption of telematics and the roll-out of Trackunit across the hire fleet, which is supplied to customers in 70 countries. Initially his focus was on GPS location, simply helping transport teams to improve productivity by quickly finding equipment on large construction sites. However, the ability to see when and where equipment was being used provided an unexpected bonus.
“We could charge customers who used the equipment on weekends if they had only hired the machine for the working week, for example,” he said. “In that sense, Trackunit has already paid for itself, because of the charges we could apply for additional use.”
Trackunit also provides Riwal with machine hours of operation data, which enables the company to plan maintenance schedules more accurately. “We are able to be much more proactive in terms of planning machine down time,” added Glenn Verburg. “We can plan when to send our mechanic to the site at a time which does not inconvenience the customer, or we can swap out the machine so they can keep working.”
Ashbrook is able to integrate data from JCB’s LiveLink Fleet to its Syrinx hire software from Point of Rental.
Going live
JCB has developed its LiveLink telematics platform to include machine ‘health’ data, as well as hours of service. Ashbrook, a Congleton-based plant and access hire company, recently invested more than £10m in new JCB site dumpers, rough terrain forklifts, backhoe loaders, wheeled loading shovels, and telescopic handlers.
Ashbrook’s Service Manager, Tom Farrington, says that LiveLink is a real boon for his team, helping them to monitor machine health in order to reduce the risk of breakdowns, and to improve first-fix rates . “We couldn’t do without it. There is a whole range of functions that we use on a daily basis, from fuel level monitoring and hours of operation, through to GPS location.”
Riwal has used Trackunit telematics systems since 2012. 30
LiveLink Fleet enables hire companies to access data on machines such as fuel consumption, faults and idling time. “We even get email alerts when there is water in the fuel,” he added. “That allows us to phone the customer and, in many cases, talk them through how to fix that issue themselves. This solves the problem quickly and saves them money, as it would be chargeable work if we went out to do it. It works well for everyone.
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