Construction equipment telematics is revolutionising the construction industry, powering visibility and efficiency beyond expectation.
Table of contents
- Introduction to equipment telematics
- What is telematics for construction
- Monitoring heavy equipment with telematics
- Construction equipment utilization
- Construction site safety
- Conclusion
INTRODUCTION TO EQUIPMENT TELEMATICS
Equipment telematics is all about data. When a piece of construction equipment or asset is being called into service, it can be monitored by our software solutions and provide a whole host of information. Being able to break down information into readable chunks will allow construction jobsites to function smoothly, stay profitable, and increase safety. With equipment telematics, companies can:
- See exactly where construction assets are at all times
- Manage multiple job sites and projects
- Monitor asset utilization to maximise output
- Monitor usage hours to determine when a piece of equipment is up for maintenance
Teletrac Navman Equipment Telematics Solutions
The power of GPS
GPS-enabled telematics is essential for keeping a construction site operating by locating and tracking construction equipment and assets. Being able to see all assets associated with one jobsite is essential to keeping a project on its predetermined timeline and under budget. The ability to see it all in real-time without having to check with foremen or operators leaves them free to do their job and keep the project progressing.
In order to keep a foothold in the competitive construction market, a company must have multiple jobs running at the same time. Multiple jobsites can be quickly and easily monitored using on- screen locations to make sure sites are stocked with the equipment they need, geofencing to keep assets in the areas they should be, engine hours data for preventive maintenance, as well as keeping the whole operation as safe and fuel efficient as possible.
Using Big Data to your benefit
Knowing how and when to deploy a piece of construction equipment is a valuable piece of data to maximise utilization. Assets sitting idle do not make progress on a site and downtime can be very expensive and wasteful. Knowing when heavy machinery is operating is vital and knowing when an asset is operating can determine if any unauthorised usage is occurring and put a stop to it.
Heavy construction requires a unique set of metrics to ensure plant and other construction equipment receives proper maintenance. When it comes to wear and tear, engine hours, idle time and fuel use are far more important than an odometer reading.
A crane or another piece of equipment may not move around very much, but its engine is working overtime to accomplish its roles on a project and needs proper maintenance to prevent downtime.
Top Uses of Equipment Telematics
WHAT IS EQUIPMENT TELEMATICS?
Equipment telematics can help streamline your day-to-day operations, especially when it comes to managing raw materials, vehicles and equipment, safety and compliance, and your work force.
Having valuable, real-time insights into the information most important to you and your business is a game-changer for the construction industry and offers a competitive advantage over those still using paper-based processes.
Equipment telematics can also increase your equipment lifespan and reduce costs by eliminating the need to buy or rent unnecessary construction equipment or determining when it might be cheaper to replace older, higher maintenance equipment with new equipment.
Here’s a look at what equipment telematics can do and how it can help your business thrive:
MONITORING HEAVY EQUIPMENT AND OTHER ASSETS WITH TELEMATICS
Construction jobsites can be busy and confusing. With multiple pieces of equipment, assets, and personnel performing a wide variety of duties, it can be seemingly impossible to get all the moving components to form a cohesive workforce.
Equipment telematics allows equipment managers to:
- Monitor and report on all assets in one platform
- Automate maintenance management
- Locate lost, stolen or missing assets
- Access crucial information on your mobile device
With an equipment telematics software solution, you can access fleet-wide GPS asset tracking, automate maintenance scheduling, and implement state-of-the-art security measures, from the office or on the go.
Being able to see all the locations quickly and easily on one screen allows for an easy-to-read inventory to be quickly assessed. Knowing where all the tools, machinery, or non-powered assets (such as a trailer or generator) are located can assist in decision making if a change or re-allocation to another location is required.
Fully customizable for your business
Custom form solutions can streamline equipment maintenance schedules by not only monitoring equipment with inspection reports and logged engine usage hours but also being able to schedule an alert when predetermined milestones are reached. With real-time diagnostics, an equipment manager can stay on top of the needs of an asset whether rented or owned to prevent breakdowns due to overuse.
Tracking locations all on one screen can cut down on incidents of either misplacing an asset or outright theft. A geofence can prevent unauthorised movement by keeping a physical limitation on a jobsite to prevent assets from leaving a predetermined location. If it does you can receive a notification to find out exactly what is going on whether it was just an operator moving it to another location of theft.
Using our cloud-based software provides peace of mind that assets are in the location they need to be, performing the job they were designed for. But our software solutions do not chain you to your desk, our data-driven platform can be utilised just as easily from a smartphone, tablet, or laptop. Which allows an equipment manager or foreman to monitor assets from any location.
Teletrac Navman Equipment Telematics Solutions
CONSTRUCTION EQUIPMENT UTILIZATION
Keeping a construction site up and running can quickly turn into a series of challenges. However, we can avoid many of those challenges with proper equipment management solutions. Being able to quickly see the day-to-day efficiency of both assets and equipment can provide a window into how to stay under budget, keep progress flowing according to schedule, and increasing efficiency.
Proper construction equipment utilization can:
- Reduce equipment hoarding
- Prevent unnecessary hire costs
- Increase jobsite productivity
The ability to see the total number of assets on a jobsite, the active days of a project, engine hours and equipment utilization represented as a percentage all on one screen provides valuable insights that can be tracked over time to determine productivity. Equipment and crewmember optimization can cut down on unneeded assets, slash idle time and fuel use, avoid unexpected maintenance issues.
Data-driven solutions
Using data-driven solutions, the productivity of a jobsite can be monitored and compared over time, or with the findings of another site.
Being able to track such valuable areas like time spent on site that can be cross-referenced with usage, accumulate fuel costs for one piece of equipment or the whole site, or calculating contractor costs can provide valuable insights into how a job is progressing.
Knowing where all assets are located on one screen can also keep your bottom line in check as well. It can help cut back on unnecessary rentals and keep headcount exactly where it needs to be. By monitoring utilization across the board, jobsite productivity can be increased and downtime of both crewmembers and assets can be virtually eliminated.
Our equipment telematics solution enables equipment managers or jobsite foremen to harness data that is automatically collected, thanks to the use of custom forms and the ability to build your own reports.
TELEMATICS AND CONSTRUCTION SITE SAFETY
Using GPS enabled telematics can improve construction site safety by bringing together a wide range of compliance, driver behaviour, and maintenance solutions into an easy-to-read format. Using a wide variety of data keeps fleets safe while providing an extensive range of dashboards, reports, and custom forms to keep equipment and other assets performing.
Safety & Compliance - Teletrac Navman Site360
Jobsites depend on prompt deliveries of heavy equipment and machinery to keep projects moving according to schedule and keeping those drivers safe out on the road is imperative. Driver metrics can be monitored, recorded, and even rewarded as valuable data is collected. Performance trends and benchmarks can be set among the fleet to keep both consistency and safety.
Taking safety and compliance to another level
Just as we can track machinery and assets for safety on the construction site, your over-the-road assets, such as trucks and trailers, can be monitored as well. By analyzing data gained from customizable reports and dashboards, you can ensure fleet safety using managed driver behaviour and valuable training through driver scorecards. Keeping the over-the-road fleet as safe as possible will lead to lower insurance costs and ensure budgets stay in check.
Jobsite safety standards and compliance regulations can be observed easily with the use of data analytics. Just as driver behaviour can be monitored out on the road, operator behaviour can be tracked to keep everyone safe on the site. Being able to quickly identify unsafe habits using real-time incent reports can be quickly corrected to keep jobsites as safe as possible.
See How Companies Are Using Equipment Telematics
The Equipment Telematics benchmark report highlights industry trends, including safety, compliance and the labor shortage.
Sherwood Construction Case Study
‘It’s just amazing!’ See how Sherwood Construction connected mixed fleet telematics data and saved more than $160,000 per year.
Louis Smith Construction Report
Family-owned Louis Smith Construction used basic track and trace and equipment utilization data to cut costs.
PREVENTING COSTLY EQUIPMENT DOWNTIME WITH TELEMATICS
Using customs forms also enables equipment to be placed onto a preventative maintenance schedule based on engine hours or time usage, as well as keeping track of inspections and if any defects or faults are identified. If an asset is properly inspected and maintained, it not only prevents downtime due to unexpected breakdowns, but it also keeps equipment operators safe.
Ensuring that equipment on a jobsite is operating correctly, tracked for security purposes, and is not sitting idle means nothing if all those carefully calculated gains are lost due to inefficient delivery routing. All heavy machinery cannot move themselves from site to site and therefore must be transported with careful consideration being payed to road conditions, traffic, and time spent on the road.
The monitoring of fuel and equipment usage are essential to keeping a jobsite running efficiently, and data-driven solutions can give real-time accounting. Holding drivers and operators accountable for their behaviour behind the wheel or in the cab can amount to real savings in both fuel usage and operating costs, with positive incentives put into place.
IN CONCLUSION
Teletrac Navman offers a software platform that provides data-driven solutions to construction site management and fundamentally changes the way jobsites operate. Allowing for the management of multiple jobsites in an easy to read interface, equipment telematics can give your operation a measurable ROI.
A fully integrated GPS-enabled monitoring system allows for a complete overview of all aspects of a jobsite, with the ability to manage multiple projects from the office or in the field. Keeping costs under control is essential for any business, and the construction industry is no different. Equipment telematics software can monitor fuel usage, driver behaviour, asset location and engine hours, predict maintenance schedules, and so much more to provide real-time cost analysis.
The construction industry is changing in leaps and bounds to reflect the technological improvements that telematics can provide with sensor-driven data taken directly from the field. Using up-to-date information can help fleet managers overcome delays, efficiently allocate jobsite equipment and operators, as well as communicate with customers to provide accurate completion timelines.
Unexpected downtime can be virtually eliminated using predictive maintenance cycles and preventing breakdowns by monitoring inspections schedules. Proper maintenance can increase jobsite safety as well by keeping drivers and operators out of harms way due to a failing piece of machinery or asset.
Budget and cost overruns, unfortunately, do drive decision making on a jobsite and equipment telematics software can provide accurate jobsite cost tracking by identifying areas of improvement and unneeded expenditures. Real-time cost tracking capabilities can allow for biding on future projects with accurate timeline predictions and budget needs to stay competitive in today’s market.