The Benefits of Telematics for Access Equipment

What are the benefits of implementing a fleet management program?

Your best chance to gain profitability in equipment-intensive construction today is almost certainly by investing in equipment management. Relative to affecting labor or materials costs, equipment costs are fairly easy to change, and, if you've not taken maximum advantage of the technology and service offerings available, there's almost certainly profit to be mined from your operation.

Your equipment operation hasn't necessarily slipped. The game has changed. Telematics technology readily available on any heavy equipment (installed by the OEM or retrofit by third-party vendors) can deliver intelligence about machine operation that simply has never existed before—at least not with such quality and consistency.

Equipment makers and their dealers are so confident in the information available from on-board GPS systems that organizations such as Komatsu and Case are using it to support complimentary maintenance programs during the initial years of ownership.

What does telematics data mean for the success of my business?

Virtually every input to a piece of equipment's ownership and operating costs is divided by the number of hours that machine works. Preventive maintenance, component life and decisions about whether to repair or replace machines often depend very heavily on the company's records of how much that machine works. If those records are suspected of being grossly inaccurate, it's something much worse than a mistake to ignore a technology that could dramatically improve their accuracy. It may very well be business suicide because the 25 percent of telematics owners using the technology to track utilization are out there bidding for business.