January 2016 Vol. 71 No. 1
Features
Telematics Comes To HDD
Telematics Technology Aids Crews In Operating More Efficiently, Productively
Josh Alkire always understood that, on the typical utility installation, his crew’s horizontal directional drill spent a decent amount of time idling. After all, it’s not nonstop boring on a job.
But it wasn’t until he saw the actual idle time in front of him and the corresponding fuel usage that he realized that, in his words, “we waste a lot of fuel for no reason.” That type of information became available to the crew after they
received a new drill earlier this year that has a telematics system.
The knowledge gained by that data caused a change in behavior by the crew. Now, they shut the drill’s engine off when it makes sense. As a result, the crew has reduced their fuel costs by about 25 percent.
“I never really fully comprehended how much our drill was idling until now,” says Alkire, a locator on a directional boring crew for Arkansas-based Alliance Utilities. “When the point of a business is making money – all of those dollars saved, that’s all good.”
Telematics includes the transmission of information like vehicle or machine location and usage data. The term is often expanded to more generally include tools that can help with job planning and with jobsite tasks.
Telematics has been getting increased attention in the construction industry because of a potential return on investment with benefits like vehicle monitoring and fuel savings, but participation is still lagging. The Association of Equipment Management Professionals and the Association of Equipment Manufacturers feel so strongly about the issue that they’re creating a telematics standard in part to increase the number of companies using the technology.
The utility market has been slower to embrace the technology. That is changing, however, as more underground equipment manufacturers incorporate these tools in their products. In some cases, they are becoming standard on new models.
The system Alkire and his crew use, known as InSite Fleet and developed by Vermeer, was included when Alliance Utilities purchased a Vermeer D24x40 Series II Navigator HDD drill. It’s one part of a broader package offered by the company called InSite Productivity Tools, all of which include systems that help contractors with documentation, bore planning, data collection, GPS monitoring and maintenance tracking.
User-friendly
Alliance Utilities’ services include water, gas, sewer, electric and telecommunication installations primarily done by directional boring, although it does some trenching. It has four horizontal directional drills and three trenchers. The
Vermeer horizontal directional drill is the only one that has InSite Fleet, meaning everything the crew has experienced with the tool has been new for the company.
One of the reasons contractors are reluctant to adopt telematics is they are apprehensive about technology. To some in the industry, it just seems complicated. That has not been Alkire’s experience, however.
Alliance Utilities’ local Vermeer dealer helped set up its InSite Fleet account, and the information the tool provides is available by logging into a website.
“It’s just as easy to use InSite Fleet as it is any other website,” Alkire says. “You have a username and a password, and it’s about as easy as getting on eBay.”
Alkire says this type of technology is really no different than using a smartphone or an iPad – devices that can provide users useful data and have GPS capabilities – and is a reflection of the world we live in. In fact, Alkire typically logs in to the InSite Fleet website with his smartphone. He even did so during an extended weekend over the Fourth of July holiday using a feature that shows the exact location of an InSite-equipped drill on a map.
“I hate to think that people would steal it, but you just never know,” he says. “My drill was right where I left it. It made me feel better.”
Unlimited possibilities
Another reason some underground contractors have been cool to telematics is they doubt the value of the information the systems provide. Again, Alkire offers a counterpoint. He can track the drill’s fuel usage and engine idle time. He can see its current location and establish a barrier known as a geofence that the drill should be located in, which is another good business management feature. And he receives notifications of upcoming maintenance intervals and fault codes on critical maintenance needs.
Alkire visits the website morning and night to check on his horizontal directional drill, but InSite Fleet also sends him email notifications, something he says was a pleasant surprise when it first happened.
“It makes keeping up with the drill very easy,” he says. “With the maintenance alerts, for example, I don’t have to go back to my home base and look in the maintenance book to make sure that I’m caught up on everything.”
Dealers can monitor the same information for their customer’s equipment. Jason Beyer of Vermeer MidSouth, the dealership that serves Alliance Utilities, says his staff monitors the data for customers, an act that many appreciate and some rely on. If a drill is coming up on a maintenance interval, Vermeer MidSouth notifies the customer. Not only does that improve the odds that a machine receives recommended maintenance, but it also helps a contractor schedule that service at an opportune time based on their job calendar.
Another advantage comes when service is needed unexpectedly. This type of telematics system provides what are called fault codes, which can let users know of critical or impending maintenance needs.
During the first week Alkire’s crew had the new drill, there was a fault code showing the machine had low coolant. This led to the discovery of a small leak. That is a simple fix, but it could have turned into a bigger issue if it hadn’t been caught early.
“That was a huge save that the technology made for me,” Alkire says.
Fault codes also can give technicians a good idea of what may be happening with a drill before they ever see it in person, which in many instances can speed up the diagnosis of the issue and the repair. The benefits are arguably even greater if a technician needs to travel to a jobsite. After seeing the fault codes, the technician can develop a plan, make sure he has the parts and tools that may be needed, and increase the odds of repairing the drill on that trip.
Ultimately, Alkire says, utility contractors should get on board with telematics because the data has the potential to help crews, maintenance personnel and owners make more-informed decisions.
“I don’t know any company that wouldn’t want to do that,” he says.
Beyer says some contractors are old school. There’s nothing wrong with valuing experience and even intuition, but he says as telematics become more common, contractors will see the power of data in helping to improve productivity and efficiency. That’s already happened with customers who went from skeptics to supporters of telematics after experiencing the benefits firsthand.
“They really see the value in it,” he says. “There are just unlimited possibilities with
this tool.”
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Alliance Utilities, (870) 972-8159
Vermeer Corp., (888) 837-6337, www.vermeer.com
Vermeer MidSouth, 800-386-7253, www.vermeermidsouth.com
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