Volvo EC140E excavator. Photo: VolvoYour machines are equipped with telematics but what do you do with all the data?
Volvo Construction Equipment introduced its answer at the ConExpo show in Las Vegas earlier this month. ActiveCare Direct is the company’s new machine monitoring and monthly fleet analysis service and it’s available for various Volvo models.
Data analysts staff the company’s new Uptime Center in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. They monitor the CareTrack telematics system on its machines, tracking their health and performance and looking for ways to raise productivity and cut costs, the company says.
Staff at Volvo’s new Uptime Center in Pennsylvania will track machines’ health and performance to help customers increase productivity and reduce costs.After analysts complete the reports, Volvo dealers approach customers to help find solutions to any issues uncovered. The reports include such data as percentage work time versus idle time by individual machine, by machine type and by month. Groups of machines can be compared by such items as average hours, average gallons used per hour and average work and idle percentages.
The system can even show instances of machine abuse, including high shift speeds, hot turbo shutdowns and excessive speed. Volvo also monitors machine alarm codes, prioritizes them and lets the dealer or customer know what action to take, the company says.
The service comes free for two years with any Volvo machine purchased within six months after ConExpo, Volvo says.
Volvo wasn’t the only heavy equipment manufacturer to launch such a machine monitoring service at ConExpo. Competitor John Deere announced the launch of its Machine Health Monitoring Center, based in Dubuque, Iowa, at the show.
