As a fleet management device, the telematics system manages the equipment so Turner doesn’t have to. A “Maintenance Due” report shows the number of run-time hours before maintenance is due for all equipment. Areas shaded in red indicate that service is past due, while areas shaded in yellow indicate that equipment is within 36 hours of its next preventive maintenance. Services can be tracked by hours and/or miles. Maintenance hours are tracked directly on the program, attaching data to specific pieces of equipment, which allows Turner to efficiently time maintenance, rather than wait for something to break down.

Barrett Paving is an established paving contractor that specializes in roadway repairs, asphalt paving, and excavating and grading. As a company that has been in the industry for over 150 years, Barrett understands the importance of coming up with new solutions to evolve with the times. After beginning its partnership with FleetWatcher a few years ago, Barrett Paving has made big strides in its paving operations. One feature that has been the most useful for the team is the VST (virtual shift ticketing) feature. VSTs are designed to help project managers know when drivers are on the clock, what kind of loads they are hauling, and how many tons per truck there are. The team at Barrett spoke about their experience with VST’s during one of our previous webinars in December.

If I were to implement a telematics system, what would I be measuring? How would it give me the visibility and results that I desire? 

A revolutionary new materials delivery solution developed by Earthwave Technologies for the asphalt paving industry has garnered the attention of Department of Transportation officials for its potential to replace paper tickets with accurate and verifiable electronic tickets that provide the proper documentation for deliveries to highway and road-building projects.

Utah’s Department of Transportation is hosting a workshop on e-construction on March 1-2 in Salt Lake City to cover the latest progress reports from leading states. A presentation by Greg Mulder, Director of Iowa DOT Office of Construction and Materials, will highlight Iowa’s use of e-tickets and e-document submittal using Fleetwatcher’s Materials Delivery Solution in 2015.

Initially developed for paving contractors to help reduce trucking costs and optimize cycle times, the solution was embraced by Mulder and his team as viable technology to replace paper tickets following a successful 90-day ‘proof of concept’ of the system with a local contractor in Ames IA. The solution and process worked very well for tracking and verifying the product life cycle from the certified plant to installation.



Comparing FleetWatcher to OEM Telematics Systems

Many construction companies are using the GPS systems that were installed on the equipment by the Original Equipment Manufacturer's (OEM's). While those systems can produce some useful data, our customers have found that there are reasons why fleet owners benefit from a third-party system such as Fleetwatcher. 

Komatsu America recently did an article with Earthwave Technologies customer, Rich Fuist of RIPA Associates. Rich talks about some of the benefits they have seen with the use of Fleetwatcher. Here is an excerpt from the article:

IMPROVE FLEET MANAGEMENT TO INCREASE PROFITS
Today the construction industry is in essentially the same place as the U.S. manufacturing industry was in the early 1990s - trapped between the declining margins of a competitive environment and a lack of the efficient processes needed to grow. In the early 1990s, manufacturing used the same basic methods and processes for planning, tracking, producing, shipping and selling products that had been in place since the 1960s. Paper and human reporting were everywhere. Critical data arrived to decision makers desks too late to be useful. Operational control was more black magic than science, and communications was glacially slow.

Partnership with Earthwave Technologies Optimizes Data Capture and Delivery of Fleet Telematics Information 

Portsmouth, NH – March 3, 2014 – Continuing to re-define the future of construction operation software, industry leader B2W Software today announced an agreement with Earthwave Technologies – further powering accurate, efficient delivery of construction equipment telematics data.  The agreement enables day-to-day construction tasks to be automated and tracked via mobile tablets – dramatically reducing paperwork and manual reporting – all while offering real-time data flow to and from the field.