Remote fleet management systems are bringing massive benefits to both customers and manufacturers, and the data they provide will ultimately lead to the design of superior machines for the future.
In this second episode of our two-part special, we ask Stephen Creaser, Director Product Support at Hitachi Construction Machinery UK to give us the dealer perspective on how telematics is changing the way the entire construction industry functions on a day-to-day basis.
Remote fleet management systems are bringing massive benefits to both customers and manufacturers, and the data they provide will ultimately lead to the design of superior machines for the future.
In this second episode of our two-part special, we ask Stephen Creaser, Director Product Support at Hitachi Construction Machinery UK to give us the dealer perspective on how telematics is changing the way the entire construction industry functions on a day-to-day basis.
Andy Dukes (00:04):
Hi there. Welcome back to Onsite. In the last episode we spoke to HCME's Yemi Onabiyi and Oliver Pollman about how telematics and remote fleet management is changing the way the entire construction industry functions on a day-to-day basis. For this episode, we thought we drill down deeper into the topic. So we asked Stephen Creaser, Director of Product Support, Hitachi Construction Machinery UK, to give us the lowdown from a dealer perspective. We hope you enjoy listening to his words of wisdom.
Andy Dukes (00:40):
Steven, welcome to Onsite and thanks for joining us today from a distance of course, as has become the norm.
Stephen Creaser (00:46):
No problem Andy. Nice to meet you. Thanks for the invite.
Andy Dukes (00:50):
You're most welcome. Now listen, you're the go-to man, when it comes to telematics and remote monitoring and I wanted to get a UK construction industry perspective on this and the rising importance. What can you tell us about that, Stephen?
Stephen Creaser (01:02):
Many major UK contractors now see equipment telematics data as important as the machine itself. It's not always about the big lump of metal anymore. It's about the data, and how they use that data to effectively improve the running of the job site, you know. Telematics data is being used to maximize efficiencies on the job site and reduce running costs. And these either reduce the amount of equipment on sites, so for instance, if the customer is seeing a lot of idling time, then maybe there's too many machines on the site, they can then cut that down. Or if they think that there's not enough equipment, they'll be able to increase it just by looking at the telematics. So it's all about improving the bottom line, but also increasing the efficiencies on site and doing it quickly. This is the thing. The reporting frequency is really important because they want everything done now. Everybody wants everything to happen straightaway.
Andy Dukes (02:02):
Yeah, absolutely. And fantastic to have the technology to be able to do that. So can you give us a good example of a typical project, for example, where the understanding and the management of this telematics data you've just spoken about is crucial to the contractor's bottom line?
Stephen Creaser (02:18):
Yeah. So one of our large customers, they've got a big job down on the M4. They've been able to increase utilisation of their assets with access to more regular updates. So they're quickly able to see what assets are very low utilisation, but obviously they've got them on hire – they're paying for these assets. So if they're not being utilised, they want to know why, can they get rid of them, do they need them? Or put them elsewhere to improve the job on other parts of the jobsite, on like an ad-hoc basis. But also to look at tasks upcoming, to be able to plan the job better, make it more efficient. So they can review assets with a low utilisation and understand why, for example, the type of work that they're doing. So is that asset properly utilised at that job? Is the machine too small for the job, do you need a bigger machine, so that the tasks can be properly planned to get the maximum utilisation out of each asset.
Andy Dukes (03:19):
Yeah. In a way it allows you to correct any errors that may have been made in the first place in terms of getting a fleet in place and not exactly understanding what the scope of the job is, or maybe underestimating what's required?
Stephen Creaser (03:33):
True. This customer in particular, it's a major client. So what this customer is doing, is bringing equipment in from all different OEMs, all different customers, all sizes of machine, all working alongside each other. So, you know, they might estimate they need 10 excavators for a certain section of the job. But as it develops the realise they only need seven or eight. And by looking at the data, and if you've got this increased reporting frequency of once every hour, it isn't real time, but it is more or less real time on the jobsite because they want to see how much idling time the machine is doing between say 7:00 AM and 11:00 AM. By lunchtime they can go and make a decision. Do we really need that machine on the job? Can we off-hire that machine? But on the other side, for the customer's point of view, is his machine being used when it's on hire? As far as he's concerned that machine might've been off-hired the previous day, but you find that it's done two or three hours, so now he needs paying for that. So it works both ways for the major client and our customer to be able to see how this data works both ways for each of them.
Andy Dukes (04:41):
Yeah, absolutely. And what about the data fields then? What are the most important ones that contractors require and please talk about a little bit about how telematics makes a difference here?
Stephen Creaser (04:52):
Obviously the ISO data, going back to AEMP version 1.2, which you've probably heard about, was where it all started. These were the basic data sets: hours, location, machine type etc. But as these developed, people want more data sets. The industry standard now is there's the ISO 15143-3, which people commonly refer to as AEMP 2.0, that's the industry standard. So those data sets are the most important to the customer. So that's the benchmark, and anything other than that is a bonus. But that's what we must provide, is the ISO data. So one of the main data sets, like fuel usage, idling time, the location, but also caution codes as well. So if there's a fault with the machine, they need to know ASAP so that it can be rectified straightaway.
Andy Dukes (05:50):
Yeah. And that's the bare minimum like you said, so large-scale projects, for example, HS2 in the UK, they're coming under increased scrutiny from environmental and other opposition groups for a variety of different reasons. Now in the defence of the companies building these massive projects, high-speed lines, things like that, how can the use of telematics data help?
Stephen Creaser (06:18):
Well, again, your location for one, so they can look at the location, the live location on a map. Say for instance, they're able to view with the reporting data updated every 15 minutes. They can see if you're close to a residential area. What time of the day it is – you don't want to be going over there at six o'clock in the morning and starting work. So they can plan the job site around different times of the day, if they're working close to residential areas and they can see it more or less in real-time on the map. But not only that, the emissions data is cutting down on idling time or unnecessary running time. If the machine's not working and is switched off, it's not idling and burning fuel and putting emissions into the atmosphere…
Stephen Creaser (07:06):
…Travelling time. Normally when the excavators are travelling on the tracks, you need to know that if they're near a residential area, you're only doing that at certain times of the day, you're trying to keep your tracking time down to reduce the noise. So all these kind of things can be planned on your telematics platform by using the data you're getting in, and the more frequent they receive this data, the better. So unfortunately at the moment, our system only reports once every 24 hours, some other OEMs can report every 15 minutes and this is where we need to be from a Hitachi point of view. So we can compete with our competitors on telematics.
Andy Dukes (07:45):
Absolutely. Yeah. Vital. Now that's really interesting. And I think a lot of people would have no idea when they're driving past some of these sites, just how much data is being used in a really positive way. And it's obviously a lot more than a cost-cutting exercise and the 'bottom line', which you mentioned above, which of course is important, but it also really allows for greater transparency between the client and the contractor?
Stephen Creaser (08:09):
It does. The API data is already available to customers in global e-service. So all our customers have access to global e-service. There's a lot more data in global e-service, and there's a lot more data that doesn't even get looked at in global e-service because to be fair, a lot of our customers, the smaller customers, they aren't using it. It's the big rental companies and the big clients, the major infrastructure clients that are using it.
Andy Dukes (08:36):
Why do you think they are not using it?
Stephen Creaser (08:38):
I think historically the smaller plant company, the owner operator, they buy a machine to deal with the job. They're not looking at the overall picture. That will come. It will definitely come as we improve things. But I think the main focus for the API data is on the big rental companies, you know, very fine margins, big fleets, mixed fleets as well. And that's probably why. The data isn't shared between OEMs, it's just a common misconception that people with mixed-fleet telematics platforms are pulling in data from all the OEMs, and that all the OEMs can see each other's data – that doesn't happen. That transparency isn't there between the customer and the client. Like I said earlier, if the client has off-hired the customer's machine and he finds out it's been working, say on a weekend, for instance, then he can see that in the platform. And he can go back to his clients and say 'excuse me, you off-hired my machine on a Friday afternoon, but we can see it's worked Saturday and Sunday? So things like that, yes, it does improve transparency on both sides.
Andy Dukes (09:44):
Yeah. And that's a good thing, isn't it? Obviously that can result in a negative situation, but it's the positivity of that and it's dialogue and the relationship between these owners and their suppliers, it's the trust you mentioned, and the ability to monitor these assets and servicing requirements.
Stephen Creaser (10:03):
Yep. That's it? So for instance HCM UK, with the live data, we're able to monitor customers' machines. So we have customers on maintenance agreements for instance. And because we can monitor the machine and its operating hours, we can proactively contact the customer and tell them the service is due. So it's like taking the car to the garage. If you've got your car on a service contract, the garage contacts you when the MoT's due. They contact you when the service is due, but we do the same thing. So we monitor the customer's machines, we'll call them maybe a week or two before the service is due, and tell them that we've been monitoring their machine, we can see it's done this many hours, we can see it's got an air filter alarm, a fuel filter alarm…
Stephen Creaser (10:48):
…We look at that for you when we come, and also if it's a breakdown situation and it's a critical alarm, the beauty is that we can be prepared better when we visit site. So the engineer has a good idea of what the fault is before he gets there. And we can make sure we've got all the correct parts and the correct tools. So we're not going to the machine blind. You're not going to say, 'we'll have to go back to the yard and get these parts or these tools’ – we're already prepared when we get there.
Andy Dukes (11:17):
Yeah. And your customers must appreciate that. I wonder if in the beginning there was an element of you know, they're just trying to make money out of us. And they had to get used to the idea of predictive maintenance or however you call it. But they must accept that now that actually helps them massively in terms of lack of downtime for their machines.
Stephen Creaser (11:37):
Well, it really does. And customers with a big fleet, they would have to employ one, maybe two people full-time to manage their service schedules manually. This way, yes there's a premium to pay for having a machine on a contract, but we manage it for you. We manage the whole fleet. We've got service contracts with customers with 300 plus machines and we manage everything for them. All they have to do is give us the site contact basically. We know where the machine is. We can see it on the map. All we need is the phone number of the guy on site. So we can arrange for the day to go and do it.
Andy Dukes (12:12):
Fantastic. Now you mentioned earlier about live and/or real time data that needs to happen and that's already happening. I guess the importance of this is increasing massively, not just year on year, but month by month.
Stephen Creaser (12:26):
It is. Yeah. I mean probably just before Covid, actually, before lockdown happened, you know, it's increased a lot since then. Probably Covid's had a lot to do with it because everybody's working at home, everybody's sat in front of the computer screen and it's all about data. Everybody doesn't have to be in the office anymore – you can get it all online. Everybody wants live data, but what's live data? That's what we're asking the customers. What do you want to see live? What do want to do with it? And who's going to monitor it? And the answers you're getting is, 'well, I just need it'. But why? 'Because I do, because that's what the client wants', but what do they want and what do they want to do with it? And when they drill down, basically it gets down to ISO API, the idling time, non-productive time, the location, fuel use etc. They don't want it 'live', you know. Live is like instantaneous, you won't get that. What we're looking towards is probably at best 15 minutes. Which is more than enough.
Andy Dukes (13:34):
It's unimaginable, just a few years ago, to have even that!
Stephen Creaser (13:39):
It is. I mean, some of our competitors are reporting every 15 minutes as opposed to us 24 hours? But all our caution alarms are live. We call them live, but maybe there's two to three minutes between the fault coming on the machine, to then coming into the system, but it is more or less live. For sure, the demand is increasing month on month, week on week, especially with HS2 and all these big jobs, a lot of Highways England jobs now, the motorway jobs, road jobs etc, they're stipulating that they want the data at least once an hour. So, you know, and it's all to do with the monitoring, the performance, the safety and the efficiency of the equipment on their job site.
Andy Dukes (14:25):
Yeah. And like you say, it's pretty much all down to the bottom line, isn't it? That's the driving force. Now you touched earlier a little bit on the rental market. I'm interested to know if it has already changed that market, or if it's capable of changing it beyond all recognition as the technology increases.
Stephen Creaser (14:43):
It's definitely changed. Yeah. It's changing week by week, but telematics data has the potential to be industry changing because it's not just about the machine telematics. We're now talking about attachments, different attachments on the machine that can provide data, camera feeds, safety devices. All that information can be brought in as an API into a one-fits-all platform. So you see your machine operational data with the ISO data. You might see a forward-facing camera or a driver-facing camera that can come in as a feed. Safety devices: proximity sensors on the machine and on the ground workers. So, you know, if anybody walks within a certain radius, the machine will stop. They can have inclinometers, tilt sensors on the machine, which can be viewed online…
Stephen Creaser (15:41):
…So such things like height and slew restrictors, all these different safety devices can be monitored remotely now. And this is changing month by month and the technology is moving that quick. You know, it's amazing to think where we were 10 years ago and where we are now, and what are the capabilities we've got? So it's definitely changing. Like I said, the rental market, you know, again, very fine margins. So the more added value these guys can put out there with the machines, the more chance they have of getting these contracts on HS2 and places like that.
Andy Dukes (16:17):
And I guess in turn that the developments in this sector are also going to affect the insurance premiums as well. Because if you've got machines with sensors that are capable of effectively detecting and recording everything, then that makes that whole thing a lot more transparent?
Stephen Creaser (16:35):
Yeah. And then the thing as well, we've talked about more cameras for example. So for the rental market, you put a machine out on hire without a camera and it suffers some site damage. Then you've got a fight on your hands as to who did what etc. But when you've got a forward-facing camera on there, it's recorded, it's live. And then there's no argument. It's like dash cams, and that's where we're heading. Who would've thought, 10 years ago, that every car would have a dash cam in, but it's getting that way with plant now.
Andy Dukes (17:04):
Yeah. It's just the time it saves in the event of something happening. I'm interested about the actual purchasing decision. I read somewhere that it's increasingly driven by data rather than brand. And I even read that data analysts are sometimes even specifically involved in that process, is that true?
Stephen Creaser (17:23):
This is true. Believe it or not, this is what it's coming to. We have regular discussions with customers and these data guys, increasingly are having a big say in what equipment is purchased. We've had customers sit in front of us and say 'guys, when it comes down to it, if this OEM is reporting every 15 minutes and you're doing it once every 24 hours, then I'm sorry, but we're going to go with this one'. Doesn't matter how great your machine is. But if this is what their clients are asking for, they want reporting every 15 minutes. To get that job, that's what they have to do. So they either go away and purchase another OEM. Or it's down to us to come up with a solution. Maybe it will be an aftermarket solution. This is where it's coming to now. And it's crazy! Years ago, you'd buy an excavator to dig a hole. And now it does everything. It's like a Swiss army knife. You can put so many different attachments on it. It does everything. And it's drilling down into that data to make it more efficient for everybody.
Andy Dukes (18:27):
You could have never really predicted it in the way that it's happened, but as it continues in this way, as the industry accelerates its path towards digitalisation, what part do you see telematics playing in that?
Stephen Creaser (18:41):
It'll play a massive part. I mean the telematics and heavy equipment market is expected to grow, with a compound annual growth rate or 10%, or 10.9% or thereabouts in the next seven years. So it's growing massively and will play a massive part towards digitalisation. Mobile devices will become more intelligent, especially where safety is concerned. There's a lot of safety devices now: remote monitoring for not just plant or people, but these devices are talking to each other. So you have a device on the machine, a device on the person, and if they come within a certain radius, it'll stop. This is where we're getting to now, so anything to enhance the safety, the efficiency and productivity of the construction industry, is a good thing. And I think telematics is going to be at the forefront of that.
Andy Dukes (19:35):
Yeah, sounds like it. And that's what's happening now, but what about 10 years from now, Stephen? How do you think it's going to change the way we're going to be working in 2030 for example,
Stephen Creaser (19:45):
Another 10 years? Well, who knows where we'll be, but at the rate technology is changing. I think we'll be very close to fully autonomous equipment. I think we'll be getting very close to taking the driver out of the seat, whether that driver's in an office operating remotely or the machine does it itself. You know, there's a lot of agricultural equipment now drives itself. You upload the map into the machine and off it goes. There's some big mine sites around the world, where OEMs, Hitachi, other OEMS are trialling fully autonomous vehicles, on mine sites, which is a lot easier because it's a bigger area to try it. But I think within 10 years on big infrastructure projects, we'll be seeing maybe fully autonomous machines working. And again, telematics will be at the forefront of that because then you'll have somebody sitting somewhere remotely, monitoring that machine, what it's doing, how it's performing, but it would be basically operating itself.
Andy Dukes (20:41):
Fascinating, but also a little bit scary in a way?
Stephen Creaser (20:45):
Yeah, it is. The technology is here now. Some of the machines we're putting out there now we call them intelligent machines. It's basically, you can upload a map of the job site into the machine. All the driver needs to do is sit in the seat and pull one lever and he can't go overdig. He can't underdig. It follows the contours of the program that's being put into the machine. So we're not that far from taking the operator out of the seat and I think in 10 years time, we will be more or less there.
Andy Dukes (21:17):
Take yourself back to what the construction industry was prior to remote fleet management. It was a different world, wasn't it?
Stephen Creaser (21:25):
It certainly was. I started out in the construction industry in the late eighties. Fresh faced, green as grass and the equipment I was working on back then was basically used to move muck. It was big lumps of metal, big smoky noise, which the sole purpose was to dig holes and move muck from A to B. No remote monitoring. As we got on, it was only the top OEMs that would have some sort of device that could connect to the machines. It was only the very newest machines that had this. No laptops, we're talking about a solid-state device in a box with some lights and a switch on it to read some basic data and that would be it. And even then it wasn't very reliable!
Andy Dukes (22:14):
And you used it as a heater cause it warmed up, you know, kept the cab warm! In those early days, what was actually measured with those devices at the time, compared to, for example, what a machine's sensors can pick up now?
Stephen Creaser (22:27):
So I think back then, we call it 'remote monitoring' now where somebody in an office can look at the machine a hundred miles away. It was unheard of, it was a case of an engineer coming to the machine, plugging a box in, and you would have maybe a sequence of lights that would flash to reflect whatever the fault code was. And then they'd have a big book and have to go through all these pages with different sequences of lights to find out, okay, we've got a fuel filter restriction, I've got an air filter out, I've got low engine oil pressure. And that would be it, it wouldn't direct them to the fault like it does now, or give them a troubleshooting diagram. It would be 'right, that's your starting point...
Stephen Creaser (23:07):
...the rest is up to you. Things like critical alarms you could get, like engine oil pressure, fuel filter restriction, engine overheat, cooling overheat, that type of thing. And that would be it, and even going back then only the very latest machines would have that. You could maybe look at some transmission faults, but again, it was just a line of lights that would flash in a sequence and the engineer would have a big book full of all these different sequences and they'd have to work out what meant what. So yeah, things have come a long way!
Andy Dukes (23:41):
Yeah. And do you know the scary thing is it wasn't really that long ago was it? I mean, if you think about how things have taken off, even in the past decade?
New Speaker (23:53):
It is. Like you said earlier, it's quite scary how things are progressing in the last 20 years for instance, and in another 20 years who knows? In the six years I've been at Hitachi, we've introduced the Consite reporting, which basically gives the customer a full detailed report of every sensor on that machine, it gives you CO2 emissions, fuel consumption, swing cycle, travel time, you name it, it's on there. You have every possible parameter recorded in that report. We've got the Consite oil sensors where Consite remotely monitors the quality of the engine and hydraulic oil, in real time. We've introduced basic tracking devices on our ZX-6 mini excavators, and mini excavators historically never had this. They're monitoring the location and the operating hours in real time. So things like this were unheard of 10 years ago.
Andy Dukes (24:59):
Yeah. It's amazing isn't it. And you mentioned earlier about sitting in a room a hundred miles away or wherever it is, but can you feel that it's almost completely done away with the need to physically visit machines?
Stephen Creaser (25:10):
No, I don't think so. I think there'll always be a need for the engineer yet to visit the machine and get eyes on it. Yes. The machine gives the data, but it's not always a hundred percent. It might be a little bit conflicting – this one fault might be caused by another fault. There might be something underlying. So you would always send an engineer to the machine to get eyes on it. What remote monitoring does give us is an advantage of knowing what the fault is before we get to the site. So the service controller can speak to the service engineer. 'Okay. We've got this fault'. He knows what tools to take. He knows what parts to take and ultimately this benefits the customer...
Stephen Creaser (25:51):
... by reducing the machine downtime. So we can get there and, all being well, we've got the right parts or the right tools that could get it up and running within the hour. If we didn't have the remote monitoring and we had to wait until we got to the site to find out what the fault was, you're talking the following day at the earliest. So I wouldn't say it's done away with the need to physically visit the machine. It's just made us more efficient when we get to it.
Andy Dukes (26:19):
Yeah. That's a good answer. I mean, it always makes me feel better to know that there's an essential part still there for humans, you know, for as long as possible!
Stephen Creaser (26:28):
Well, as an ex-engineer itself, I'll always say the engineer has got to go! I don't want the engineer's out of work!
Andy Dukes (26:37):
Yeah. Now you mentioned a little bit earlier about real-time oil monitoring. Can you just tell us a little bit about that? Cause that's a fascinating topic, isn't it? Because you know, oil is the lifeblood after all…
Stephen Creaser (26:47):
It is. I mean, there was a bit of a misconception when the Consite oil sensor was introduced and that it was going to replace oil changes, but that isn't the case. What it's doing is constantly monitoring the engine oil and the hydraulic oil quality in real time. Now the benefits of this are that should an anomaly be detected in the oil, the customer and the dealer get the notification in real time. So whether it be contamination in the oil, maybe water, maybe fuel, which would indicate a fuel injector problem, or if it's coolant, it could be an oil cooler problem. Normally these issues wouldn't be picked up until you go and do your routine maintenance. So every 500 hours we would visit the machine, we would change the oil. We would take an oil sample, but we may not detect just by looking at the oil that it has got contamination.
Stephen Creaser (27:41):
There'd be no indication on the machine to see that there's a fault in the oil, but now, you know what, we're getting this information more or less in real time. And again, because the default code tells exactly what the fault is, the engineer knows that if it's fuel, you can go and check the fuel injectors. If it's a coolant in the oil, then he's going and checking the oil coolers. But normally, without remote monitoring, if the fault occurred, the engineer would have to go to the machine, take his oil sample, send it off to the laboratory. You'd have to wait for the sample report to come back, which could take weeks. In all this time, you might have a customer with his machine down. So again, it's all about making us more efficient, reducing the downtime for the customer, and us offering a better service.
Andy Dukes (28:29):
That's fantastic. It really is. And you can't argue against that at all, in any way. Absolutely brilliant. So that's an example of what you can do already, but what would you like to see developed in the future in terms of remote monitoring functions?
Stephen Creaser (28:43):
I think there's quite a few nice 'to haves', but I think one really big one for us would be to have the ability to make parameter adjustments remotely. So for instance, software upgrades on machines, you know, basic upgrades that the engineer could do without having to physically go to the machine and plug in. So whether he does it remotely, whether he just has to be at the job site and can do it wirelessly or by Bluetooth, or it can be done by an engineer in the office, because a lot of these upgrades, they take minutes, they're very, very quick updates, but he's got to travel to site, they've got to stop the machine and it gets quite expensive. So if we have the ability to do this remotely, even while the machine is working, it's like an update on your mobile phone or on your computer, you can carry on working while your update comes through, that type of thing…
Stephen Creaser (29:38):
…So this is something we are pushing for, to have the ability to make changes remotely as well, and some customers have asked us about this. Some machines have different work modes so they have a mode for using a hydraulic breaker, a crusher, different attachments. Now some of the rental companies hire these machines out with a machine and three buckets. If their customer wants to hire a breaker or a crusher bucket or something like that, then that's an additional charge. What the customers are asking is can they have the ability to switch the work modes on and off remotely to stop their customers just going and sticking an attachment on and using it without them paying for it. Because at the moment they've got to physically go out and switch the work mode off. But if they had the ability to deal with it themselves, which prevents the customer from working when they're not paying for it, then that would be good added value on the machine that we could give the customer.
Andy Dukes (30:39):
Yeah. And they could possibly even be contaminating the oil with another attachment?
Stephen Creaser (30:43):
Exactly. Which does happen.
Andy Dukes (30:47):
What about contractors who have mixed fleets then? How do they process all the data from the different brands of machine?
Stephen Creaser (30:52):
Well, the majority of the mixed fleet contractors, they have a mixed fleet telematic system. So whether it be another OEM because certain OEMs do open their systems up to mixed fleet (Global e-service currently doesn't). It's the same way with the ISO API. They do the same thing as they do with the Hitachi machines in that they have a mixed fleet platform that calls the APIs from all the different OEMs and brings it into that one single platform, all OEMs send the data slightly differently, but the customers who are managing these platforms, they convert the data into one value. And then that's how they process the data and they use the data the same way on a competitor's machine, as they do on a Hitachi machine. It's all about increasing the efficiencies, the safety and the productivity.
Andy Dukes (31:45):
Yeah. Understood. Now, what are the reasons why certain markets are demanding even more detailed data reporting methods?
Stephen Creaser (31:51):
Again, it's just down to increasing efficiencies, improving safety, and obviously increasing productivity as well. The more up to date it is, the easier it is for them to react. Just like for instance at the moment, our system is maybe once every 24 hours, like I mentioned earlier, if the machine's been idling for four hours that day, at the moment, the customer won't find out about it until the following morning, which is too late, because he's already lost four hours production. This is why the demand comes from the customer for the increased reporting, and at the beginning, we thought, 'Oh, they just want more data but what they're gonna do with it?'. But when you sit down with these guys and they explain, they might have 100, 200 machines on this job. And if every machine is two or three hours idling a day, that's a lot of wasted fuel over the lifetime of the job. They're looking to cut costs wherever possible. So I think especially like the major infrastructure projects, like HS2, where there's going to be a massive demand for plant, then, they're going to be looking all the time how they can reduce the costs and live data is going to play a massive part in that.
Andy Dukes (33:02):
Absolutely. So I just want to touch on dealer/customer relationships. Can the understanding and interpretation of data secured remotely really help the dealers improve their service support offering?
Stephen Creaser (33:14):
Yes, I think it does. And especially in our case, we have over 3,000 machines on service contracts that we monitor for the customer and proactively contact the customer to tell them the services that are due, so we've taken that job off the customers. They've got peace of mind knowing that we're doing it. You know, so we always proactively contact the customers when the service is due, scheduled maintenance, or if the annual inspection's due. But again, if it's a machine-down situation, the customer may call us first, we might see the alarm first. But if the customer calls and says, okay, the machine's broken down, straightaway our guys will go on the system, look at the fault code, find out where the machine is etc. Going off the fault code, 90% of the time we know what tools are needed, or what parts we need. The engineer will take them with him and he'll be onsite fully prepared and have the machine back up and running. And again, it minimises the machine downtime and stops the customer losing money, basically. Because at the end of the day, if that machine's down, our customer's losing money. There's even a risk he could have his machine off-hired on the job, so our sole goal is to get that machine back up and running as quickly as possible.
Andy Dukes (34:29):
Yeah. Massively important. I'm also interested to know if there have been any cases where the learnings from remote monitoring have been used as the basis for the training of operators? You know, you guys may be old guys set in their ways, but has there ever been any instance of that in your experience?
Stephen Creaser (34:49):
Yeah. So when I was working for the previous OEM, when I was on the tools we used to use the remote monitoring data to improve operators on mining dump trucks. So for instance, my background's in large surface mines and used to go and travel the machines down steep gradients, and we used to get a lot of problems with the brakes overheating and premature brake wear, so we used the data we got back off the machine to actually sit down with the operators and help them understand better techniques for when they're coming down at a gradient, you know, the right gear to be in, rather than using the brakes, use the retarder. And, you know, instead of using the full hundred percent of the braking system, you know, it's about balancing your engine power and your gearing, and your braking and it did actually work. And like you said, a lot of them are old guys, you know, where it's 'foot to the floor,' wherever they go, and you can't tell them how to drive. 'I've Been driving machines all my life. You can't tell me...' But a lot of these guys actually learned from it. And it did improve things.
Andy Dukes (35:58):
And saved a lot of money and a lot of metal in the process as well?
Stephen Creaser (36:02):
Yes, exactly.
Andy Dukes (36:04):
So can you tell us a little bit about ABAX and the advantages for customers of using this system Stephen?
Stephen Creaser (36:09):
Yeah, so I think I touched earlier about how all our ZX-6 mini machines are now fitted with a tracking device supplied by ABAX. So this monitors the location of the machine and the operating hours. So the customer can see the data on Global e-service. They can see it on Consite Shot, on Consite Pocket apps on his smartphone. But also for the dealer, it's good for us again, because we can proactively contact the customer, when maintenance is required. Again, if the historically smaller machines have always been susceptible to being stolen or, believe it or not, customers forget where they are. You wouldn't believe the amount of customers that call and say 'can you tell me where my machine is?'. So you go onto Global e-service and find it for them. So, but now the customer can see it. So, you know, he can just go on his smartphone. If he's got Consite Pocket, he's got access to his machines, and it can deal with the ABAX tracker and see where it is, see what the operating hours are. And if he want to have a service, there’s no need to call us, because if it's on a maintenance agreement we'll call him. So that's been a really good selling point for all our mini machines, since we introduced the -6.
Andy Dukes (37:29):
And there was me thinking that the 'Find my phone' app was a little bit daft, but you might need a 'Find my mini excavator' app?!
Stephen Creaser (37:35):
You'd be surprised the times that we get calls, asking us to find the machine, even when it hasn't been stolen.
Andy Dukes (37:42):
So you touched on Consite and some mobile apps that support it earlier. How successful have these been for you in your day-to-day duties?
Stephen Creaser (37:51):
Yeah, the engineers are using the Consite Shot app pretty regularly. More or less every job site they go to now, we ask them to do a Consite Shot report, so they'll do the job, they'll do a Consite Shot report with a view to follow-up works. What the service controller will do is look at the Consite Shot report. They may see that the engineer's noted that the tracks are worn or the pins and bushes are worn. So we'll send the customer our service report. And by the way, Mr. Customer, while we were there, we noticed that the tracks were worn or the pins and bushes are worn. There's an estimate for parts and labour… Please let us know if you want to proceed. And a lot of the time the customers will come back and say, yeah, okay, go ahead or there are times they'll come back to you then maybe buy the parts themselves and do the repairs, but it's all about the follow-up work, you know, in increasing parts and service sales.
Stephen Creaser (38:44):
So we do use the Consite Shot app for that a lot. And then for Consite Pocket, the customers like it, because it's just that – it's in the pocket. You know, all the data's readily at hand, they don't need to be sat in the office in front of the computer. A lot of these plant guys, they don't use computers every day and they might be driving the machine, so to have that information on the phone is really good for them. And it's a good selling point for our sales guys as well, to be able to go out and sit with the customers. And it's like added value. You're not just selling the machine. The Consite Shot, the Consite Pocket, the oil Consite, oil sensor, the monthly Consite reports, it all adds value to the machine.
Andy Dukes (39:24):
Yeah. And I suppose also the fact that you can take pictures and detail things that you mentioned, for example, tracks being worn earlier. And, if that's been notified to the customer and they've not done anything about it, and then there's an issue, it's all there in the record isn't it?
Stephen Creaser (39:39):
True? That's it. It's about just giving that bit more to the customer as well. Yes, it's about selling more parts and service, but ultimately it's to improve customer relations and customer satisfaction. You know, we want the customers to see us as partners, not just trying to get money off them all the time. We want to be seen as the maintenance partner that looks after that machine from the day they buy it, to the day they sell it. And hopefully they'll buy some more.
Andy Dukes (40:07):
Yeah. It's great to know there's so much support out there and that technology is being used in a way to enhance this even further. So, Stephen, thanks for taking the time out of your busy schedule to talk to us today. We wish you really good luck and success in the months ahead.
Stephen Creaser (40:19):
No problem. Thank you. I enjoyed that.
Andy Dukes (40:25):
Thanks, Stephen. It sounds like remote fleet management systems are bringing massive benefits to both customers and manufacturers and the data they provide will ultimately lead to the design of superior machines for the future. It's been a fascinating 45 minutes or so in your company. I'm sure everyone listening appreciates your time. We'll be back very soon for the next episode of Onsite, which will feature an unsung Hitachi hero. Stay tuned for that one. Bye for now.