It is common for heavy equipment in construction spaces, the real estate sector included, to face several problems regarding equipment management that can often escalate to losses for the company while impeding project completion. Such issues usually occur due to a lack of thorough supervision of two main factors: equipment and operator of the heavy equipment. The top problems typically seem to be:
- Fuel theft due to remote working conditions
- Sudden equipment breakdown due to ill-timed maintenance schedules
- Losses due to equipment/machinery malfunction
Perhaps, due to their interdependency on each other for a project’s timely completion, operators and the equipment or machine they are handling need to be monitored thoroughly. Some standard IoT solutions include sensors connecting to edge gateways that are compatible with heavy equipment and operator behavior, including:
- Fuel monitoring systems
- Supervising on-site operator behavior
- Timely Equipment maintenance
- Alerts for equipment issues and machinery tampering
For all of the above points for total fleet management, equipment and operator scorecards are probably the most valuable ‘total solutions’ that can cover other aspects of heavy equipment management issues for the real estate sector. Let us investigate the details of these scorecards in brief:
- Equipment Scorecard
Timely management and maintenance of heavy equipment are crucial aspects of any construction project. Equipment breakdown, malfunctions, and subsequent downtimes all cause serious losses for the project and the company, financial and otherwise. An equipment scorecard comes into the picture as a gathering point with all the necessary data regarding the real-time status of your equipment, whether the equipment is on-field or at an idling position or under other conditions like being offline, unmanned, or even outside the perimeter of the construction site.
Here, having an equipment scorecard helps supervise the site functions comprehensively and in totality without leaving out any piece of machinery or equipment. It also assists the managers in taking action by providing comprehensive data on the equipment involved in real-time.
- Operator Scorecard
The equipment operators and other workers are mostly daily wage workers or those on a contract basis. Heavy equipment needs trained operators to handle the machines and vehicles. Without proper knowledge of how to work the assets, accidents are bound to happen at the equipment level while harming the surrounding areas and other workers. Having an operator scorecard helps assess the person’s overall working handling of the assets. This section covers factors like driving behavior, idle times, working hours, etc., which can be covered under this section. It helps the managers and site in-charges to gain actionable insight.
The data collected and processed by these scorecards can be changed into actionable insights that help in the following aspects:
- Fuel Monitoring
As fuel is the main driving force, pun intended, behind a construction project’s progress and completion, it is essential to observe the fuel usage pattern before, during, and after machine or asset use. Currently, it is possible to fit IoT-based sensors along the fuel tanks can help track fuel consumption, refill points, and usage based on the total work done by the equipment/machine. This way, the managers or site in-charges can observe and note fuel use and get alerted in case of asset tampering or fuel pilferage.
- Operator Behavior Monitoring
Properly trained heavy equipment operators are assets to any construction project. With the advent of IoT solutions in the construction spaces, wearable trackers and sensors can acquire data from the operator and the machine that gives the manager or site in-charge insights into the working actions of the equipment and fleet handlers.
- Total asset management and maintenance
Timely maintenance of assets saves extra expenses and prevents downtime caused by breakdowns. The ability to remotely monitor and manage is a much-required condition to assess the overall working of the project and the equipment. Several IoT devices come into the picture here. With sensors fitted into the machinery, one can get data regarding the total functions of the machinery when in motion and during idle times.
In conclusion, though there are several ways that IoT systems can be integrated into the existing equipment and machinery, it is essential to select what sort of IoT components and devices are helpful for your fleets and their functions. There are generalized and customized solutions available for different fleet types and heavy equipment.
Tor Loco is one such solution that offers both generalized and customized resolutions, depending upon your management needs. It is an end-to-end solution that provides top-down visibility into your fleet’s overall conditions and operators. Such a solution can cover almost all of your heavy equipment management needs in the construction space, making it easier to deliver a project in time and within budget.
