IoT integration into the heavy equipment systems for construction spaces is a necessity for the timely delivery of the project.
Whether infrastructure or real estate, construction projects have a fixed capital and a deadline to deliver a completed project. Construction sites often have work on multiple sites with multiple supervises and multiple fleets deployed for work purposes. Each of these construction site has its own fixed agenda that should be completed within a specific period and budget.There are also many issues that can hamper the overall progress of the construction project, making it challenging for the entire project to run into losses, financial or otherwise.
Some of the common issues faced by the construction sector are usually based on three main things that any construction project strives to achieve: productivity, cost-effectiveness, and punctuality. Some common problems that occur are:
- Fuel and raw material thefts
- Equipment breakdown due to poor maintenance schedules, daily wear, and tear, breakdowns, accidents, etc.
- Untimely delivery of the project and budget crossing
- Lack of visibility or total control over the proceedings leads to the inability to solve base issues like why specific work is not getting done.
Apart from the problems mentioned above, due to its public nature, the infrastructure sector of construction space must face issues that affect the surrounding areas where the construction is taking place. These issues usually stem from a lack of supervision over equipment maintenance and operator-based behavior. Fleet managers and owners can combat these critical issues by studying operator and equipment trends with the help of IoT-collected data. IoT- based solutions can come help in making management of issues smoother while innovating the way equipments and operators work.
Introducing Tor Loco
The Tor Loco is one such end-to-end industrial IoT solution designed for asset and equipment management in construction spaces, especially for fleet owners and site managers. It offers a thorough and complete overview of project progress across several site aspects. The main insights available on the Tor Loco’s website applications are as follows:
- Live Map
The live map section of the application allows for a complete view of the real-time location, function, and condition of the operators’ equipment. This section of the website application enables the fleet owners and the site managers to oversee their equipment’s whereabouts on the following points:
a) Online assets
b) Idle assets
c) Unmanned assets
d) Offline assets
Besides the above pointers, it is also possible to locate the machines and equipment based on their geographical locations in the form of latitudinal and longitudinal positioning of the equipment at the project site, assisting the site managers and fleet owners in checking the vehicle’s real-time position.
1. Scorecard
A scorecard section rates the working factors involved in the project based on their condition and the amount of work. Two types of scorecards come into play here: the operator scorecard and the equipment scorecard, as the bulk of the project is dependent on these two factors for completion of the project. Issues in either of these factors lead to trouble for the management. The scorecard section of the application primarily assists the on-field site workers and the fleet owners about how their equipment or the operators who are handling that equipment.
This type of detailed data collection also showcases total cost and expenses of the entire project and gives weekly, monthly, or yearly calculations of the projects at different stages of progress. It also helps calculate the costs based on the loss of working hours.
2. Analysis
The analysis section of the website application is to understand the underlying issues in a more detailed and sectioned format. There are three main sections in action: Replay, Investigate, and Reports. Each of these individual sections lets you know which aspect of the project is under any given situation. For example, through the Replay tab, it is possible to customise the day, due and time of any particular equipment or vehicle that you want to get data on, based on factors like mileage, fuel consumed, run hours etc. Or it is possible to get a complete review on a specific equipment and its operator in the Reports tab. In Investigate tab, one can see the details of every equipment or machinery on the field through parameters and alerts which can be set accordingly.
3. Services
The services section focuses on the scheduling and managing of maintenance timetables. It also shows which equipment in what sector of the site is in what condition, helping the site managers to pinpoint the problem and give out instructions for the same. Several sectors work in tandem with alerts that notify the managers regarding the different stages of repairs or maintenance of the equipment in real-time. This can assist in prompt maintenance for equipment to avoid losses.
4. Alerts
Alerts are an essential section of any IoT product as they help to point at the exact issue that needs to be handled. Alarms and alerts are not only for notifying in case of emergencies or breakdown, but customized alerts can also remind the management about service schedules for the heavy equipment. The Alert section drops down into multiple subsections that include pointers about the total number of alerts on a given day or the maintenance alerts based on any piece of machinery. Alerts also act in an overlapping manner which works if an alert or alarm goes ignored at a specific time but is on the record till it is resolved, so there is no negligence in solving the various issues.
Conclusion:
As demand for better construction spaces and regulations increase, it is up to the OEMs and fleet owners that provide construction equipment and fleets to the projects to innovate how their equipment is managed. Simple solutions like trackers and sensors fitted into the fleet go a long way into how the equipment is handled or their real-time status while being on-field.
We can see that construction spaces have a vast opportunity to assimilate IoT into their existing fleet and heavy equipment management systems for increased productivity and efficiency. It is necessary to have a comprehensive solution that looks over the data gathering and processing in a format that is understandable to anyone involved in the management of the project. IoT products come in all shapes and sizes and knowing which one is the most suitable for the heavy equipment needs requires a certain level of know-how about the same. Several companies and businesses provide generalized and customized IoT solutions that assist in managing and maintaining the heavy equipment and the operators involved in the construction project.
Our end-to-end IoT solution for heavy equipment management, Tor Loco, is this kind of complete package that manages the needs of a fleet manager and the site in charge by collecting data from the equipment and the operator and then processing it into various sections according to the requirements of the management.
