Capital Equipment News May 2017

More and more OEMs in the construction equipment industry, such as Volvo CE, are now including telematics solutions as standard in their offerings.

aspects.” Deviations from a set target are monitored in the exception report. There is also a driver coaching tool available in the vehicle. “Driver coaching guides the driver to improved driving technique through real time Fuel Efficiency Score while driving,” says Le Roux. When it comes to positioning, the map view collects the information needed to plan the transport operation. Current vehicle location, speed, distance travelled, fuel saved and fuel level are at hand in the map view. “The positions of the vehicles are event- based with a new position approximately after every 5-10 minutes,” says Le Roux. Meanwhile, Messaging allows two-way communication between the vehicle and the Dynafleet portal. “Messages can be sent from Dynafleet to the trucks where the driver can respond to them using the Bluetooth QWERTY keyboard.” Key drivers According to Raghavan, the emergence of new business cases, such as pay-per- service, as well as higher awareness on mid-tier solutions, will unlock opportunities in the South African commercial vehicle

telematics space. “Major OEMs are looking to provide factory-installed telematics, especially in light commercial vehicles since more than 90% of this segment remains untapped,” says Raghavan. Meanwhile, Le Roux tells Capital Equipment News that the Light Commercial Vehicle (LCV) segment makes up a big chunk of the telematics pool, +/-50%. “We do, however, notice that their needs are much more for basic services. The Heavy Commercial Vehicle (HCV) and Extra Heavy Commercial Vehicle (EHCV) sectors are the driving forces behind more advanced information needs. We also notice that customers in the HCV and EHCV segments require different services for different applications,” says Le Roux, adding that thus the need for customisation and flexibility in packages offered is ever increasing. Load and combination values also play a part in the selection of services, according to Le Roux. “Customers carrying goods of high value tend to request more detailed services compared with customers doing basic distribution of low-value loads. We have seen a huge increase in the fuel

industry, for example, in the past few years.” Key concerns Despite the improvements made in telematics and the real-time data that it produces, a reluctance to adopt the technology still lingers among some local fleet managers. This is more so among construction equipment fleet owners than their commercial vehicle counterparts. Le Roux agrees, saying that when Volvo Trucks first introduced Dynafleet in 2013, there was some resistance from certain operators. He, however, notes that this has since changed as more and more commercial vehicle owners are enquiring about the service offering. The penetration of telematics in the local construction equipment space as a whole is slow in coming, but operators are gradually beginning to realise the bene- fits as more and more OEMs now include telematics solutions as standard in their offerings. The key concern in the yellow metal equipment industry has always been the fact that most construction fleets are mixed

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