maintenance | by Tom Jackson WHY THE DISCONNECT? OFF-ROAD TELEMATICS:
The technology is more than a decade old. Fleet managers who use it report spectacular gains. So why aren't more contractors stepping up to the plate?
R
esearch indicates that only 10 to 15 percent of heavy equip- ment contractors use telematics to help monitor and man- age their fl eets. Yet most heavy equipment today comes with telematics capabilities or prewired to accept aftermar- ket systems. And many of the big OEMs not only give you
telematics hardware on their machines gratis, but provide access to the data free for a year or more. The over-the-road trucking industry is way ahead of construction when it comes to telematics. According to Clem Driscoll, C.J. Driscoll & Associates, fl eet tracking penetration of the truckload sectors is 40 to 45 percent. And national fl eets like Walmart use telematics on almost every rig on the road. So why aren't construction contractors buying it?
Information overload The amount of information that can be gleaned from an off-road telematics system is almost endless – and that may be part of the prob- lem. Here's a common refrain heard among fl eet managers: "I'm getting more information than I know what to do with."
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