Construction Equipment Guide
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Tue June 08, 2010 - National Edition
Volvo Construction Equipment will fit as standard its remote monitoring (telematics) system on all larger machines — along with a no charge 36 month CareTrack service subscription.
Under the plan, most newly produced larger machines (wheel loaders over 11 tons [10 t], articulated haulers, excavators over 13 tons [12 t], motorgraders) ordered for CareTrack activated markets, will be standard equipped with telematics and delivered with a no charge, three-year CareTrack customer subscription. This will enable owners to enlist the full range of benefits available with remote monitoring.
“Volvo Construction Equipment feels that remote machine monitoring is a feature with high business value for the customer and we want to accelerate its adoption throughout our various market segments,” said Tomas Kuta, president of customer support of Volvo Construction Equipment. “Every segment we participate in is being driven towards increasingly sophisticated business approaches by the combined influences of environmental and safety concerns, globalized economies and ever more demanding end customers. Higher adoption levels of telematics, and the services that can be delivered using the technology, will enable our dealers to more effectively tailor and deliver solutions for our customers.”
CareTrack is Volvo Construction Equipment’s telematics system used to manage a machine’s productivity and maximize its availability for work. Using GPRS (mobile network) or satellite technology to send information, data is available securely and instantaneously to any remote online connection. Through fault reporting and activity warnings and by facilitating remote diagnosis, the goal is that machine problems will be identified sooner and resolved faster. Machine operation and deployment can be optimized via functions that monitor fuel consumption, location, hours of operation, speed and approaching service intervals.
“Through constant machine monitoring, CareTrack can deliver the extra efficiencies that our customers need by ensuring machines are available for work and that they perform that work in the best way possible,” said Kuta. “Telematics have come a long way in a short time. Previously, customers had to make a purchase decision about CareTrack installation when the potential benefits available with its use were not always clear to them. Further, it was not available on as many machine models as we will now equip. This move is a statement to our customers that telematics are becoming a ’must have’ for ongoing competitiveness in their business — and we are committed to their success,” said Kuta. “Soon, the value of CareTrack will be as self evident as other industry technologies like GPS grade control — and our customers will be among the first to wonder how they ever managed without it.”