Tech
How Contractors Can Cut Costs and Lower Bids With Telematics
“First things first,” advise contractors who’ve managed to tame the telematics data coming off their machines and on-road equipment.
“The first question you need to ask is what do you want from this data and how is it going to make your operation better,” says Chris Caldwell, equipment superintendent with Roanoke, Virginia-based Branch Civil, which currently has a $70 million fleet, including around 100 pieces of heavy equipment.
Josh Munna, who manages Barriere Construction’s Resource Optimization Center agrees. “You need to understand what you’re looking for,” he says. The Metairie, Louisiana-based company has around 200 pieces of off-road equipment and 40 pieces of on-road equipment.
Focus is key, adds Kevin Reimert, fleet coordinator with Schlouch Construction out of Blandon, Pennsylvania. “There are so many data points that you can easily get distracted and go down a rabbit hole that doesn’t have any value,” he says.
These three contractors talked freely during a “Live Tech Talk” last week about what incorporating telematics data into their daily decision making has meant to their operations. (For the full video talk, go here.) The talk was sponsored by the ConExpo-Con/Agg trade show and Caterpillar.
Starting points
“Ten years ago, we were basically chasing failures,” Munna says. “We found that after a certain point, it’s more efficient to purchase a new piece of equipment, so we now tend to keep equipment less than 5,000 hours, which helps us to be less reactive.”
“In 2005, we were 100% fix-when-fail,” says Don Swasing, chief operating officer at Schlouch, which manages about 150 construction machines and 150 pieces of on-road equipment. “Our vision then became condition-based maintenance. We started talking about what we could control and what really mattered.”
The Branch Civil team created a plan that outlined to company executives how incorporating telematics would make operations better, Caldwell says.
Fuel costs No. 1
Barriere Construction’s telematics, tracking systems and software data feeds are put on six large screens in Barriere’s Resource Optimization Center, or ROC.Barriere Construction“Fuel is our No. 1 operating expense, and if you’re not focusing on fuel, you should be,” Reimert says. “Telematics gave us visibility as to what needed fuel and what didn’t need fuel.”
For example, a common but inefficient practice is to send a fuel truck to every job every day and fuel machines as needed. Using telematics data enabled Schlouch Construction to take a deep dive into fuel burn percentages and eventually schedule its fuel trucks based off machine fuel levels. This allowed the firm to better manage its routes and improve fuel delivery efficiencies.
Schlouch then examined equipment utilization. “We looked at the metrics, the key performance indicators that could drive utilization into a better place than we had with a manual process,” Reimert says.
Fuel burn and equipment utilization were also two key data pieces that Barriere Construction first wanted to control, Munna says. From then, there’s been a progression of information. The company coordinates its data through several suppliers, including Cat’s VisionLink (for construction machines), FleetWatcher (trucking cycle times), Samsara (service trucks) and B2W (production, PMs).
“We’re still finding out things today, and we’re 10-plus years into this,” Munna says. “You really have to know what you’re going for and what will satisfy your needs.”
“All of this information is designed to compel us to act,” adds Don Swasing, chief operating officer, Schlouch.
Eliminating costs
All three contractors can pinpoint cost savings as a direct result of incorporating telematics.
Branch Civil used its utilization reports to change its business operations. “When a machine’s utilization is low, we can move it somewhere and avoid rental,” Caldwell says.
The company also looks at fuel burn to help determine how many equipment maintenance workers will be needed on a job. It also gives Branch Civil more visibility into reported hours versus machine hours and increases billing accuracy.
Barriere uses its machine data to determine where older machines are in their life cycle and whether they need to be disposed of, Munna says.
Tracking this data also helps operations understand how much idling costs, Munna says, including the added DEF expense with Tier 4 equipment.
Today
Telematics made it a easier for Schlouch Construction to delve into equipment utilization and examine how to lower cost rates and how to extend the life of the equipment.Schlouch Construction
Barriere’s different data feeds from its telematics, tracking systems and software are put on six large screens in Barriere’s ROC, says Lucien Wicker, the company’s equipment coordinator. Also on screen: the weather.
“We combined the equipment and logistics department and put all in one area so we can share resources throughout the company,” Munna says. “It cuts down on the phone calls and emails.”
“We have GPS on probably 85% of our third-party trucks, so we’re able to see where those trucks are minute by minute, including the low-boys on the paving side,” Munna adds.
Branch Civil calls its equipment operations center “SAR,” which stands for situational awareness room. It uses Teletrac Navman to bring its machine telematics into one portal. Its on-road fleet is managed on another screen. “It’s centralized information with a decentralized command,” Caldwell says.
All machine fault codes are populated automatically in Branch Civil’s SAR, says Natalie Kerschner, operations analyst. In the SAR, “you can see everything that’s going on with the equipment, what the needs are, and then it can be assigned from there.”
Branch Civil has also worked hard to automate its PMs, Kerschner says. “The work orders are automatically generated whenever a service is coming due and assigned to a mechanic.”
These work orders are color-coded, separated by regular PMs, damaged units, emergency shutdowns, etc. “We can look for trends to see if a machine has had a lot of emergency breakdowns and drill deeper into the information,” she says. “It really has helped us keep a better eye on our fleet.”
“All of our data flow comes to one person,” says Reimert. This includes the company’s telematics providers such as Cat’s VisionLink and Komatsu’s Komtrax. Schlouch’s logistics department also handles data coming in from its on-road fleet.
Real costs
“Once you get the buy-in from operations, it’s going to make everything on the equipment logistics side so much easier,” Munna says. “Then they really are able to understand the cost effects and what it could do to the equipment.”
And when utilization rates show that not all the equipment assigned to a jobsite is used, it can really cut costs and prevent equipment hoarding, Munna adds. “That’s helped us get more aggressive on our bids.”
Barriere has a weekly meeting where operations reviews utilization reports. The hour readings reported by machine telematics are compared with the hours each foreman reports. “We want to make sure they understand what happens when you’re not properly claiming the equipment,” Munna says.
The costs involved can be significant. “In the first year we implemented our telematics, we reduced our rental spend by about 50%,” says Caldwell, of Branch Civil. “We almost paid for our entire telematics through our efficiency.”
In fact, just the PM scheduling alone has helped Branch Civil drive its equipment rates down. “In turn, that makes us better on bid day,” Caldwell says.
Swasing, of Schlouch, agrees. “It made it a little easier for us to come together and have conversations about utilization, how to lower cost rates and how to extend the life of the equipment,” he says. “It ultimately affects our cost rates, and the cost rates ultimately affect our ability to win business.”
Schlouch reduced its idle time 10% to 15% across its fleet after coaching its operators, Reimert says. “The foreman can communicate with his crew and tell them, ‘Every hour you idle this machine, it’s costing this amount of money.’”
“You really have to start at the why and stick to that why throughout the coaching process,” says Kerschner, who also tries to share dollar amounts and what the company is able to save through such things as an anti-idling policy. “We tell them, ‘Here are all the reasons and here’s your part of that,’” she says.
In addition, Schlouch has saved significant money with its hauling operations, Swasing adds. “Our estimators have really latched on to that and are incorporating it into their bids.”
How to start
For those just starting out and looking for basic information such as machine location and hours, “you can probably go with a generic third-party application,” says Reimert.
But those wanting a deep dive to improve operational efficiencies will need to use OEM telematics “and get that specific fault code information and fuel data.”
Ongoing challenges
These telematics veterans have a clear view of what still presents problems.
“I think there’s a gap at the dealership with a working understanding of the product,” Reimert says. “They’re sending somebody out who’s not really understanding what a fleet manager’s responsibilities are and what we are trying to accomplish, and it makes it that much more difficult to get a result.”
Munna also points out there can be some hour meter discrepancies between machine telematics and maintenance software. “We have an automated PM system that is our trigger, and when a meter is off, it may be generating a PM faster or slower than we like and that’s going to cause other failures.”
Increasing the number of mixed-fleet data points that are included in the Association of Equipment Management Professional’s Telematics Standard would also be helpful, Caldwell says. (This creates a common data format that enables viewing mixed fleet data on a single site.) “It would be more easily accessed in one place,” he says.
Caterpillar is bidding farewell to its 259D3, 279D3 and 289D3 compact track loaders with the introduction of its new, next-generation 255 and 266 models.
The completely redesigned models debuted at media and customer events at Caterpillar’s Edwards, Illinois, Demonstration and Learning Center last week. The 255 and 265 offer improved engine performance, more lift height, a roomier cab and more standard technology than their predecessors.
“We kept the DNA of the D3 series while reimagining the possibilities of loader performance using voice of customer feedback to lead the way,” says Trevor Chase, product application specialist for Caterpillar. “Both next-generation models leverage the many benefits offered by the vertical lift design. The new Cat 255 replaces the 259D3, while the 265 replaces both the 279D3 and 289D3 machines.”
The CTLs are the last of Cat’s building and construction products to get the next-generation treatment and simplified nomenclature. The first number (2) represents the skid steer loader and compact track loader machine family; the middle number (5 or 6) designates the machine size; and the ending number (5) is the compact track loader identifier. Skid steers will be identified by a 0 end number. Additional new models will roll out in the coming months, the company says.
CaterpillarMore power and torque
Cat equipped the 255 with a C2.8T engine and the 265 with a C2.8TA engine, both at 74 horsepower. This gives the new machines a significant boost in torque – 13% for the 255 and 43% for the 256 – over their D3-Series predecessors. The engine and cooling package are mounted lower in the frame for added visibility out the rear window and stability while lifting heavy loads.
Customers attest that the added lift height makes truck loading easier. The 255 offers 10 feet 4 inches of lift height, while the 265 can reach 11 feet high.
“The lift height has made a big difference when loading trucks,” said Derrick Roger, owner of Coast to Coast Lawnscapes, who spent several months testing the 255. “You can get on top of that truck now and empty the bucket; whereas, before you would have to shake the bucket to try to get the material to fall out.”
The 255 delivers 36% more tilt breakout, 26% higher lift breakout force and a 24% increase in rated operating capacity (ROC). The 265 also delivers 19% higher tilt breakout force and 22% higher lift breakout force.
Standard hydraulic pressure has been increased to 3,500 psi, allowing the 255 and 265 to operate all Cat Smart Attachments with the standard auxiliary hydraulics provided.
If demanding attachments require additional hydraulic flow, customers can have their Cat dealer activate the high flow functionality on the machine or remotely via software update. This makes it possible for the CTLs to hit 30 gallons per minute of flow at the standard system pressure.
A High Flow XPS factory option increases auxiliary hydraulic system pressure to 4,061 psi for both models, while also increasing the hydraulic flow to 30 gallons per minute for the 255 and 34 gallons per minute for the 265.
The torsion suspension undercarriage delivers better operator comfort, track wear and material retention, plus the stiffer design results in smoother graded surfaces, Cat says. A new 12.6-inch bar-tread narrow track option is available on the 255.
A more spacious cab
Cat says it has increased the cab width by 2.75 inches without making the machines wider and the footwell-to-ceiling height by 1.8 inches. The larger cab gives operators an additional 1.5 inches of hip room and 1.1 inches more width between the joysticks.
A range of new mechanical and air-ride suspension seat options are available, including a ventilated and heated seat. A new automatic temperature control allows operators to set a specific temperature. Relocated vents help cool or heat the machine quickly.
The standard package includes the same 5-inch LCD monitor as the D3 Series CTLs, which offers Bluetooth connectivity and functionality for the rearview camera feed, creep, job clock, and maintenance reminders.
Customers can upgrade to a new 8-inch advanced touchscreen monitor, like the display found in Cat’s next-generation mini excavators and small loaders. It delivers advanced radio control and supports the 270-degree multicamera option. The advanced monitor pairs with the advanced joysticks for integrated control of all machine functions and adjustments.
“You can adjust the movement – or the aggressiveness or the conservativeness – of how your tracks and lift arms work through your advanced touchscreen display,” Dante Thomas, skid steer and CTL marketing manager, said. “And you can control of all of your display functions from the advanced joysticks. There are buttons with enter and select functions on those joysticks that you’re able to change any functionality that is possible.”
Cat also redesigned the entry, making the 255 and 265 easier to enter and exit. The cab door can be opened even when the lift arms are not fully lowered to the frame stops. It can be removed without tools in less than one minute.
Advanced technologies
Calling the 255 and 265 “one of the most attachment-friendly machines on the market,” Thomas says both the standard and advanced monitors can run Cat Smart Attachments, such as the dozer and grader blades and backhoe.
“It has attachment recognition that when you plug the attachment into the machine, it recognizes which attachment is connected. It adjusts your joystick pattern, so it gives you intuitive and simple control,” says Thomas.
The available Cat Product Link Elite system tracks machine hours, location, asset utilization, provides fault code details and delivers advanced monitoring and machine health, that is remotely accessible via VisionLink. In addition, Product Link Elite provides remote flash and troubleshooting capabilities and quickly enables the remote activation of the SEA High Flow feature.
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Quick Data is a snapshot of new and used wheel loader sales trends from Randall Reilly’s EDA equipment financing data, TopBid auction price service and EquipmentWatch market trend reports.
Demand for wheel loaders has softened with new and used financed wheel loader sales down year-over-year from August 1, 2022 to July 31, 2023 according to Randall Reilly’s EDA equipment financing data.
Financed new wheel loader sales dropped 10%, while used financed wheel loader sales fell by 15% compared to the same period last year.
Cat (22.4%), Deere (21.0%) and Komatsu (12.4%) held their positions year-over-year as the top three sellers of new financed wheel loaders. Top models sold included the Deere 544 P-Tier (401), Deere 624 P-Tier (380) and the Komatsu WA270-8 (364).
[Watch: “A Really Solid Machine” – Test Run of Komatsu’s WA475-10 Wheel Loader]
Cat (28.5%) and Deere (22.9%) also snagged the No. 1 and 2 positions for the highest number of financed used units sold, with Case (14.7%) claiming the third spot. On the date we examined the data, the top-selling models were the Case 321F (340), Cat 926M (164) and the Case 621G (159).
During this period, there were more buyers of new loaders in Florida (955) than in any other state. Buyers of new wheel loaders were also prevalent in Texas (893) and Illinois (665). Those states were also top buyers of used financed machines, with 712 units sold in Texas, 413 in Florida, and 412 in Illinois.
EDA data is compiled from state UCC-1 filings on financed construction equipment. EDA continually updates this data as information comes in from each state.
[Related Content: A Rundown of the Latest Wheel Loaders for 2023]
Used Wheel Loader Market
Used wheel loader prices rose 10.1% for the 12-month period from August 1, 2022 to July 31, 2023, according to Randall Reilly’s EquipmentWatch market trend data.
The average price for a used wheel loader was $137,465 in July 2022 compared to $151,367 in July 2023. The average age of used wheel loaders fell slightly during the period, dropping from 8.8 years to 8.3 years.
EquipmentWatchThe average age and price were calculated on 153,356 resale listings during the period in the EquipmentWatch database.
Over the last 12 months, prices for used wheel loaders have in general increased, with the largest gains in October 2022 (6.5%) and February 2023 (2.9%).
EquipmentWatch defines fair market value (FMV) as the monetary value of an asset that can be expected in a transaction with a single seller and single buyer, neither of whom is under any compulsion or time restriction to complete the transaction. FMV for heavy equipment is most closely associated with the private resale market, as opposed to the public auction market.
Wheel Loader Auction Prices
Caterpillar also dominated the auction charts, accounting for 18 of the top 20 wheel loaders sold in terms of price for the 12-month period of September 1, 2022 to August 31, 2023. Deere and Komatsu were the only other manufacturers to appear on the list.
The top auction price spot went to a 2021 Cat 966M with 2,188 hours. It sold for $400,000 at a Ritchie Bros. auction in Orlando, Fla., on September 21, 2022. The second-highest price paid was $315,000 for a 2019 Cat 980M with 7,836 hours at another Ritchie Bros. sale in Atlanta, on December 1, 2022. Rounding out the top three was a 2018 Deere 944K with 8,941 hours. It sold for $290,00 at a J.M. Wood Auction Co. sale in Montgomery, Ala., on March 21, 2023.
In total, there were 358 wheel loaders sold at auctions tracked by Top Bid during this time, with an average price of $99,747. (This does not include any units sold for less than $5,000.)
EDA, Top Bid and EquipmentWatch are owned by Randall Reilly, parent of Equipment World.
[Related Content: Heavy Equipment Auctions Set for Second Half of 2023]
Volvo Construction Equipment bought Terex’s off-road truck line in 2014, and six years later, it rebranded its articulated haulers under the Rokbak name.
On this episode of The Dirt, we hear from Paul Douglas, Volvo vice president of rigid haulers, who explains the differences between the old Terex line and the Rokbak trucks. He also gives a hint at some of the new things coming from Rokbak, including redesigned cabs and replacing the current trucks with new models. There’s also the possibility of a new size truck to hit the market.
Rokbak, as with other construction equipment brands, is working toward a zero-emissions future. On this episode, he explains where the articulated dump truck market is heading in terms of alternative fuel. He adds that customers will see big changes in emissions and engines in the next five years, with the ultimate goal of reaching zero emissions within 10 years.
So to learn more about Rokbak and what the brand has in store for the future, check out this episode of The Dirt.
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