Top 5 Benefits of Construction Equipment Telematics

Telematics has been the hottest phrase in the construction equipment industry for the last three to five years. Google it and you will find no shortage of articles preaching the ROI virtues and on-site benefits of telematics.

However, finding a concrete definition of telematics is considerably more difficult.

The Significance of “Telematics”

In part, the lack of a cut-and-dry definition is due to the fact that telematics span across a number of different industries, many of which have little or nothing to do with construction and development. While a strict definition of telematics is difficult to establish, a sound means of developing a working definition of construction equipment telematics is by looking at its benefits.

Telematics Equipment Is Common Across All Industries

Regardless of whether or not telematics can be defined or not, telematics across all industries have one thing in common: a GPS unit that works in conjunction with a signal retrieval system called a “telematics box.”

The telematics box is essentially an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system that collects data from the GPS unit and is capable of reporting grade, level, machine position and speed, time intervals and lapses, and pressure.

Top 5 Benefits of Telematics

According to some of the industry’s most knowledgeable, the top five benefits of construction equipment telematics are:

1.Asset Allocation

According to iSqFt.com, telematics asset allocation potentials include improved productivity and more efficient management of operating expenses. “Telematics data can show you how much each machine is being used on your active sites. By analyzing telematics data, you can determine if you are allocating too much or too little equipment to a job site.”

2. Maintenance and Repair Schedules 

“Over-maintenance can be as expensive as under-maintenance, and telematics helps to solve the bigger problem of tracking performance to make the best repair and replace decisions,” explains Christian Burger, President of the Burger Consulting Group, in an article titled, “The Rise of Telematics: How High-Tech Equipment Tracking is taking of Job Sites.”

3. Operator Performance 

Operator performance and especially idle time is a major drain on a company’s finances. Fortunately, telematics can track the idle time of a machine down to the second. “People have been thinking of telematics as simply use hours and geolocation, but operator performance is coming more to the forefront to identify best practices and training opportunities as a compounding effort to control things for ROI and operational management,” according to Chris Wood of ConstructionDrive.com.

4. Meeting Compliance Standards 

On the 18th of December, 2017, a Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) law goes into effect. The Electronic Logging Device (ELD) Mandate will require fleet owners to “install devices in their commercial motor vehicles to record hours of service (HOS) digitally.” In other words, telematics will become a requisite for over-the-road trucks. “On top of automating mandatory reporting, telematics can open the door to this list of benefits and more, including helping contractors and fleet managers avoid costly non-compliance fines.”

5. Fuel Tax Refunds

In addition to cutting fuel costs with telematics systems, proprietors and companies with off-road machines equipped with telematics systems may be eligible for tax refunds. All off-road machines are subject to state and federal excise taxes. These taxes come in the form of fuel taxes. Companies that make an effort to reduce fuel consumption inefficiency are eligible for fuel tax refunds.

Telematics systems will constitute a large portion of future technological developments. In conjunction with other advanced fuel-saving devices like the Rentar Fuel Catalyst, fuel waste can be minimized dramatically.