Getting Connected - the Bennie Group mixed fleet of over 500 earthmoving and material handling units is set to share data using the MachineMax telemetry solution.
Peter Haddock caught up with his industry friend Matthew Ayres, Group Managing Director, to talk a walk around its yard, helping him connect and receive data from various equipment. It's part of a continuous technology and innovation journey the business is on to improve its overall offering to a diverse range of customers.
With different businesses, including earthworks contracting, plant hire and being a Material Handler and Finning UK & Ireland Caterpillar Inc. compact equipment dealer, Matthew and the team recognise the power of data and real-time information. And as Peter walked through the yard, he realised how easy it has become to connect machines through the MachineMax telemetry box or existing API's.
An API is an application programming interface. It's basically a bit of software that, in this case, can help machines communicate with the MachineMax solution through the GPS network. This allows each machine to tell the Bennie Group where it is, what its utilisation is, fuel burn and lots more.
The clever bit is that this data is then fed to the team and potentially its customers in the future through a simple to understand MachineMax dashboard.
From connected devices like mobile phones, tablets and computers, the dashboard can be used in real-time by a whole range of people, from site to plant managers and even the boardroom.
What's really interesting is how Matthew and the team will be using this data in the future as it begins rolling out the solution. And, of course, we will keep in touch with them to learn about the impact it makes on the business.
There is certainly a lot of different OEM equipment, young and old, to connect, as the fleet includes machines from: Caterpillar Inc., JCB, Bobcat Company, Faresin Industries S.p.a through UK dealer GGR Group, Terberg Kinglifter B.V. , Bomag, John Deere and Volvo Construction Equipment through UK dealer SMT GB. So you can understand why they need one platform to manage all the data.