Icelandic contractor IAV dramatically reduces idle time with MachineMax

'Our equipment residual values have already gone up, and maintenance has reduced thanks to a dramatic decrease in idle time.' 

That’s the message from Heiðar Jón Heiðarsson, fleet manager for Icelandic contractor Íslenskir aðalverktakar - ÍAV hf,  when Peter Haddock spoke to him following the recent introduction of the MachineMax telemetry system to the fleet. 

It runs a mixed fleet, including Volvo and Liebherr earthmoving equipment that we saw onsite.

Heiðar: “Due to our weather conditions in Iceland, it has been very difficult to monitor our idle time. But now, thanks to the real-time data we get from our dashboard, our site managers and operators work together to reduce idle time. 

“And we are seeing results that can potentially add another year to the machine’s life before we would need to dispose of it, which is a huge financial benefit to us.

"We have even programmed idle time alerts to make 'in the moment' decisions that will stop hours being put on machines. This, of course, impacts our service costs with fewer oil changes, parts and maintenance costs from the equipment dealers that support our fleet as we remove non-productive hours from the machine. 

“In addition, with some of our machines being moved at night, our operators can now use their phones to see exactly where equipment is, which removes the need for additional calls.” 

The IAV team also has a mandatory obligation to report on its CO2 emissions to key clients on a weekly basis.

Heiðar: "It's a task that took a long time to compile on spreadsheets before we started using the MachineMax data capture on our machines. Now, our reports are available at the click of a button. 

“So when you look at all the elements that you can understand and change with the right dashboard information, you can have a very big impact on the overall running costs for the business and particularly variable costs like fuel."

You can also read an article about our trip to Iceland in the February 2024 edition of Earthmovers Magazine