Digital solutions to rely on
Find out how HCME and its dealer network are embracing the construction industry’s shift to digitalisation, and assisting customers to improve efficiencies and reduce costs
Helping customers to enhance efficiency and lower their total cost of ownership are continual focal points for Hitachi Construction Machinery (Europe) NV (HCME). With the development of industry-leading digital solutions, it is addressing both topics, and contributing to construction’s digital transformation. “Companies such as Hitachi Construction Machinery [HCM] are not only manufacturers of equipment and machines, but also solution providers,” says Product Manager Pooja Gupta. “Digital solutions have cut through this industry in almost all areas, both on and off the field, starting from telematics and data-powered machines to remote and fleet management solutions.”
Customers already recognise the benefits that digital tools can bring, such as working on and off site with greater precision, efficiency and ease. Among the tools at their disposal is the fleet management system. This helps owners and fleet managers to monitor the performance and maintenance of equipment to enable operations to run as smoothly as possible. Users of fleet management systems can enhance efficiency by monitoring working hours and idling time of machines. They can also maximise uptime and availability thanks to predictive maintenance, and reduce running costs by checking fuel consumption and avoiding unscheduled downtime.
Ever-tighter profit margins and deadlines are driving the need to be more efficient and productive. Ultimately, to be profitable, contractors need to know where their machines are, what they are doing and how they are doing it.
Hitachi machines produce a huge amount of useful data that can be used to generate meaningful insights. The data is gathered by onboard controllers every 24 hours, as well as every ten minutes, if required. Customers can access the data easily via the Hitachi Global e-Service platform (including ConSite). And if they have mixed fleets, they can access the data for their HCM equipment and other brands using a telematics API (application programming interface). This brings all data together from different OEMs into one fleet management system.
To meet the needs of customers with mixed fleets, HCME offers customers a comprehensive fleet management system in partnership with telematics company ABAX. This allows them to monitor the location and operational information of all their construction equipment. All the data is easily accessible using one set of login details, and the system is easy to set up. It is available for all Zaxis-7 excavators and can be retrofitted to previous generation models by authorised HCM dealers.
“With plenty of solutions and providers in the market, choosing the right partner for digital construction solutions will be an important consideration for customers in the years to come,”
Hitachi Construction Machinery (Europe) NV Product Manager Pooja Gupta
The HCME dealer network is also embracing the industry’s shift to digitalisation. They are learning quickly from their customers, and responding to their needs for greater insight, more control and safer equipment in the digital age. One example is Hitachi Construction Machinery UK (HCMUK), which was awarded the HCME Go Digital Award in 2022 for its successful adoption of digital technologies. The UK dealer has a dedicated Hitachi Connected Technology (HCT) department, which as part of its suite of solutions includes CTFleet Link©, a mixed-fleet telematics management system.
CTFleet Link© is unique due to its high-frequency reporting from once every three seconds to once every 24 hours depending on customer requirements. It has the ability to show important operational data – such as pinpoint What3Words location, idling time, and fuel usage in real time, giving end users the ability to make instant decisions when needed. In an industry-first, working closely with partners at X Watch, CTFleet Link© seamlessly integrates the operational data from any connected X Watch Safety Solutions device fitted to the machine. This gives customers the ability to also monitor this safety-critical information in real time in the CTFleet Link© fleet management solution.
“CTFleet Link© is a user-friendly total fleet management solution that gives you access to all your machine data in one single log-on interface – and with fewer clicks,” says Jordan Chapman, Hitachi Connected Technology Digital Manager. “It saves you time in the office and improves efficiency and safety on site.” OEM APIs including AEMP 1.2 & ISO15143-3 reporting at the OEM fixed frequency can be ingested into the CTFleet Link© interface without the need for any additional hardware. To benefit from real-time reporting, the CTFleet Link© hardware can be purchased and installed at point of sale on new machines or via aftersales through the network of UK Product Support sites for existing machines in the field.
The CTFleet link© hardware can be installed as an option to any Hitachi Construction Machiery excavator or wheel loader (from Zaxis-5 to Zaxis-7). All Zaxis-6 mini excavators supplied by HCMUK are fitted with CTFleet Link© as standard and include a three-year subscription, which can be extended if required.
Since its release in 2021, CTFleet Link© has been embraced by many of HCMUK’s customers including Tier 1 contractors such as Balfour Beatty Plc. The system had approximately 500 users and more than 350 fleets totalling over 5,800 assets registered by June 2023. CTFleet Link© has also been updated this year with further improvements, including a new overview dashboard providing detailed reports and summarised operational information. Users can compare data over specific time periods, and see the best (and worst) performing machines in their fleet. Further updates to the interface include a heat map, which highlights where an asset spends the most time working on site or not working if the case may be by highlighting periods of excessive idling time. The process to upload documents has been improved, enabling end users to upload maintenance documents, such as manuals, service reports and annual inspection certificates into their fleet folders. This gives easy and direct access to all documents for electronically sharing or printing when required. Leading international infrastructure group Balfour Beatty has used CTFleet Link© to improve fuel efficiency of its operated assets, informing operators on the environmental impacts of their performance.
“CTFleet Link© has allowed us to benchmark and drive our ‘Eco Operator Efficiency Drive’ by reviewing the impact that our training has on the operators’ behaviours,” says Stephen Hoskisson, Business Manager Specialist Plant, Balfour Beatty. “We can easily and quickly identify where the operator has reduced the idling, thus reducing the burning of fuel and CO2 emissions. With the data being ‘live’, we can monitor periods of low productivity and talk the operator through the data to support the initiative.” Stephen Creaser, Director of Product Support at Hitachi Construction Machinery UK, says: “We are delighted with the progress of CTFleet Link© and how the early adopters are now embracing this new solution. “CTFleet Link was developed by HCMUK with the customer in mind. Many of our Hitachi customers are also mixed fleet operators and we wanted to provide a telematics solution that makes their life easier by having a single log-on interface detailing all assets in one place that fits in with the “one-stop shop” approach we have at Hitachi Connected Technology. “All CTFleet Link© support is UK-based with a single point of contact, making any customer telematics enquiry as easy as booking a service on a Hitachi machine through Product Support.”
