NEW PRODUCT

Direct to the point

New system from Volvo CE is promising one step ahead in management technology selecting information by criticality levels and reducing the time of machine breakdown

Betting in proactive monitoring, Volvo CE is just bringing to Brazil its new Active Care Direct (ACD) service, which increases the functionalities of telemetry when filtering for the user the most important information about equipment maintenance, which is completed by practical recommendations for clients and dealers.

Starting in Europe in 2016 and in the USA last year during the ConExpo 2017, the ACD technology allows the user to get the advantages from telematics with no need of   investing time in analyzing reports or deciphering codes. “When telematics started there was a “flood” of codes that did not require necessarily an action”, says a communication from the company. “This brought one more task to the managers that had to decipher reports coming from several manufacturers.”

It has to be said that this is not an easy task. As we know, computers generate data during 24 hours per day. The result is more than 1500 outputs generated per week, which not necessarily affect the operation since they are mostly low-priority alerts. “Processing the quantity of generated data is almost unfeasible”, says Renan Wagner, coordinator of Customer Solutions from Volvo CE. “It is difficult for the clients and even for the dealers to process these data and to determine which of them are more important.”

This is now going to stay in the past. With the ACD, Volvo intends to offer a continuous service of monitoring, consulting and emitting reports that come from thousands of data collected by their Matris and CareTrack electronic systems. The systems list actions and components that the client may check directly. The dealer will help in diagnosis and actions, being available for a visit if the client could not correct the problem with its own means.

After the automatic filtering, client and dealer receive consolidated monthly reports that include data from machine use and operator trends and behavior. They also compare groups of machines and even show machine-by-machine information. “There is a universe being discovered here with an important tool of proactive coverage that allows better attendance and increases client’s efficiency”, comments Luiz Marcelo Daniel, president from Volvo CE Latin America.

INTELLIGENCE

Including hardware of control and module of communication by satellite, the basic principle for installing ACD is that the equipment has to use an electronic engine. Thus, the tool will be factory-available for a wide variety of models, starting from L60 loaders and EC140 excavators, in addition to the whole articulated line. It is also possible to install the system in older machines, a kind of technologic retrofit.

After consolidating information using tools of big data and analytics, the system generates signals of alert in three different levels of priority (from high to low) going from emergencies before imminent breakings—stopping the machine for carrying out immediate repairs—to information that calls the attention for points that may harm the performance and increase mid-term operating cost. “Nothing is new till this moment”, agrees Alexandre Flatschart, director of Customer Solutions from Volvo CE Latin America. “Anyhow, CareTrack was already sending this information but not in a structured way as it is doing currently.”

In other words, the system analyses and filters in real time the most important parameters for each operation, following the integrity and performance of the machine. The monthly report includes fleet using data that allows to check the working time of each machine and to compare it to its idle time individually, by model or by month, for historic reference. Therefore it is also an important base for improving qualification training of operators.

But the correction is not still automatic. The system proposes improving solutions based on the data that are also sent to the dealer that—in the most critical situations—installs them together with the user. “Everybody has tools of telematics, but this new product goes right to the point”, points out Wagner.

In this line, the monthly reports of the ACD show the trends of using the machine, mainly concerning to fuel consumption, idle time, etc. In addition, the consultants from Volvo stay on demand to contact the client, interact with the dealer and carry out the repairs, if necessary. In USA and Canada, the supporting structure from the Volvo Uptime Center is located at Shippensburg. In Brazil, the structure is located at Curitiba (PR).