Reducing Downtime in the Construction Industry

Reducing downtime

With a direct and negative impact on project timelines and profitability, unplanned downtime can irreparably harm construction companies. And this downtime is particularly difficult to avoid when large, complex machines are involved in each construction project.

Knowing the state of each machine at all times—including location, fuel level, hours of operation, engine temperature, tire pressure, and other telematics—can greatly improve downtime prevention. But how can construction companies acquire this data, especially when they have a multitude of projects and fleets of machines spread across a variety of locations?

"Getting individual operators to track and log machine information is challenging and error-prone," says Daniel Conradsen, Internet of Things (IoT) operations team lead at Trackunit. "And you can't collect it fast enough to act on it."

To solve this dilemma, Trackunit developed an industry-leading solution that easily connects construction assets—nearly anywhere in the world—and gathers machine-specific telematics in real time.

The solution uses Cisco IoT Control Center to provide automation, analytics, and proactive alerts that reveal potential problems before they result in downtime. And it uses non-steered SIM cards from KPN IoT—a European telecommunications leader—to automatically and securely connect Trackunit devices primarily to LTE-M (4G) networks around the world without operator intervention. Based on the type of module in the devices, they can also link to 2G and 3G networks and will be able to connect to 5G networks in the near future.

"Globally connected solutions are like chains with many links, and they're only as reliable as the weakest link," Conradsen says. "There are several interconnections between our solution, KPN IoT's global solution, and Cisco's IoT platform. The ability to automate all of them is highly valuable to us and our customers."

According to a 2020 Trackunit survey,* construction companies that connect at least half of their fleet financially outperform companies that don't by 23 percent. And companies that connect three-quarters or more of their fleet outperform the others by 51 percent.

Zero-touch provisioning

The automation and simplicity of the solution have been key to the rapid growth of Trackunit's customer base as well as its revenue, which nearly doubled between 2021 and 2022.** More than 1 million machines and other construction assets are now connected and tracked with the company's solution.

"We would not be able to meet such high customer demand without automated connectivity and zero-touch provisioning," Conradsen says. "KPN IoT has stripped away complexity and simplified everything for us and our customers."

That includes a single rate for cellular connectivity and data consumption, with 95 percent global coverage.

"We support thousands of connectivity and data patterns around the world," Conradsen says. "Having a single rate plan and one invoice for all of them is really outstanding."

New data sets

With regulatory requirements becoming more stringent, Trackunit is preparing to expand its solution capabilities and enable the collection of additional data sets that will help its customers with compliance and reporting.

"We'll be able to track information related to emissions and safety, which is becoming increasingly critical for our customers," Conradsen explains. "Cisco IoT Control Center is an excellent data and connectivity management platform. It just works."

Trackunit's rapid growth and future trajectory are much different from a decade ago, when the company was struggling to find reliable technology partners and platforms.

"We've never been more satisfied with our connectivity or the underlying IoT platform," Conradsen says. "The collaboration with KPN IoT and Cisco has been fantastic, transparent, and open. We work together to support our customers, and there are no weak links in the chain."