Arguably more important than in most other industries, the need to optimise heavy equipment fleets is paramount for efficiency, safety, and sustainability. Here in NZ, Volvo, in partnership with TDX, is pioneering a comprehensive ecosystem designed to transform fleet management from reactive to proactive and even better, predictive.
This approach, focuses on leveraging advanced technology and data to empower customers with smarter decision-making and full operational lifecycle support. Volvo CE’s strategy rests on three core areas:
Connectivity – Recognising that connectivity is often underestimated, Volvo highlights its crucial role in providing visibility into machine operations. This foundation enables the flow of vital data for informed management.
Customer Partnership – Through connected technologies, fleet analytics, Customer Support Agreements, uptime services, and a nationwide support network, customers benefit from a partnership focused on safety, productivity, sustainability, and long-term asset performance.
Proactive Approach – The overarching goal is to shift from merely reacting to issues to proactively anticipating and preventing them, by combining technology, machine data and expert support. This ensures operational certainty and maximising machine uptime.
Volvo Connect – The Unified Portal
The new Volvo Connect ecosystem serves as a single, consolidated customer portal, offering a 360-degree view of an entire fleet. This platform integrates previously disparate systems for accessing machine hours, maintenance schedules, and parts information into one user-friendly interface. Its clean, intuitive dashboard allows customers to easily dive into machine specifics, track production cycles, and monitor the performance of their entire fleet, identifying underperforming & “bad boys” or machines with excessive idling or overloading.
ActiveCare – Proactive Uptime Management
ActiveCare is a cornerstone of TDX’s Uptime Solutions portfolio, helping customers maximise machine availability and reduce unplanned downtime. By combining connected machine data, proactive monitoring, and regular fleet insights, ActiveCare helps customers stay ahead of potential issues and make informed decisions that improve productivity and machine performance. Machine data is transmitted every few minutes, offering near real-time insights into machine status, location, utilisation, and operating behaviour.
Remote Monitoring & Tailored Recommendations – The system remotely monitors machine behavior, performance, and alerts, providing specific recommendations based on individual fleet utilisation. This allows for planning ahead and reducing unplanned downtime.
Reduced Repair Time – A key objective is to reduce multi-visit repairs (which can take weeks) to a single, planned visit. By identifying exact fault codes and necessary parts in advance, technicians can arrive on-site fully equipped for a “one-visit” repair. The system goes beyond simply reporting fault codes. Each case includes additional context, unit symptoms, and recommended actions, helping to understand not only what happened, but also the most effective path to resolution. This helps to plan ahead, prepare the right resources, and resolve issues more efficiently, reducing downtime and repeat visits.
Weekly Reports – ActiveCare generates weekly reports summarising main behaviors and alerts, enabling customers to drill down into specifics and facilitate informed conversations with operators during operational or toolbox meetings.
The goal of ActiveCare is simple: fewer surprises, better planning, higher machine availability, and more time spent productively working on site.
Site Solutions, The Real-time Productivity System – Unlocking Operational Insights
Volvo CE’s latest innovation is a cutting-edge, real-time productivity system that provides unparalleled visibility into site operations. This agnostic system can connect both Volvo and non-Volvo machines via API, making it adaptable to mixed fleets. Key features include:
● Customisable Site Visibility – Customers can create a digital view, upload site photos and layouts, allowing for dynamic mapping of quarries or construction sites. The system displays connected machines, their movements, and operational status in real-time.
● Productivity Analysis – It offers a full analysis of the key productivity metrics, and helps establish baselines for future calculations. The system tracks machine interactions, counting loads and offloads between equipment like wheel loaders and rigid haulers.
● Cycle Time Measurement – A significant benefit is the ability to measure and optimise cycle times. For instance, one customer saw cycle times reduce from 45 minutes to 15 minutes after implementing the system, dramatically increasing productivity.
● Load Tracking & Bottleneck Identification – The system tracks all the assets on-site, enhancing safety and efficiency, including suppliers or visitors. Crucially, it identifies bottlenecks in narrow lanes or specific areas that impede production, providing data to support layout changes or additional equipment investments.
● Safety & Sustainability Monitoring – Features include speed heatmaps to monitor compliance with site speed limits (e.g., 30 km/h), visitor registration, and tracking of CO2 emissions per ton and fuel consumption, supporting environmental goals.
Real-World Impact example
A prime example of this system’s effectiveness is its trial at one of New Zealand’s largest quarries. The customer has reported high satisfaction, noting significant improvements in cycle times and operator compliance with speed limits. The system’s ability to show load tickets in near real-time and identify operators who are “not behaving” (e.g., overloading or idling too much) provides actionable insights for training and operational adjustments.
Tarmac Takeaway
TDX’s use of Volvo CE’s integrated ecosystem, encompassing Volvo Connect, ActiveCare, and the real-time productivity system, represents a significant leap in fleet optimisation. By cutting through data noise and converting raw information into actionable insights, these technologies empower customers to make better decisions, reduce operational costs, enhance safety, and drive towards a more sustainable future.
Added to this, Volvo CE’s commitment to continuous development and responsiveness to customer feedback ensures that this ecosystem will continue to evolve, meeting the ever-changing demands of the industry.
