Volvo Construction Equipment last week announced it will fit as standard its remote monitoring (telematics) system on all larger machines — along with a no-charge 36-month CareTrack service subscription.

Under the plan, all newly produced larger machines (wheel loaders over 10 tonnes, articulated haulers, excavators over 12 tonnes, motor graders) ordered for markets with CareTrack availability, will be standard equipped with telematics and will be delivered with a no-charge, 3-year CareTrack customer subscription that enables owners to enlist the full range of benefits available with remote monitoring.

“Volvo Construction Equipment feels that remote machine monitoring is a feature with high business value for the customer and we want to accelerate its adoption throughout our various market segments,” says Tomas Kuta, president of Customer Support for Volvo Construction Equipment. “Every segment we participate in is being driven toward increasingly sophisticated business approaches by the combined influences of environmental and safety concerns, globalized economies and ever more demanding end customers. Higher adoption levels of telematics and the services that can be delivered using the technology will enable our dealers to more effectively tailor and deliver solutions for our customers.”

CareTrack is Volvo Construction Equipment’s telematics system used to manage a machine’s productivity and maximize its availability for work. Using GPRS (mobile network) or satellite technology to send information, data is available securely and instantaneously to any remote online connection. Through fault reporting and activity warnings and by facilitating remote diagnosis, the goal is that machine problems will be identified sooner and resolved faster. Machine operation and deployment can be optimized via functions that monitor fuel consumption, location, hours of operation, speed and approaching service intervals.

“Through constant machine monitoring, CareTrack can deliver the extra efficiencies that our customers need by ensuring machines are available for work and that they perform that work in the best way possible,” said Kuta. “Telematics have come a good distance in a fairly short time. Previously customers have had to make a purchase decision about CareTrack installation and we feel at times the potential benefits available with its use in their particular application has not been clear to them. Further, it was not available on as many machine models as we will now equip. This move is a statement to our customers that telematics are becoming a ‘must have’ for ongoing competitiveness in their business — and we are committed to their success.”

CareTrack is available on the following machine models:
• Wheel loaders L60F – L350F, excluding L180HL
• Articulated haulers A25E – A40E
• Wheeled excavators EW160C – EW230C
• Crawler excavators EC140CL – EC700CL
• Motor graders G930 – G990
• Tracked forestry carrier FC2421C
• Standard demolition EC210CLD – EC700CLD
• High-reach demolition EC360C-HR and EC700B-HR

• Pipelayers PL4608, PL4611