Hitachi Construction Machinery: fleet management and administration made easy

Background

Hitachi Construction Machinery (HCM), Japan’s second-largest and the world’s third-largest manufacturer in the market, creates remarkably high-value, heavy machinery for the construction, mining, and forestry industries.

HCM’s Global e-Service monitors performance and minimizes administrative downtime time for 300,000 of its heavy machines across 140 countries. The innovative web-based system, connected by Telenor Connexion, enables dealers and construction teams to keep close track on their fleets.

HCM was looking at ways to help their customers to gain the maximum value from their machines throughout their lifetime. They also were exploring ways to ensure that the machinery could also be operated at peak efficiency.

Challenge

Many of HCM customers were operating in harsh, remote locations which can make it difficult to gather equipment operational information but to know also when it was time to provide service. By 2000, the company had begun applying M2M in its Japanese operations, and soon realized how much applying this technology could benefit customers as well as themselves. HCM knew that they needed to find a connectivity partner with asset management experience; one that could provide a flexible business model based on building a long-term relationship; and one that could provide reliable connectivity in widely varying parts of the world.

Solution

With Telenor Connexion it created a global network of HCM equipment, all linked by 2G/3G (GSM) SIMs embedded in M2M modules within the machines and linked to sensors. HCM also required data from its machinery to be collected and transmitted for analysis and action when needed. The service today delivered with ConSite can automatically monitor location, movement, hours, fuel consumption, power and more, helping to reassure clients, identify problems, and highlight operating efficiencies.

Result

The solution developed had to address the unique operations related to heavy machinery, and the services that this equipment requires as well as reducing complexity while providing connectivity for the entire supply chain through the machine-mounted SIM and M2M modules.

Today HCM’s Global e-Service, ConSite enables information from machinery to be accumulated and used as big data. The information gathered from data can then be very quickly communicated to the local operator as well as the local HCM distributor via Global e-Service, so service crews can be alerted as quickly as possible with the appropriate measures taken and more serious damage avoided.

ConSite and the continuous flow of information from the network of equipment thus greatly assists customers in more effectively using and servicing their machines, and ultimately in reducing time and costs. This can be vital in remote areas of operation, where it can be very costly to send out parts and service teams.

By better understanding ongoing operations, and by having the data needed to better predict everything service needs, the customer can better plan for and optimize their operations in any location.

This is a great example of IoT in transportation.