Developing the use case for telematics on electric machinery

Developing the use case for telematics on electric machinery with Flannery Plant Hire and GGR Group

Three years ago Flannery Plant Hire and GGR Group embarked on a strategic partnership to roll out the Faresin 626 all Electric telehandler to the plant hirers’ national customer base. In the pursuit of innovation, Flannery decided to invest in the world’s first all-electric telehandler and has continued to add to the fleet, making the 6m machine a feature of their impressive fleet.

Flannery Strategic Manager, Chris Matthew details how the adoption of electric machinery has been positive and how the industry is now adapting its sites and infrastructure to accommodate for electric by stating:

“It has taken some time to understand the behavioural change that is needed on-site to successfully implement the electric machine. That is the behavioural change from both the operators and the people that are planning site set-up. Organising charging infrastructure and site layout are key to ensure they can efficiently get those machines charged.”

MachineMax and Flannery have been partners for over four years and every machine Flannery owns is connected to the MachineMax platform through APIs or the MachineMax tracker. Faresin, GGR Group, Flannery and MachineMax all collaboratively worked hard to ensure that all the data from the electric telehandlers were visible through the MachineMax dashboard for Flannery customers.

When considering the use case for MachineMax on electric machinery Chris said:

“Telematics is key to customers understanding how hard their machines are working versus when they do not need a machine so they can choose the right equipment, choose the correct capacities, have they got the right volume of machines and are they in the right place. Therefore, having the electric telehandlers on the platform is critical so they have that overall picture.”

GGR Group offers a range of specialist lifting equipment, and for the most part, it is equipment that is designed to be used in restricted access areas. Across their range, 95% of their equipment is either battery-operated or mechanically operated.

We spoke with Daniel Ezzatvar, the Marketing and Special Products Director at GGR who details that the strategic positioning for their predominantly electric and mechanical fleet offering is driven by the government’s environmental policy, and this filters down to what clients expect and require.  

With a large emphasis on reducing carbon emissions on site, having one platform to asses this is crucial for customers. Daniel supports this by stating:

“Flannery customers have called for MachineMax as a telematics system so that they have one point of truth rather than having multiple telematics systems which can be frustrating. Collaboration is key when rolling out new technology and the introduction of the Faresin telehandler is a great example of the construction (or) plant hire supply chain working together.”

Finally, we spoke with MachineMax Marketing Manager, Amy Law who elaborates on the power of collaboration and the benefits that can generate for customers.

“The great thing about construction is that many businesses are all trying to achieve a positive end goal and through partnerships, they can achieve that goal quicker and more efficiently. This has certainly been the case with Flannery and them introducing us to GGR as we now connect their customers as well as being part of their supply chain so we can support that data journey across the board.”

MachineMax’s main focus within the industry is to help aggregate all fleet data, no matter the OEM to help increase productivity and sustainability whilst continuously evolving as the industry they serve evolves. Furthermore, as companies move towards electric equipment, data can also be used to promote the adoption of electric or alternative fuel source machinery (for example identifying opportunities based on active machine time requirements). Heat maps and machine location data also enable users to identify opportunities to enhance site design and plan the location for charging or refuelling infrastructure. Ultimately though for MachineMax customers it is clear that whatever the fuel source, plant and equipment needs to be managed for productivity to be optimised. Knowing the utilisation, understanding operator efficiency, whether is it performing similarly to the advertised output and finally predicting charging times to ensure that sites are running as efficiently as possible.