Motor Graders: Machine Control, Telematics and GPS
Motor graders have evolved drastically over the years and have become extremely operator-friendly with the advanced machine control, telematics and GPS technology. We take a look at how the three technologies have revolutionised the motor grader market in the country and affected the equipment’s performance.
Machine controls enhance motor grader’s performance
Over the years, the machine control technology of motor graders has highly evolved. Today, the advanced machine controls help the motor grader operators as well as the equipment owners in a number of ways that include...
1. Reducing the need for rework as the final grade can be reached in fewer passes.
2. Reducing maintenance needs.
3. Putting an end to fast wear and tear.
4. Enhancing productivity.
5. Achieving accuracy in operations.
6. Helping the contractors to more intelligently sequence and plan their equipment.
7. Improving jobsite safety.
8. Reducing the need for operator training as with advanced machine control technology even less-experienced operators can work easily and achieve grade characteristics similar to those with more field experience.
Overall, being able to maintain consistent grade and reduce the maintenance needs are two of the most difficult tasks for motor grader operators or the equipment owners. However, advanced machine controls have made these tasks much easier. They have reduced the operator’s work load drastically through improved fingertip controls for easy use.
Telematics make motor grader management more intuitive
The technologically advanced motor graders with telematics offer a host of benefits to the operators as well as equipment owners. These include improved maintenance and easy monitoring of machine use rates, performance and how an operator uses that machine (reduced idling/increased productivity).
Let’s take a detailed look at how telematics have helped significantly in improving and enhancing motor grader performance...
1. Telematics generally help in identifying the problems with the equipment before they happen.
2. By helping in capturing real-time data, thereby, leading to saving of time and resources, telematics make it easier to maintain motor graders. Data such as engine hours, fluid levels and operating temperatures are immediately available to the operator or fleet managers through telematics.
3. The best part about telematics is that the users can easily schedule automatic maintenance alerts to keep the machine in good condition at all times. Even operators can directly send automatic alerts to the maintenance team through telematics if they observe that the machine is not operating as per the standards.
4. Since telematics help in detailing even minute information about the equipment, fleet managers can easily determine the optimal time to perform maintenance activities.
5. Even monitoring of idle times of the equipment that represents inefficient use of the grader as well as wasted fuel and higher depreciation associated with excessive engine use becomes easy with telematics. By reviewing the reports generated through telematics, equipment owners can easily diagnose systematic problems that are casting their spell on the productivity of the business. For example, excessive idling can point operator inactivity. If this is observed, then that time can be utilised for operator training and machine repair.
6. Even equipment security and monitoring unauthorised use of the equipment becomes easy with telematics.
7. Through telematics, operators as well as the machine owners can track the equipment hours on a day-to-day basis. This data even helps the contractors in accurate billing as they can exactly measure the number of hours a grader worked on a specific job. Also, this aids the contractors in coming up with accurate estimates as they can look back at equipment hours for a comparable job as they bid on new jobs.
Overall, telematics system makes the motor grader maintenance and management less costly and more intuitive through the ability to easily monitor machine usage rates and performance in real time. They also allow equipment owners or the operators to stay on top of scheduled maintenance as well as keep a close eye on idle times and productivity.
GPS technology increases efficiency
The Global Positioning System (GPS) technology is also being employed in the motor graders these days which helps the motor graders to achieve precise levelling that too in all weather conditions.
Most of the advanced motor graders having GPS-based grade controls possess in-cab touch screen monitor that provides the operator with a plan view, cross-section view and cut/fill information, driving efficiency and accuracy in projects. In fact, GPS-based grade control systems make the task of grading very easy and result in 30 per cent improvement in efficiency and speed and cost savings.
In a nutshell
In the past few years, motor graders have highly evolved on various parameters like control, ergonomics, fuel efficiency etc., but the most important advancements in motor grader design and performance that have greatly impacted the bottom line of the equipment owners include machine control, telematics system technologies and GPS technology. These three things have highly revolutionised the way motor graders operate and have resulted in huge profits for the equipment owners by improving their productivity, accuracy and efficiency. In future too, these technologies are expected to affect the motor grader market of the country which is expected to grow from 750 units in 2016 to 850 units by 2020.
Simply put, from cost cutting to performing tasks accurately, motor graders equipped with machine control, telematics and GPS technology can add more value to your business. While there are various indigenous manufacturers in the country which are making motor graders keeping in mind the latest technological changes and employing advanced machine controls and telematics, Mahindra Construction Equipment’s RoadMaster G75 motor grader deserves a special mention. The RoadMaster G75 comes with GPRS based remote monitoring system dogosense that keeps a track of your machine with the touch of a finger. Through this, be it business information like daily work reports, fuel level or warnings like low fuel, filter clogging and low engine oil, you can get constant updates on your equipment. Also, the equipment is equipped with advanced machine controls that make life of motor grader operators much easy. So, definitely RoadMaster G75 can be your best bet if you are looking for highly advanced motor graders with advanced machine control and telematics.
