Signifying the passing of this milestone, Volvo CE handed over four excavators – each complete with Volvo’s built in telematics system CareTrack – to Danish rental company GSV Materieludlejning in Kirke Hyllinge, Denmark, today (Thursday, October 3).
But this achievement, thought to be one of the largest number of connected commercial vehicles and machines in the industry, is only the start. Volvo CE has 150,000 of the Group’s connected assets.
Jens Ejsing, Managing Director of Volvo CE Denmark, remarked at the ceremony: “Being part of the digital ecosystem is critical to our customers’ success. As a premium brand, we work every day to provide a premium service that will help customers like GSV Materieludlejning use their Volvo equipment in the most efficient way possible. We are proud to be leading the field with the highest quality connected solutions.
“For us, connectivity means not only significant increases in safety, uptime and fuel efficiency, all the while lowering costs. It is also a vital tool to help us realize our goal to build a better world”.
At today’s handover, the machines – one EC220EL excavator, two EC250EL excavators and one ECR235EL excavator – are fitted with Volvo’s smart connectivity system CareTrack. It works by capturing thousands of machine data points, which are then monitored remotely in a Volvo Uptime Center by dedicated experts. These experts then use state-of-the-art diagnostic software to process huge amounts of data in real-time and filter back to the customer and dealer only the most essential information.
Thanks to the collected data, wear on crucial parts can be predicted, services planned and spare parts ordered in advance – all reducing downtime for the owner, thus leading to increased productivity. Combine this with Volvo Group’s connected capabilities across the sector – trucks, buses and construction equipment – and it is easy to see how efficiencies are being unlocked across the value chain.
Dan Vorsholt, CEO of GSV Materieludlejning, says: “We are excited to be part of this connectivity revolution and proving what can be achieved with a first-class fleet management system. It is essential that we are able to keep track of every aspect of our business, so being able to monitor our machine productivity, right down to the second, is a major contributor to our success.”