Telematics + Remote Support: The Software Advantage for Machine Health

Unexpected downtime can quickly become complicated, disrupting not only production hours but also people’s schedules and workloads. During this era of tight profit margins and competing demands on people’s time, a machine monitoring system, combined with planned maintenance, builds confidence in machine operators’ ability to get the job done.

Machine Monitoring Systems Explained

Telematics — technology such as GPS and sensors — began gaining traction in the early 2000s, helping growers track equipment remotely. A decade later, manufacturers like John Deere developed Fleet Management Software (FMS) to help business owners make data-informed decisions about their machines.

Tractor owners add a Modular Telematics Gateway (MTG) like a JDLink™ modem and install the John Deere Operations Center™ to track vital operational data, including production hours, fuel usage and GPS location. Today, many machine owners rely on telematics data for planned maintenance, accurate budgeting and machine health decisions.

“Machine health means staying ahead of problems and being proactive,” said Derrick Rygg, RDO Equipment Co.’s machine health manager. “By connecting to a telematics gateway, an FMS and a trusted remote support team, owners can get a bird’s eye view on the wear and tear on a machine to treat it before issues occur.

Machine Monitoring & Data Trends

Just like Google’s search trends can tell us something about what people are thinking about, a machine’s data sets, like engine hours and fuel usage, can help to inform its owner about possible persistent issues before planned maintenance.

“I work with several team members to monitor more than 55,000 machines on a daily basis, so we catch fault codes and triage the higher priority fault codes like engine oil pressure,” Rygg said.

When RDO’s Machine Health team identifies a priority fault code, they reach out to that machine owner’s service provider, which in turn notifies the customer, allowing them to make informed decisions on their machines. Whether it may be something fixable with a simple solution or more complex that requires a trained service technician.

“We work with the service technicians and parts specialists to quickly address the issue, whether that’s as simple as filter replacement or complex, like a failed engine oil pump,” Rygg said.

Rygg explains that service technicians work like detectives examining a machine’s fault codes and talking with the owner to provide prompt service. RDO’s Connected support team helps to prep our technicians with accurate information, limiting downtime and delivering the right parts when a machine needs them.

Machine Data Plus Planned Maintenance

When growers sign up for pay-as-you-go or prepaid planned maintenance plans, they receive the following automatically:

• Service reminders from their local RDO service department
• Coordinated scheduling with local service teams
• Parts ordered ahead of time to reduce downtime

“When a maintenance program can be made simple and predictable, it ensures machines stay ready when they are needed in the field,” Rygg said.

Growers can also sign up for planned maintenance notifications using their Operation Center account. If a person purchases a machine at RDO and connects it to the Operations Center, their machine can be enrolled in a planned maintenance program at no extra cost. Growers can also sign up for a planned maintenance program right in their Operations Center account. During every planned maintenance appointment, a service technician will perform the following tasks:

• Oil and filter changes
• Fluid and coolant checks
• Belt, hose and electrical inspections
• Component adjustments or replacements as needed

Much like a detective can solve a case faster when they have access to call logs, a service technician can eliminate potential common issues when they know the machine has received regular maintenance, Rygg explains.

“Even when a machine has unplanned downtime, a connected machine’s data, a remote support professional and a skilled service technician all work together to fix the problem so the operator can get back to work,” Rygg said.

Build Trust in Systems of Support

Hardware, software and expert support come together to create a system you can trust. When service technicians receive these clues from the tractor’s data, they can start to build their case and uncover the machine’s error culprit.

“RDO’s remote support teams work as a silent partner to flag potential issues,” Rygg said. “Working together across our 12-state network, we’ve saved more than 100 engines from failure during the last year.”

Once a detective solves a case, others accept the argument due to the trust the detective has built over time with the courts and the community he serves. Similarly, fleet managers can trust their equipment service provider through a blend of remote monitoring and real-world expertise.

“We’ve experienced the value of proactive service for heavy equipment service repairs,” Rygg said. “When our team receives John Deere’s Expert Alerts, we know what parts to send with the technician and how long it may take to repair the issue,” Rygg said.

Over time, Rygg said his team can be 95% certain they have the solution to fix the machine before a service technician arrives in the field or that tractor is in the shop.

“When we saw a low engine oil pressure alert on a wheel loader, we knew it could be the oil pump, crossover tube or pickup tube,” Rygg said. “We got a loaner machine to the field and brought the wheel loader into the shop. It turned out the oil pump just needed recalibration, which avoided costly downtime.”

Watch Rygg on this episode of The Track to talk more about systems of support at RDO:

Downtime can cause a world of problems in a hurry, but with boots-on-the-ground support, machine data and a trusted equipment service provider, problems don’t have to become expensive delays. Don’t wait for a breakdown, schedule planned maintenance and find your trusted detective.