How Is the IoT Improving Construction Equipment Maintenance?
The Internet of Things (IoT) is swiftly making its way into every industry, both in commercial and residential applications. Everything in your home, life or workplace that has the word ‘smart’ as a prefix is a networked part of the IoT. Residential devices may control things like appliances, thermostats or lightbulbs. In an industrial setting, the opportunities are nearly limitless.
Here’s how the IoT is working to improve construction equipment maintenance, making things more efficient, helping workers stay safe and improving the bottom line.
Real-Time Data Collection
Data is one of the most important tools in creating an effective maintenance schedule. Traditionally, all that information had to be collected manually, either from the machine’s onboard computer or by creating a manual database filled with equipment maintenance histories. This may have worked fine in the past, but it just isn't practical anymore with the growing size of construction fleets.
Incorporating IoT sensors enables fleet owners to collect data about each piece of equipment in real-time. No longer will you miss important signs that might lead to equipment failure because one particular piece isn't scheduled to come in for inspection yet. If something begins to fail or needs attention to prevent a breakdown, the sensors can alert the operator or fleet manager to take it offline for inspections and repairs.
Depending on the location and programming of the sensors, the IoT could even potentially tell you when an item needs to be washed. Sometimes keeping an item clean can improve its performance and lengthen its life span.
Predictive Maintenance Instead of Preventive
Preventive maintenance is an important part of any fleet management system. Regular inspections and a strict upkeep schedule can avoid problems before they cause equipment failure, but what if you could predict when a particular item might fail? Pairing the information IoT sensors collect with a machine learning algorithm can take your preventive maintenance program and make it predictive instead.
This isn’t magic or telling the future. Instead, predictive algorithms work by sorting through past data and making predictions based on statistics. The more information a predictive system has to work with, the more accurate it becomes.
Preventing Theft, Damage and Loss
Maintaining a fleet is a lot easier if it’s still on the job site. Equipment theft costs the construction industry up to $400 million every year, with the average price of a machine reaching $29,000. In addition to transmitting maintenance data in real-time, IoT sensors can also be used to track the equipment’s location through Bluetooth, GPS or RFID signals.
This is also a valuable tool for anyone trying to improve operational efficiency on the job site. Tracking the movement of a piece of equipment can help you view hours of operation, idle time, and other metrics that can make it easier to create an efficient and productive job site. You’ll also know if a particular item is used more than others, which could mean future investment in another machine might be a good idea.
Upping the Stakes on Sustainability
One of the biggest focuses in the construction industry as a whole right now is in making the work more sustainable. Enormous diesel engines and heavy equipment aren’t exactly the pinnacle of sustainability, and even some of the most basic items — such as the stakes used to mark out the worksite — could potentially be a bit more eco-friendly.
Incorporating IoT into construction equipment can make it easier to determine the best way to make a fleet more sustainable. Monitoring everything from idle time to the amount and composition of exhaust can be used to figure out whether there are problems impacting fuel efficiency or other issues that need to be addressed to reduce the device’s carbon footprint. A poorly maintained or inefficiently operated piece of equipment will generate more emissions and create more problems in the long run.
Keeping Operators Safe on the Job
There are so many different types of construction equipment that you might encounter on the average job site that it might feel impossible to keep track of them all. Operators might have a passing understanding of how they all work, but it isn’t easy to cross-train everyone on every single machine. If something is involved in an accident that causes injury or death, it usually ends up being taken offline for the duration of the investigation. The easiest way to avoid this is to take steps to keep people safe on the job.
Pairing IoT-based proximity sensors with wearable technology for operators can prevent the two from crossing paths. If a sensor on a piece of heavy equipment detects someone is too close, it can trigger a shutdown until the alert is cleared and the person at risk moves out of the danger zone.
Minimizing Costly Downtime
A lack of maintenance might seem like a good idea in the short term, but it will catch up with you in the long run. An item that isn't maintained regularly will eventually break down, and if Murphy's Law has any say in the matter, it will pick the most inconvenient time to do so. The last thing you need is a scheduling issue throwing a wrench in your timeline.
Downtime is expensive, and the cost will vary based on the exact details of your operation. On average, the price of a down unit can top $350 an hour. That can be devastating to small construction companies, especially if it takes more than a few hours to complete any necessary repairs.
In this case, it doesn’t really matter if you’re relying on predictive or preventive maintenance schedules. Anything that keeps your fleet running smoothly and avoiding costly downtime is worth the investment.
Making Automation Easier
Historically, the construction industry has been one of the slowest to adopt new technologies, preferring to rely on more traditional methods. Despite this tendency to remain rather hidebound, automation is beginning to make its way into the sector. The IoT and its collection of networked sensors can make it easier to adopt automation and integrate it into existing practices and procedures.
Once the automation hardware is set up, it’s easy to sync it with existing IoT networks. The more these systems talk to each other, the easier it will be for them to operate in sync. In the construction industry — and any other sector that often requires a lot of human innovation and creativity — automation will never entirely replace the workforce. However, it can help make many jobs a lot easier and safer while freeing up workers to spend their time on other tasks.
IoT in Construction Is Paving the Way to the Future
The IoT’s network of smart devices is going to be the future of the construction industry. Now is the perfect time to start adopting IoT for maintenance and beyond.
