Technology Improves Safety and Accuracy on South Dakota Paving Project

(Indianapolis, IN) – Border States Paving is a family-owned general contractor that operates 2 permanent asphalt plants as well as a one portable plant which produce asphalt for the paving projects that they complete throughout the Dakotas, Wyoming and eastern Montana. In addition to the traditional paving tools that they use daily, BSP crews have adopted technology including FleetWatcher telematics to eliminate over trucking, streamline their operations, and eliminate the waste of traditional paper tickets with e-ticketing. Early in 2022 they integrated their FleetWatcher e-ticketing with OnStation to determine exact locations more precisely for each load of asphalt placed. On a paving
project along US Highway 12 in South Dakota this technology integration not only increased their accuracy, but it also made their jobsites safer.

Topics: Wireless Fleet Management Construction telematics

How OnStation helps FleetWatcher users

Topics: Materials Management Solution Paving Operations Construction Management Solution

FleetWatcher Escalating Idle Alert Feature

FleetWatcher's Escalating Idle Alert informs managers when equipment has been idling for too long, allowing immediate corrective action to be taken. This can help slash idle time, and thus elongate equipment life span.

  • FleetWatcher monitors rpm over time, and alerts managers with text or email when a pre-set threshold has been reached
  • The parameters and alerting structure are completely customizable by the user
  • Data can be integrated with other business systems such as accounting, estimating
  • Tracks multiple data points including cycle times, productivity and downtime, equipment utilization and underutilization, exact location of each piece of equipment, project status, budgets, shop costs, rental expenses, and trends and behaviors 
Topics: Idle time reduction Fleet Management Earthwave Technologies

FleetWatcher Partners with OnStation to Pinpoint Location of Each Asphalt Load

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Earthwave has integrated their e-ticketing functionality with OnStation to allow users to pinpoint the exact Station Location where each load of asphalt is placed on a jobsite. This new functionality automatically tracks the load from the time it is loaded at the asphalt plant, through its dumping into the paver on the jobsite. The exact Station location becomes a part of the digital e-ticket, with no operator intervention required. Operators and transportation agency officials can know precisely on a jobsite where a specific load of asphalt was laid, so that if a future problem arises, they can investigate other parameters around that location, including core tests, density, drainage, or others, to determine the scope of the problem. Specific station locations on each e-ticket replace the latitude/longitude indications which are commonly included now, but which are not readily referenceable on the jobsite. 

Topics: Materials Management Solution Paving Operations Fleet Management Earthwave Technologies

FleetWatcher Telematics Platform Monitors Four Key Safe Driver Metrics

Earthwave Technologies, Indianapolis, offers the FleetWatcher telematics platform to monitor four key safe driver metrics, allowing companies to track and amend driver behavior. This GPS-based platform captures vehicle data from either the FleetWatcher App or from an in-vehicle device. It simplifies safe driver programs by focusing on four key metrics: 

  • vehicle speed relative to posted speed limits; 
  • fast starts;
  • hard breaking; and
  • hard turns.

This data is reported continuously and can be used to assign a numeric or letter grade to drivers, who can then be commended or counseled for their performance. Whether required by insurance carriers or as company policy, FleetWatcher customers using this feature have reported significantly improved driver grades when this is added to their safe driver programming.

Topics: Construction telematics Fleet Management

Telematics Helps Kentucky's Largest Heavy Highway Contractor

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If you've ever felt like you're juggling too many projects at once, you're not alone. Chris Higgins, the Vice President of Engineering and Construction at Scotty's Contracting & Stone can emphasize. He wakes up every day with 400 pieces of heavy equipment to allocate across projects throughout Kentucky. On a good day, it's a challenge. On a rainy day, it's a five alarm fire. But Higgins is prepared, thanks to a telematics tool that collects and displays data across his entire fleet, bridging the gaps between a dozen different equipment manufacturers. 

Getting over growing pains 

Scotty's Contracting & Stone is a heavy civil and paving contractor that has served a geographic footprint that ranges from Louisville to Nashville for 50 years. In that time the company has grown from 10 employees to over 600, dispatching more than 100 trucks a day through their 14 asphalt plants and 5 stone quarries. Third party trucks are supplied with FleetWatcher as well, so that all haul trucks have the same visibility. Visibility into the entire haul fleet allows Scotty's to see bottlenecks in real time and re-route trucks around them to shorten cycle times.

Topics: Construction telematics Fleet Management

How to Manage Unproductive Fuel Burn

In the last year, fuel prices have skyrocketed by more than 50%. We’ve seen many contractors struggle with the sudden and unexpected rise in costs and the effect it has had on job profitability. Fortunately, we’re here to tell you that although you can’t control the rise in fuel prices, you can control unproductive fuel burn. 

Topics: Construction telematics heavy equipment maintenance Construction Management Solution Fleetwatcher

FleetWatcher Offers Help for Companies Looking to Improve Behavior of Drivers

 

Earthwave Technologies' FleetWatcher telematics platform monitors four key "safe driver" metrics, allowing companies to track and amend driver behavior. 

This GPS-based platform captures vehicle data from either the FleetWatcher App or from an in-vehicle device. It simplifies safe driver programs by focusing on four key metrics - vehicle speed relative to posted speed limits, fast starts, hard braking, and hard turns. This data is reported continuously and can be used to assign a numeric or letter grade to drivers, who can then be commended or counseled for their performance. 

Whether required by insurance carriers or as company policy, FleetWatcher customers using this feature have reported significantly improved driver grades when this is added to their safe driver programming. Here's how it works. 

Topics: Materials Management Solution Fleetwatcher

How Wright Paving has Utilized FleetWatcher

 

Earthwave confidently made an unforeseeable job happen for Wright Paving Contractors. This Tennessee-based company soon realized FleetWatcher was an essential asset concerning their daily activities. We had the privilege to learn about Wright Paving's journey with FleetWatcher and the positive impact built on this family business. 

Wright Paving Contractors first discovered Earthwave through a cold call. Wright Paving decided to dive into FleetWatcher when the Tennessee Department of Transportation required electronic ticketing. The estimator of Wright Paving, Grady Wright IV, mentioned, "If we hadn't found Earthwave, you know, successfully implemented it and worked with them, then we would've missed out on the interstate job". This led them to connect with Earthwave's team and implement FleetWatcher's functionalities. This company soon realized the accuracy and efficiency of E-Ticketing which swiftly eliminated their former problems with collecting tickets from each division. 

Topics: Materials Management Solution Load Cycle Analysis E-Ticketing Fleetwatcher

Earthwave Technologies shows Construction Management System features at World of Concrete

Earthwave Technologies has featured a pair of fleet maintenance tools in its FleetWatcher portfolio during World of Concrete 2022: Construction Management Solution (CMS) and Escalating Idle Alert. These features aid in improving efficiency through data collection and analysis.

Construction Management Solution

FleetWatcher's popular Construction Management Solution (CMS) collects data from all construction equipment assets, regardless of class or manufacturer, and presents the maintenance due report with color coded entries providing "at a glance" status. Built specifically for the heavy equipment industry, this unique telematics platform shows equipment that is within 36 hours of its required maintenance in yellow, and any equipment at or past its maintenance due date in red. This allows fleet maintenance managers to better schedule in-shop personnel and service trucks in the field. Unlike OEM telematics which require separate logins for each brand, and present information differently, FleetWatcher works across all fleet equipment with a single login and presents the data in an easily understood format which can be shared with all applicable personnel via cell phone, tablet, or computer. FleetWatcher CMS is ideal for heavy construction contractors of all types and sizes.

Topics: Construction telematics Idle time reduction Construction Management Solution Fleetwatcher