Capital Equipment News April 2017

AGRICULTURE

EARTHMOVING EQUIPMENT – CONEXPO 2017 REVIEW

Volvo Trucks assists drought-hit farmers

Volvo Trucks donated three trucks to assist farmers hit by the recent drought throughout South Africa. The three trucks travelled a distance of 443 557 km and delivered over 12 000 bales of hay weighing a total of 3 456 t. The facilitation of the deliveries to over 1 200 farmers in various sectors that have been affected by the drought was done through a non-profit organisation, Boere In Nood. “We realised that while the drought is taking its toll on a lot of communities the people that feel the impact of the drought first hand is very often our customers – farmers. To this end we investigated various manners in which Volvo Trucks Southern Africa would not only be able to assist the drought stricken farmers but also see first-hand the impact of the assistance given to the farmers,” says Valentia Hobbs, general manager of Marketing and Communication at Volvo Trucks Southern Africa. Volvo Trucks not only offered the three trucks but also provided drivers and diesel. “We are proud of our association and the impact that we have been able to make through this collaboration with Boere in Nood. The work may be far from over, however, it is a privilege to have been able to make a real difference to the people affected, as well as the animals whose lives were saved from the deliveries of the feed,” adds Hobbs.

Farms raise safety and productivity through asset tracking

With workers and machines occupying the same working area in busy farming operations, proximity detection systems (PDS) are becoming vital tools to promote safety and productivity. According to Anton Lourens, managing director of PDS supplier Booyco Electronics, the technology allows for intervention where a potentially dangerous situation exists between a pedestrian and a machine such as a tractor. Essentially, the PDS is a sensing device that detects the presence of an object, an interface that provides an audible and/or visual alarm to the equipment operator, and wiring between the two. Both the vehicle operator and the pedestrian can then be warned of potential collisions and danger.

Warning zones are stable and predictable, and can be adjusted to suit the specific agricultural application and standardised to particular equipment. In addition to avoiding accidents on a site, the data from the PDS can be analysed for patterns, allowing farm managers to identify unsafe behaviour and design an appropriate intervention. In terms of productivity, monitoring of machine movements by the PDS can also help managers to make better use of equipment at work, for instance by optimising cycle times.

CAPITAL EQUIPMENT NEWS APRIL 2017 40