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CONSTRUCTION WORLD
JUNE
2016
EQUIPMENT
“In the modern era, we build
relationships on our ability to
connect – with our customers,
with our trucks, with drivers, and
with our cross-border support network,” says
Theunes van der Westhuizen, area manager
for connected services for Scania South
Africa. Technology now allows the monitoring
of the vital statistics of each vehicle, remotely
communicating this data to a central fleet
management system.
“Only by enhancing our customers’ oper-
ational performance can we add real value to
their operations, and we do this by ensuring
high vehicle availability and performance,”
says Van der Westhuizen. “Communication
technology is now a vital tool in every
sector for bringing us closer to our cus-
tomers and to address their needs quicker
and more efficiently.”
Remote support
Construction contractors face particular chal-
lenges in their working environments, which
are often in rural areas quite remote from
the nearest dealer or support infrastructure.
Scania’s connected and contracted services
address these demands by monitoring vehi-
cles as they work, and tracking performance
so that driver behaviour can be fine-tuned for
better results.
“All Scania trucks assembled in South
Africa are linked electronically with our fleet
management system,” he says. “The moment
a vehicle is entered on our warranty system,
there is a valuable stream of information
available to the customer on a weekly,
monthly or annual basis.”
The monitoring hardware in each truck
– the on-board control unit – comes at no
additional cost to the customer, providing key
data on indicators such as fuel consumption,
carbon footprint, hours driven and periods
of idling. Insight into driver behaviour is also
available, indicating whether their driving
habits are optimal, how these change from
month to month, and other issues that impact
on cost and performance.
“These connected services assist us in
supporting the customer remotely, irrespec-
tive of where the vehicle is located at any
point in time,” he says. “Customers will ask
us to look at a vehicle’s data remotely and to
advise on the appropriate solutions.”
The system keeps the vehicle in contact
with Scania’s South Africa’s headquarters in
Aeroton, south of Johannesburg, even when
it has crossed borders into other Southern
African countries – with no extra ‘roaming’
charges for the operator.
Help on the road
The data from each vehicle’s control unit
makes the work of Scania’s 24-7 breakdown
assistance much more effective. This aspect
of Scania’s connected services responds to
vehicle breakdowns, providing an around-
the-clock call centre service; by tapping into
the fleet management system, consultants
can access the fault codes directly from the
vehicle – giving the technical experts a much
clearer picture of what is wrong.
“This helps our mechanics to be better
prepared – which may have particular rele-
vance for a construction truck on a remote
work site,” he says. “When down-time is costly
and distances from dealer to site are long, you
want the technical person to be able to solve
the problem first time around if the repair
allows it. Connectivity allows the mechanic
to be better informed, and to source the right
parts and tools before leaving the workshop.”
The breakdown service stretches across
Southern Africa, so a customer working on a
construction site in the Democratic Republic
of Congo will still be able to contact the
Johannesburg call centre for help. Rather
than the operator trying to negotiate directly
with the local dealership, this is done
centrally – drawing on the resources and
expertise of the relevant Scania dealership or
contracted workshop.
“We have strong links with the Scania
dealerships in Angola, DRC, Botswana, Mozam-
bique, Namibia and Tanzania and we are
integrated through the same Scania systems
to allow seamless processing of customer
requests,” he says. “The contracted workshops
in Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe are also
bound by the same stringent standards.”
As with all aspects of the customer rela-
tionship, there are quality assurance systems
to monitor that performance is in line with
expectation; time stamps in the system record
reaction time and repair completion, showing
how long it takes a mechanic to arrive on site,
and the duration of repairs.
“We take over the detailed logistics of
the repair operation, so that the customer is
not unduly distracted from getting on with
his job,” Van der Westhuizen explains. “For
us, this is what it means to be a partner in a
productive relationship – to take responsi-
bility for ensuring optimal productivity from
SERVICES
to keep construction
Connectivity is
increasingly driving the
quality of partnerships
between Scania and its
customers – and no less so
than on construction sites
around Southern Africa.
WHEELS TURNING
>
By Paul Crankshaw