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EARTHMOVING EQUIPMENT – CONEXPO 2017 REVIEW
AGRICULTURE
Volvo Trucks assists drought-hit farmers
CAPITAL EQUIPMENT NEWS
APRIL 2017
40
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.
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.
Farms raise safety and productivity
through asset tracking