COPIED
4 mins

CAT

VISIONLINK TRANSFORMING FLEET MANAGEMENT

Based in Colwyn Bay, North Wales, Jennings Building & Civil Engineering is an award winning construction company originally established in 1984 by Managing Director Danny Jones as a plant hire company before developing into a civil engineering and building contractor.

It has an impressive portfolio of services ranging from Infrastructure, Groundworks, Renewable Energy to Education, Commercial and Industrial Buildings for a client base throughout Wales, North West England, the Midlands and beyond that includes commercial companies, major retailers, government authorities and local councils.

Working in partnership with both public and private sectors, Jennings undertake the full range of construction activities for large and small scale projects, employing the best people, technical and financial resources to ensure the best quality and cost effective solution for its customers.

Focused on providing the highest professional standards in the construction industry, with emphasis on building strong, trusting and long lasting relationships, and with a proven track record of success, its reputation is based upon innovation, engineering excellence, safe professional delivery and a culture committed to providing early solutions together with its customers and partners.

Today, it operates a predominately Cat branded fleet that ranges from mini diggers to 50 tonne excavators, dozers and articulated dump trucks, all supplied by Finning UK and Ireland. Finning is the worlds largest Cat dealer, with whom Jennings have built up a strong, enduring and highly successful 40 year business partnership.

Significant Boost

The company’s operations were given a significant boost in terms of efficiency and productivity when Finning’s Sales Representative Iwan Jenkins introduced Cat’s VisionLink technology to Jennings in March of this year and it has since been rolled out to no less than 26 machines in the fleet.

On an initial visit to the company Iwan was able to demonstrate how VisionLink is an invaluable asset, quickly identifying one particular machine, a Cat 950 loading shovel, which had an excessive idling rate. That information was fed back to the driver who was able to take appropriate action to remedy the issue.

“We are always looking at ways to utilise the latest technology to improve services to our clients,” says Danny Jones, “and introducing VisionLink into our fleet has made a huge difference to how we manage and monitor our assets.”

For those not yet familiar with VisionLink, it is a cloud-based software application that takes the guesswork out of fleet management with key insights to maximise performance - regardless of fleet size. It enables fleet managers to monitor fuel consumption, idle time, equipment health, fault codes, inspection due dates and reduce unplanned downtime with critical alerts. You can even order parts and schedule service within the platform, with all relevant data being seamlessly sent to desktop or mobile devices.

“INTRODUCING VISIONLINK INTO OUR FLEET HAS MADE A HUGE DIFFERENCE TO HOW WE MANAGE AND MONITOR OUR ASSETS. ALL WE NEED TO KNOW ABOUT OUR MACHINES IS ONLINE AND CAN BE INSTANTLY ACCESSED.”

User Friendly & Intuitive

Customers don’t have to be tech savvy to use VisionLink and its associated app. It is very simple, very intuitive and user friendly. All you have to do is install a Cat Product Link box on your asset and then the data is transmitted into VisionLink and the beauty of it is it can be installed on any asset, not necessarily a Cat machine.

For customers who are always on the go, always busy on site, and who need to have a quick look at how their fleet is performing in terms of utilisation, idle time, productivity and efficiency they can easily get all that information instantly on the VisionLink app and then take any necessary measurable steps that are appropriate.

Adds Jennings’ Danny Jones: “VisionLink has enabled us to give our clients near real-time data, allowing them to make informed decisions. It has also raised our own awareness of general overall operating efficiencies; specifically helpful are the utilisation report which helps us improve our fuel consumption.

Manage & Monitor Remotely

“Before we adopted VisionLink everything was monitored manually, so we didn’t have great control over the performance of the plant, specifically fuel consumption and idle time. Now we can monitor and manage the fleet remotely – for example, using it for fault codes and health checks, and even identifying the location of the machines and where material is being moved from one area to another on site. All we need to know about our machines is online and can be instantly accessed.

“Our workshop manager monitors VisionLink from our offices on a regular basis. He will feed back any relevant information to the operator who can then use that to manage and improve the performance of the machine. Overall, we have been able to reduce our fuel bill significantly as well as our owning and operating costs.”

“In addition, given the growing problem of skills shortages, using this technology has allowed us to employ local people, to increase the numbers we can employ, to allow those operators to upskill a lot quicker than they normally would take, and for us to remain competitive in the industry."

“WE HAVE BEEN ABLE TO REDUCE OUR FUEL BILL SIGNIFICANTLY AS WELL AS OUR OWNING AND OPERATING COSTS. WE WOULD DEFINITELY RECOMMEND VISIONLINK.”

This article appears in Issue 29

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Issue 29
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