SEATTLE, September 1, 2009: Dexter + Chaney has introduced the Spectrum™ Equipment Service System (https://www.viewpoint.com/spectrum/ess/index.aspx) that electronically collects asset-management data for a construction company’s heavy equipment, including equipment hours, fuel usage and maintenance.
“Spectrum Equipment Service System is an answer to the critical problem of recording accurate equipment hours,” said John Chaney, Dexter + Chaney (www.dexterchaney.com) president and co-founder. “It eliminates the time and hassle of manual data collection that results in inaccurate and unreliable asset-management information. By gathering equipment hours electronically, the company can seize control of operating costs, generate a higher return on its equipment investment and increase over-all company profitability.”
The system simplifies equipment servicing for mechanics and fuel truck drivers. They’re not required to climb into individual pieces of equipment to read the hour meter and write down the current reading. There’s also no need to keep a detailed log recording fuel for each piece of equipment. Instead, Spectrum automatically captures operating hours and fuel, thus saving time and eliminating errors in the field. Office staff does not have to re-enter long lists of hours logged and fuel used into a company’s equipment-management software.
Chaney added that Spectrum alerts the fuel truck driver when preventive-maintenance tasks are due. It also records the maintenance activity—an oil change, for example—when the fuel truck driver performs it. “Spectrum triggers maintenance activities by providing alerts, and captures the equipment meter reading when each task is performed,” said Chaney. “That combination is a huge plus for a construction company’s equipment.”
Spectrum Equipment Service System includes three main components: Equipment Monitor, Field Master touch screen device and Fuel Controller. The Equipment Monitor, a small device attached to each piece of machinery, records operating hours and idle hours and automatically relays that data to the Field Master each time the equipment is fueled or serviced.
The Field Master—mounted in a fuel truck or service vehicle—electronically collects data from each piece of heavy equipment via wireless RF signal. It displays and logs information with touch-screen simplicity; technicians easily see the maintenance status of each piece of equipment, and alerts remind them when a task is due. The Fuel Controller captures gallons of fuel dispensed to each piece of equipment, which enables the company to track usage and reduce fuel theft.
The Field Master uses a built-in cellular modem to relay equipment hours, fuel usage, maintenance and other data to Dexter + Chaney’s Spectrum® Construction Software. That gives the company easy access to equipment-related information in Spectrum for improved equipment costing and management.
