The labour shortage crisis, continually rising fuel prices, and the move towards digital transformation mean fleet management solutions have become essential for businesses managing mixed industrial fleets. GemOne’s Onyx solution helps companies across the construction and rental sectors monitor their machines in real time and significantly boost the efficiency of their fleets.

Those managing mixed industrial fleets, particularly in the construction and rental sectors, are facing huge challenges today: the current labour shortage crisis; continually rising fuel prices; and confusion about which technologies are best suited to boost efficiency across business.

Telematics technology is fast becoming a way for companies to alleviate these challenges, as businesses continue moving towards digital transformation and realise the importance of real-time data and business insights. (You can see how telematics can help make your fleet more efficient with a free downloadable efficiency checklist here.)

Fleet management solutions can ensure current staff work as efficiently as possible, minimising the overall pain felt from labour shortages. For example, automatic service estimation notifications save technicians precious time on periodic maintenance and provide them with all the information they need for a quick and accurate intervention. 

These solutions enable businesses to minimise fuel waste by improving the operational efficiency of their mixed industrial fleets. They ensure companies know the exact location of their machines in real time, meaning they can find each machine more quickly for pick-up or for maintenance, even when the machine is not in operation. 

The Need for Digital Change

Global telematics provider GemOne has developed telematics solutions which help businesses monitor their machines in real time so they can significantly boost the efficiency of their fleets. 

You can see how much you can boost efficiency across your industrial fleet with GemOne’s free efficiency checklist. It’s a pdf which you can download here.

Onyx is a fleet management solution for mixed industrial fleets which accommodates all makes and models of machines and integrates different types of trackers, whether they’re from GemOne or from other suppliers. 

With Onyx, businesses know where a machine is located, when it is being operated, and when it is due for maintenance.

GemOne also offers a Battery Monitoring Solution so businesses can eliminate the headaches they’re experiencing in managing their expensive industrial batteries. This solution empowers companies to avoid unnecessary wear of their batteries, maximise charge cycles, and prolong battery lifespan. 

Fleet Management in Action (Balloo Hire: A Case Study)

One company which has saved time and money with GemOne’s Onyx solution is Balloo Hire, a leading rental company of industrial machines in Northern Ireland (a free downloadable version of the full case study can be downloaded here.

Before integrating the Onyx solution, Balloo Hire found fleet management to be labour intensive and time-consuming. “You’re having to proactively go out and phone customers to find out the hours on your machines,” says Mark Grundy, General Manager of Balloo Hire. “You’re waiting on call-backs. Everything is slow and disjointed.” Staff had to constantly update spreadsheets. They lacked the accurate information needed to plan service and maintenance. Resolving queries with customers about the usage and location of machines was sometimes difficult. 

Balloo Hire tried out a range of telematics solutions from various providers before partnering with GemOne, none of which worked for Balloo Hire. “They were either too expensive on the monthly subscriptions or too expensive on the hardware,” says Mark. “Maybe the hardware was too cumbersome. Or maybe we didn’t like what it was doing. Other times, the user interface wasn’t right. It didn’t give us the data that we wanted.” 

Onboarding and installation with GemOne was quick and easy for Balloo Hire. GemOne works independently of vehicle manufacturers so they were able to connect all makes and models in the Balloo Hire fleet to their system, as well as connect existing trackers that had been installed from other providers. And GemOne’s hardware was robust: IP67-certified, dust and water resistant, and built to meet industrial demands. “They integrated all of that into our existing ERP system,” says Mark. “They listened to us when we asked for it.”

Balloo Hire was able to monitor their entire mixed rental fleet on one single cloud platform. Mark, Colin, and Paul could see where a machine was located, when it was being operated, and when it was due for maintenance. All in real time. “It gave us visibility over the fleet and an understanding of how our assets were being used,” says Mark. 

With the capacity to measure the hours of usage on each machine across the fleet, Mark and his team could more effectively manage rental contracts and better service machinery. “It just tells the truth,” says Mark about the GemOne system. “It makes the account management easier and cleaner, and the customer experience a better one.”

Today, Balloo Hire has more than 1,200 assets connected across their mixed rental fleet, from forklifts and telescopic handlers to powered access equipment such as scissor lifts and electric booms. “We ramped up quite quickly because we’ve been very impressed with the product,” says Mark. “GemOne have been very attentive. They’ve done what they said they were going to do.” 

The Benefits of GemOne’s Fleet Management Technology

With Onyx GPS tracking, fleet managers can find each machine quickly for pick-up or for maintenance, even when the machine is not in operation. They always know the exact location of their machines, in real time.

With data collected from the CAN bus of machines, fleet managers can see the exact hours their machines are being used so they can better plan. 

Onyx track-and-trace functionalities such as location history ensure fleet managers know that their machines are not being used anywhere else without their knowledge. In this way, they can avoid the undesired subletting of machines for the rental sector or the transport of machines to the wrong site for the construction industry.

The geofencing technology featured in the Onyx solution allows fleet managers to set virtual boundaries and receive immediate notifications if a machine exceeds their set limits. Machines never “disappear”.

Data provided by the Onyx system, especially from geofencing or location history, means fleet managers have instant evidence for insurance cover in case of theft. 

With Onyx usage reporting, rental businesses see which machines are used most often in which locations (and which aren’t) for optimal fleet composition. With these insights, they can better invest and disinvest machines.

With the real-time monitoring of machines on Onyx, fleet managers in the rental sector have accurate data to communicate with their customers about usage so they can maximise rental incomes.

Onyx automatic service estimation notifications and CAN data save technicians precious time on periodic maintenance and provide them with all the information they need for a quick and accurate intervention.

And by enabling preventative maintenance through Onyx functionalities such as impact detection and asset utilisation, businesses can minimise breakdowns and downtime. In this way, fleet managers suffer very few machine breakdowns.

GemOne Attending Bauma

For those in construction and related industries, GemOne will be in attendance at the Bauma trade fair, the world's leading event for construction machinery, building material machines, mining machines, construction vehicles, and construction equipment.

Bauma takes place between 24-30 October at the Trade Fair Center Messe München.

GemOne will be at Booth A2.521 and will be offering product demonstrations to show you the benefits of their fleet management solutions, including new features such as battery monitoring. They’ll be sharing knowledge about developments in the telematics industry and the things businesses need to know to make their industrial fleets more efficient. 

In particular, they’ll be showing visitors to their booth at Bauma how to make their industrial fleets more efficient. If you’d like to assess how efficient your fleet currently is, you can download GemOne’s efficiency checklist for industrial fleets here.  

Key Differentiators of GemOne’s Fleet Management Solution

GemOne’s fleet management solution boasts five key factors which set it apart from others.

The first is the one single platform. GemOne’s online cloud platform offers valuable business data, great user experience, continuous support, and worry free scalability. 

The second is the fact that GemOne can connect any make or model of machine. GemOne works independently of vehicle manufacturers and can connect to all makes and models in a fleet as well as to existing telematics systems from other providers.

The third differentiator is that GemOne offers worry-free automation. Onyx helps businesses simplify processes, connecting seamlessly with ERP, rental planning software, and other business tools. 

The fourth key differentiator is GemOne’s robust hardware. Onyx hardware is built to be robust and to meet industrial demands. It’s IP67-certified. And it’s dust and water resistant.

The fifth is that the GemOne solution is fully customisable. Businesses can download any report at any time, or schedule them to suit their needs. They can easily set the parameters for alarms and choose optional add-ons such as battery monitoring.

More Information

Find out more information about GemOne’s Onyx fleet management solution and check the efficiency of your industrial fleet here.

Contact GemOne. 

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GemOne NV
+32 56 43 64 00

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GemOne Corp
+1-844-275-2801

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+61 1800 434 357