When it comes to predictions, it’s always best to seek industry experts—those with their hands on the pulse of the industry. Enter Gary Brooks, CMO of Syncron, and his predictions for heavy equipment in 2018.
UPTIME BECOMES PIVOTAL DURING HURRICANE RECOVERY
2017 saw a devastating hurricane season, with the U.S. sustaining more than $200 billion in damages alone. This has led to an uptick in equipment orders, so rebuilding crews can help impacted areas get back to day-to-day operations. It’s vital that this equipment remains fully functional, without any downtime, to ensure that rebuilds can happen as quickly and efficiently as possible. Because of this, manufacturers must shift away from the reactive, break-fix method of service, to one focused on guaranteeing product uptime.
By using predictive analytics technology, crunching big data, and embracing the next-gen IoT data that is coming from modern machinery, manufacturers will be able to know when a piece of equipment will require maintenance, prior to failure, to ensure maximum uptime. It’s imperative that uptime is guaranteed during crises of such a large scale—where entire communities depend on heavy equipment to rebuild, and underscores how important uptime will be across the board in heavy equipment in 2018.
RENTAL EQUIPMENT WILL CONTINUE TO STRESS AFTER-SALES SERVICE EFFORTS
Renting heavy equipment, as opposed to owning it, has proven to be an effective way for construction firms to cut costs. This is known as the “power by the hour” model—where companies lease equipment for in-use hours, as opposed to owning it. This also takes the cost and labor of maintaining such equipment off of the user, and placing it on the shoulders of the dealers, and in turn the manufacturers. Manufacturers must guarantee that rental equipment is always up and running, as they are oftentimes held to uptime standards in Service Level Agreements (SLAs).
This puts pressure on the manufacturers to optimize their service parts inventory, ensuring they have the parts that are needed in real-time. Manufacturers must invest in sophisticated technologies to manage service parts inventory levels, ultimately eliminating excess and obsolete stock while simultaneously enhancing the customer experience. And, as the rental space continues to grow—it will be worth more than $110 billion by 2019—manufacturers must adopt new technologies and business practices now to ensure success.
NEXT-GEN TELEMATICS WILL HELP CUT SERVICE INVENTORY COSTS
The global commercial telematics industry is expected to reach a net worth of $49.12 billion by 2020. These telematics systems are widely used in the automotive and heavy equipment industries to alert users to part failure and maintenance alerts. These technologies are becoming increasingly advanced and predictive, helping maximize product uptime.
As these technologies continue to become more advanced, manufacturers will have a better understanding of what service parts they will need, well ahead of actually needing them—thanks to the advanced data that telematics systems provide on the equipment they monitor. These telematics systems should be integrated into existing ERPs and after-sales service solutions to ensure inventory levels are automatically maintained.
About the Author:
Gary Brooks is the CMO of Syncron, an award-winning, cloud-based service parts inventory, price, order and uptime management solution designed to continually exceed customer expectations. Top brands from around the world trust Syncron to transform their after-sales service operations into competitive differentiators. For more information, visit syncron.com.
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Modern Contractor Solutions, January 2018
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