Innovation for crane rental companies: How mobility IoT and ERP can connect crane operators with back-office planning and management
Crane rental projects don’t have room or time for error. If your company is providing machinery, resources, and services for an industrial project, you’re allocating high-value equipment and resources. Even a simple miscommunication can impact tight profit margins and customer satisfaction.
If you’re in the crane industry, you know how much effort goes into coordinating daily operations for your cranes, your operators, and your back office. Increasingly, companies are recognizing that investing in the right equipment rental and services software lets your company take full advantage of flawless, real-time data gathered from mobile apps and IoT devices. You can create a truly complete ERP system that connects all stakeholders and fuels successful crane rental projects.
Mobile time registration
Crane operators need to navigate mounds of “paperwork” to register and send hours through appropriate channels. A role-based mobile app that’s an extension of your rental solution, fully integrated with ERP, takes away all the pain. The operator follows a simple workflow and all information is captured, routed to the customer for approval, and sent directly to the back office. Built-in action management enables “management by exception”: you can configure workflow so that issues with time registration or customer approval automatically follow different steps and ensure quick response.
Image 1: Mobile field service solution from DynaRent
360 insight into jobs that’s driven by mobility IoT and ERP
Both planners and crane operators need full information about daily, sometimes hourly, equipment and environmental conditions. The Internet of Things has made it possible to collect that information in real-time, for example via sensors on mobile cranes that determine wind velocity. IoT sensors can hook into your rental solution so that back-office planners know instantly if velocity exceeds regulatory standards. Planners can respond quickly and effectively to reschedule the job, from informing the operator and customer to re-allocating resources and equipment and sending new work orders that land on operators’ mobile devices. There’s minimal lost time and cost and sharp risk reduction.
Unpacking the IoT “black box” to improve performance, maintenance, and planning
IoT devices on cranes can hold a treasure trove of information that your rental and services solution can deliver to your back-office planners, including:
- GPS that continuously updates the actual location of a crane in the back-office system.
- Monitoring of crane running hours that trigger corrective or emergency maintenance alerts and orders in the back office.
- Measurement of driving behavior, so that planners can analyze how operators are working with cranes and see areas for improving or optimizing performance.
If you are interested in our DynaRent product, please do contact us at info@highsoftware.com or visit www.highsoftware.com. We’ll continue to post blogs and articles about trends for equipment-driven industries that we uncover as we work with our customers.
