Construction equipment fleet management using telematics technology: Research and resultant educational perspectives

Abstract

Construction industry has not kept up pace in the adoption and use of new technologies in general and for fleet-management of construction equipment in particular. As a result, the efficiency, productivity and profitability in relation to construction equipment use has suffered. Fleet management in the U.S., for the most part, still relies on traditional and labor intensive methods of data gathering and evaluation, thus depriving the management from acting on current and reliable data in a timely manner for the benefit of the company. This deficiency remains as an important issue to be addressed in construction curricula. Use of the telematics technology has the capability to enhance constructions equipment fleet management to a whole new level. This paper focuses on a recent collaborative research undertaking to find more about the details of this technology and its impact so far on equipment fleet management. The purpose of the research was to evaluate the use of this technology in construction companies, determine its user acceptance, and to assess the differences it was making in fleet management. The difference made was to be assessed in terms of how this new technology had changed spatial equipment tracking, equipment utilization, equipment maintenance scheduling, operations analysis, job costing, and jobsite/project management related to construction equipment. The paper presents the results in terms of the details of the technology, the methodology of the research, the results of the evaluation, and the conclusions thereof for the purpose of disseminating such information for the benefit of the construction management educators and the construction industry, as well as, elaborating on how this work is finding its way into the classroom for the benefit of the tomorrow's construction managers. © American Society for Engineering Education, 2009.