Uptime Centre For Less Downtime

FAMCO, Volvo Trucks and Volvo Construction Equipment opened their first Uptime Centre at FAMCO’s DIP location.

An Uptime Centre is a major commitment by FAMCO to its customers in the UAE and the wider region. Uptime is important for FAMCO’s customers and for Volvo. The Uptime Centre will improve the uptime of all connected vehicles through centralising tools and competence, having increased opening hours, providing a 24/7 road assistance team and increasing parts availability, as well as allowing FAMCO to align its activities with Volvo Group’s vision and strategy.

The Uptime Centre reads vital data such as diagnostic fault codes, wear on components (brake pads, air drier, clutch) and actual truck usage, in order to optimise maintenance. Volvo uses sophisticated machine learning algorithms to predict the failures and to analyse the age of components. This data is sent from the truck to the satellite and then processed at Volvo servers before it is finally shared with the dealer.

Through deep learning and machine repair history, patterns in error code, sensor data and operator behaviour that have led to different machine breakdowns in the past are searched for. Once these patterns are found, AI (artificial intelligence) is set up to monitor the database for these patterns so that alarms are triggered, thus changing unscheduled downtime into a scheduled service.

The centre has to work closely with the entire registered dealer network; this ensures a close feedback loop to validate the service and, through iterations, continuously improve it.

The close collaboration between Volvo, its dealer network and customer contact is what makes Volvo ACTIVE CARE for Volvo Construction and its non-fleet truck monitoring service unique in the industry. It is the power of advanced analytics along with field experience that brings success to the service.

Data analytics

When reading vital data from a truck, Volvo aims to make user-friendly systems to make it easy for personnel to know when and how to act. Key competencies are analytical skills, vehicle technologies competence and local knowledge about customer usage.

More than a thousand connected vehicles and machines are currently being tracked in the Uptime Centre. The technology being used to analyse data from all these vehicles and equipment is mainly divided into three areas – uptime, productivity and analytics.

Uptime: information on competencies in vehicle technologies, customer usage of the vehicle, road conditions, maintenance and repairs, and diagnostics. Being able to have an updated maintenance plan, and act on alerts and fault codes from connected vehicles.

Volvo executives during the walk about in the open yard at FAMCO’s DIP location.

Productivity: competencies in vehicle technologies, vehicle specification and customer usage of the vehicle, design and function, driver training. Being able to suggest improvements in driver performance.

Analytics: competencies in data management and inproducing reports.

FAMCO and Volvo share all information gathered from these areas in order to have the best uptime and productivity. Since all vehicles have Dynafleet, they can be advised on ways to improve driver performance and productivity. For optimum uptime, reading connected data varies depending on a model’s year and market specifications. Reading fault codes varies in terms of time and severity.

Superlative customer care

All Volvo customers subscribed to the Blue, Silver and Gold service contracts have access to uptime services. For customers who have their own workshop, FAMCO provides a subscription to the Dynafleet or CareTrack fleet management system that then allows the FAMCO Uptime Centre team to communicate with them.

All Volvo Group vehicles are supplied with built-in connected devices that provide comprehensive information on vehicles, drivers and operation performances, interfaced with planned services and preventive repairs, to combine strong fleet management tools to monitor uptime and profit. 

There will be no need to set up any more Uptime Centres in the UAE, as this centre is capable of offering the highest levels of support to the FAMCO customer base throughout the emirate. Due to economies of scale, many GCC countries do not require an Uptime Centre like FAMCO’s.

However, by working closely with importers throughout the region and helping them to further enhance their capabilities in utilising the data produced by Volvo Truck products, Volvo will allow its partners to work closely with their customers to ensure their vehicles are monitored and maintained to the optimum standards required. The data produced by the Dynafleet system will also be used to maintain the highest levels of uptime and vehicle availability through proactive service planning.

By staying connected to a vehicle throughout its operational life, maximum return on investment in an asset can be achieved. This protection is gained through monitoring and improving driving habits, thus ensuring the most efficient operational values are achieved. Maximising operational efficiency, along with optimised servicing and pre-planning, ensures that the customer is able to extract the maximum operational profitability from the Volvo Truck product from the day of purchase through to the residual value gained.

Sustainable operations

The American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI) has outlined three areas where both long-haul and last-mile fleets can concentrate their efforts: driving practices, vehicle practices and public sector practices. Sustainable driving practices include reducing time spent idling, optimising driving speed for the most efficient fuel consumption, and holding driver training sessions with incentives to promote sustainable driver behaviour.

Driver behaviour determines a great deal when it comes to fuel usage, but it can be hard to ensure compliance with sustainability guidelines – and even to know how drivers are currently performing in that regard – without some objective way of tracking it. Fortunately, there are telematics solutions that can help keep tabs on what’s going on with each driver, from idling time to speed control and beyond, which can help in putting together a training programme and checking for improvements.

Vehicle practices that contribute to fuel efficiency include enhancing vehicle aerodynamics, implementing truck technology, and using cargo management systems. New technology is also making it possible for fleet managers to optimise their vehicles’ fuel efficiency at an entirely new level. Another solution is a result of the exploding sharing economy – load sharing allows fleet managers to ensure that their drivers are never running empty, by matching available loads to nearby empty trucks. By maximising every mile, less fuel is wasted and fewer emissions are produced.