A-Plant's A-Trak: an 'eye in the sky' for hire customers

Throughout the construction industry there is pressure to reduce costs and administration, enhance service and efficiencies, and eliminate wastage. To gauge this, construction companies are measuring Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and choosing suppliers such as plant hire companies on their ability to provide KPI information on aspects such as response times, deliveries, collections and the quality/performance of the products.

Five years ago, A-Plant recognised that the key to meeting these prerequisites was the provision of fully integrated on-line services that the customer can access through its website. The latest development is to give customers access to the company's A-Trak GPS satellite tracking system, one of the security mechanisms it uses to prevent plant theft.

Tracking vehicles

Tracking stolen vehicles and plant using GPS is not new, but the application of A-Trak is. A-Trak was developed jointly by A-Plant and Enigma Vehicle Systems not only for security purposes but to give added value to hire customers and is based on Enigma's latest Skyline 6.0 system that customer can access via A-Plant's website. Having done so they can view information about the status of the equipment they have on hire, check the machine is operating as desired, is being used properly and that it is at its intended location.

The system utilises mobile GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) devices that A-Plant fits to equipment such as dumpers, rollers, excavators, telehandlers and compressors. This not only provides internet tracking but also telematic information by communicating with host servers with bespoke software running to decode the incoming data.

Such equipment remains in contact with the server 24/7 so its status is available at all times. Once linked to the A-Trak system, customers can request positions, ringfence (geofence) machines for additional theft protection and send text messages to remotely immobilise and/or release equipment. The ability to remotely monitor running hours is one of a number of options that can be provided by using the information ports available on the device at the centre of the system. Other functions that can be monitored include towing speeds, fuel level, battery level, coolant temperature, engine on/off, ignition on/off, engine covers open/closed and so on.

Andy Wortley, IT director at A-Plant, says: "Enigma has been very flexible in the way it has developed the system with us. The features that A-Trak offers, along with all the other aspects of the Extranet, are winning us new business every week. Many companies are seeing the health and safety advantages - we recently spotted one of our compressors being towed at 100mph and the customer was very grateful to have this information backed up by A-Trak. We are working with customers to implement triggers that will alert them to dangerous events of this nature.

"We can also help customers save money by showing that equipment they have hired is not being used and should be off-hired. It works the other way, of course, as it can provide us with the information we need to locate a machine needed by another customer - it's a win-win situation. The historical usage data available through A-Trak can also be very useful in solving disputes."

Using A-Trak through the Extranet, the customer can even generate an aerial photograph of the site where the equipment is located. Photographs like this are also being used to guide the police attempting to recover stolen plant. The information on these photographs is so good that it has led to many recoveries of equipment, even when it is hidden.

Detaining culprits

In a recent incident, A-Trak not only helped locate and recover stolen A-Plant equipment, it also led the authorities to other stolen equipment and to detaining the possible culprits. The incident involved a telehandler from A-Plant's Maidstone depot in Kent which was reported stolen at the beginning of the week from a customer's site in Chislehurst. The A-Trak equipped unit was traced to Erith in Kent but, even after a thorough search of the area, the police were unable to locate the unit. As a precaution, an additional security layer of text message alerts was added to the messages being relayed by the system on the telehandler.

On the following Sunday, A-Trak's support team received an ignition messages from the machine and contacted the Maidstone depot to say the system was indicating that the telehandler was probably being moved. Later that day with a vehicle movement message confirmed, the machine was tracked to Dover Western Docks and the depot alerted Kent Police.

Within 30 minutes, and after several conversations with the Dock Police, the item was located in the trailer with the first vehicle accompanied by a second loaded with plant. The police moved in to arrest four people and recovered the telehandler along with eight other pieces of plant, a stolen Scania tractor unit and trailer - all destined for Cyprus.

Andy Wortley says: "Customers are excited by the information and protection provided by the A-Trak system. In the first instance it is proving to be a powerful deterrent to the theft of A-Plant equipment with a 98% recovery rate, significantly reducing downtime and costs for both A-Plant and our customers. The swift recovery of our machines using the A-Trak security system is really pleasing for our customers as they are not charged for the stolen machine."

One customer commented: "Well done to yourselves and A-Trak for locating the missing telehandler, if more plant can be located after pinching perhaps thieves will think twice. Let's hope the judiciary gives them what they deserve!"

Thinking twice is just what thieves did in Nottinghamshire after stealing an A-Plant mini-excavator from a building site at Carlton, Nottingham. The thieves rid themselves of the excavator but made off with a low loader and a number of other machines from a different hirer.

Elsewhere, a customer called A-Plant's Northampton Central depot at 8am in to say one of its 1.5t mini-excavator has been stolen from a site at Clifton Upon Dunsmore near Rugby. Within 10 minutes the A-Trak system had located the unit at Kilsby and by 9am a fitter was on site to secure the machine. A driver was dispatched and the mini-excavator was back in the depot by 10.30 am.

Swift recovery

The previous record for locating a stolen machine was 15 minutes for a compressor belonging to A-Plant's Croydon depot. An A-Plant staff member used his computer to track the compressor, showing the speed it was traveling and its current location. The compressor was eventually left against a tree, down a side road in Croydon, some 3 miles from where it was stolen. Its exact location was pinpointed within 15 minutes by aerial photography supplied via the A-Trak system.

In summary, Andy Wortley says the addition of the 'eye in the sky' to A-Trak system is just one aspect that makes A-Plant's Extranet the most advanced on the market. But it won't stop there as it will continue to develop the system to meet business requirements and to provide even more features for customers and suppliers.