Trimble keeps jobs on track and costs down for civil construction

Learn how Trimble empowers users to control their heavy machinery from a remote office or mobile tablet

Challenge

Trimble Heavy Industry equips dozers, graders, excavators, and other civil engineering equipment with precision sensors and control systems to make better decisions, increase efficiency, and decrease costly mistakes. Each machine features, at the minimum, an Electronic Controller (EC520) for control and guidance, but can also add other options such as a graphic display, diverse sensors, cameras, and more. This wealth of connected devices required that the company develop a web-based dashboard for its service teams so they can access them remotely, run diagnostics and maintenance on a regular basis, and provide support operations when needed. 

Trimble wanted to offer similar capabilities to its vendors and customers of earth-moving equipment so they can assess its overall condition at any time, control the onboard Trimble system from a back office, and limit time-consuming on-site visits to situations where physical intervention is necessary. Such a dashboard had to be easy to use by non-IT personnel and accessible from anywhere on desktop computers, tablets, and mobile devices, regardless of the network carrier used by the vendor or customer. In addition, the secure carrier-agnostic connection had to be easily trackable for billing purposes. Remote.It had the solution.

Solution

The Remote.It technology turns connected devices into a Virtual Private Network with secure port forwarding to provide cell and WiFi connections without fear of cyberattacks. It can also cloak endpoints while maintaining remote access, allowing it to be in total control from anywhere while managing who can access the devices.

To do this, Remote.It is installed on the Electronic Controller (EC520), which is found on all earth-moving machines, and thanks to a co-development between Trimble and Remote.It, users can activate subscriptions to the Remote.It-powered device through the Trimble dashboard. 

86% of Trimble device connections are on cellular networks.

Trimble users  are then able to execute the following tasks remotely:

• Control setup and configuration of new equipment
• Collect real-time information wirelessly from the field
• Initiate connection to machines to troubleshoot issues and support the on-site team
• Send new instructions to machines to make sure they are always working to the latest designs and compliance.
• Connect to new on-board devices without waiting for IT to setup application or network configurations.

The Benefits of Remote.It

• Increase construction site productivity and safety
• Give to non IT operators the ability to remotely troubleshoot issues in the field
• Provide a highly scalable solution to manage single and multiple sites
• Increase revenue growth and loyalty
• Decrease costly on-site visits or services

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