Until recently, there was no way of obtaining constantly updated information on fleet status to answer typical questions such as: How are operators working? Where are they and are they following the work schedule? How much fuel have they consumed and what is the efficiency rate of the operation? What is the state of the machines, do they have any problem that requires your attention?

To provide answers for all of these questions, we have developed the innovative solutions incorporated in McCormick Fleet Management, the ideal tool to get a real-time overview of all your machines at a glance.

What is Fleet Management?

Fleet Management is the McCormick telematic system that lets you monitor the key tasks of your fleet of tractors to maximise efficiency.
The ISOBUS communication protocol and satellite geolocation systems provide information and data gathered from tractors and equipment.
This way, you can conveniently monitor fleet activity in real time from your desktop PC or mobile device.

What are the advantages of Fleet Management?

Fleet Management systems let you manage your fleet more easily and efficiently. The three key benefits include the ability to:

1. monitor your fleet in real time, as you receive constantly updated information and data on the activity of your machines;
2. analyse data to determine operating costs and optimise returns;
3. rely on remote diagnostics and servicing to quickly identify and resolve any issues with the machines.

Monitoring your fleet in real time

You can keep track of the movements of the entire geolocated fleet and display the exact position of all tractors on a single map. The information is retained and stored in chronological order.
You can obtain the full information on the state of machines in real time: speed, engine rpm, work progress, hourly consumption, average consumption, and many other parameters, including the total average consumption of the entire fleet.
In addition, the Fleet Management system lets you outline clients’ fields accurately and store the data relating to operations, which will prove essential in case of later passes.
As you constantly monitor operations, you will be able to reduce margins of error, maximise returns and take action when certain areas or tasks require your attention.

Source: McCormick

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The world of ag tech keeps advancing quickly. The data-gathering tools you drive, which most farmers call tractors and combines, collect information that often needs to be on another system to be of use. Trimble, which innovated with its Connected Farm concept years ago, is upping the ante with a new entry-level platform that includes an added innovation — AutoSync.

While Farmer Core — the new entry level system from Trimble allowing farmers to set up cloud-based tools for managing equipment and information — was key to the announcement, AutoSync is an innovation many farmers will appreciate.

“AutoSync is basically a new functionality that makes data management between Trimble’s displays and cloud-based management solutions seamless,” explains Scott Reinert, product manager, Trimble. “The system is available on Farmer Core, our new base system, but is available as an upgrade to Farmer Fit and Farmer Pro, our higher-level services.”

Reinert talks about data management and the challenges that brings to the farm, noting that best practice for a farm would be for the data to be available on all platforms when needed, without the added steps of carting USB sticks from office to machine. More services offer ways to move those files wirelessly; AutoSync goes a step further and just makes it happen.

“AutoSync ties the displays together. It’s beneficial when you have two or more displays on the farm, and this helps keep the displays current,” Reinert says. “You have the same set of resources and information on all displays.”

Clean up first

AutoSync can ease data management on the farm, making sure the most current A/B lines are in the guidance system, the right field names are there for recording field actions and information is lined up properly. But Reinert adds that farmers will want to be sure that they have a clean set of information to start.

“If a farmer has data sets duplicated on different displays and there is mismatched information, like field names or A/B guidance lines, we recommend they start with one display and get their data corrected,” he says. “They sync from that display to others on the farm to make sure you have the desired sets of fields with the right A/B lines and any other resources.”

He even advises wiping data off other displays before syncing information from a “master” display to avoid carrying mistakes over in data collection.

With the cleaned-up displays, Reinert says AutoSync can then help pull down the right information from the master file to get into the field and start working. Having clean data in the cloud and using the Connected Farm system allows Trimble customers to keep information clean and gather high-quality data for their farms.

Farmer Core is the new entry-level system from Trimble. With this system, farmers can simply farm setup by creating farm and field names, importing or drawing new field boundaries and mapping landmarks with Trimble Ag Mobile. With AutoSync, that information will then move across all Trimble-linked tools on the farm — from laptop to smartphone to tablets to Trimble displays using the company’s Precision IQ software.

With the base system, you can manage guidance lines and boundaries, field names and other information, and integrate all machine-generated data from Trimble displays and other sources using application program interfaces (APIs).

Farmer Core even allows you to track purchases and costs by fields, improve consistency of ag data and generate “proof of placement” reports for your records and for use by third parties.

The price for Farmer Core is $199 per year. Connecting displays with AutoSync requires a Display Connection, which is $99 per display per year.

Source: Kansas Farmer

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Using the most advanced technology, Laux explained how AgDrone Pro gives producers an eagle eye view of their entire field to help them precisely evaluate and plan for the highest and healthiest crop yields.

AgDrone Pro allows producers to monitor crop growth and protection measures in real time. By identifying areas of concern, AgDrone Pro can advise producers on how to proactively respond with targeted measures of care – saving time, money and potential losses. AgDrone Pro uses military-grade drones and technology, capable of flying up to 360 ft. above your fields. With data driven results and personalized service, their agricultural scouting drones they deploy allow you to see data in terms canopy coverage, areas of stress in your crop and also allow you to track growth over multiple seasons.

According to Laux, the multispectral imaging used by AgDrone Pro is very effective in evaluating soil productivity and analyzing plant health. He says, viewing the health of soil and crops with the naked eye is very limited and is reactionary. Multispectral sensor technology, on the other hand, allows you to see further than the naked eye. Data from multispectral imaging is proven to help identify pests, disease and weeds, optimize pesticide usage and crop sprays through early detection, detecting nutrient deficiencies, count plants and determine population or spacing issues, estimate crop yield, measure irrigation and more.

“Right now, we’re not seeing the price of crops go up – they’re staying put or going down,” Laux said, explaining the benefit of AgDrone Pro’s services available to clients. “So, with AgDrone Pro, instead of using the ‘spray and pray’ method – you got a thousand acres, so you buy a thousand acres worth of chemical, spray it and hope it works – now I can literally ground truth that and then treat specific trouble spots with the exact amount it needs, no more no less. So, now you’re spending less on your treatment upfront saving you potentially thousands of dollars.”

Source: Oklahoma Farm Report

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Beside the identical technical details to the Kverneland 95130C, the PRO version comes up with advanced operation possibilities thanks to ISOBUS control. All Machine functions – operated now on load sensing system – are then easily controlled from each ISOBUS ready Terminal as for example IsoMatch Tellus PRO or IsoMatch Tellus Go. With that, users get advanced opportunities to adjust and operate the rake according their Needs.

New functions:

• All 4 rotors can be lifted individually
• Folding and unfolding with just pressing one button
• Working width can be controlled from the terminal
• Possibility to save the swath width
• Different headland delay functions

Source: uk.kverneland.com

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ContiLogger service concept: three steps toward improved consultancy

When using the ContiLogger service concept, a Continental customer solution engineer will first conduct a field study to understand the working environment in which the tires will operate. They will also use a data logger to measure speed, distance, location, lateral forces, elevation change, road grade, cycle downtime and the pressure and temperature of the tires. By analyzing this on-site data, the engineer can identify data-driven observations. After revising and analyzing the data, the engineer will make recommendations regarding significant tire challenges and possible application improvements aimed at optimizing tire and equipment life and improving operational processes.

“This is a holistic concept because it involves evaluating the application as a whole. We see this as extremely important in the OTR earthmoving business, where conditions are exceptionally harsh and the high cost of replacing tires means that proper tire servicing and consulting are essential,” says Enno Straten, Head of Continental Commercial Specialty Tires (CST).

ContiLogger live: Remote monitoring of data and continuous optimization

At bauma, Continental will also be announcing that it is already in the process of refining and enhancing the ContiLogger service concept: In close cooperation with customers, the company is working on a complementary remote version of the ContiLogger, which will see the concept shift from a single/one-time solution to a remote service and consultancy solution.

Source: Continental

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