Contractors and heavy equipment operators are feeling the market’s strain on their business — heavy civil and mining contractors are increasingly in demand after the Infrastructure and Jobs Act passed in late 2021, but the current amount of
skilled construction workers is being stretched thin.
According to the Association of Equipment Manufacturing 2022 whitepaper "Future of Building", 41% of the construction workforce is expected to retire by 2031. To meet the market’s current and future needs, contractors and businesses need innovative
ways to improve and complete civil and mining construction.
RDO Equipment Company recognized this need to help their customers to incrementally onboard technology to help train new and existing hires so contractors and operators can safely increase productivity. In fact, three separate departments within RDO address
technology needs through automation, or semi-autonomous equipment, remote assistance through the Solutions Center, and real-time machine monitoring through telematics with Connected Support.
For several years, these three departments have grown in size and skill to meet challenges faced by customers, an interest shared by semi-autonomous technology company Teleo.
“We decided to partner with Teleo because we recognized their commitment to finding solutions that could help construction managers and machine operators today through retrofitting their current equipment with machine control technology,”
said RDO Equipment Co. Vice President of Midwest Construction and Integrated Controls Adam Gilbertson.
Teleo developed their Supervised Autonomy technology to help contractors improve operational productivity and safety through semi-autonomous technology. They allow contractors to retrofit their dozers, trucks, wheel loaders, and additional equipment they
own so operators can control multiple machines while sitting at a comfortable remote control desk.
Teleo was searching for service partners to support integration, operator training, and maximize uptime for contractors. In June, Teleo announced a partnership with RDO Equipment Co. and RDO Integrated Controls,
highlighting RDO’s commitment and longstanding history to meeting the contractors’ needs across the United States through RDO’s Connected Support, Solutions Center, Integrated Controls and more.
Now, RDO team members can offer Teleo Supervised Autonomy technology to contractors across their footprint for any compact construction equipment.
Teleo’s technology offerings stand to expand the services offered by RDO’s Connected Support and RDO Integrated Controls teams.
The Connected Support team receives alerts from machines to help operators to protect their investment and keep the equipment running. Depending upon the type and severity of the alert, the RDO team member monitoring the alert will reach out to the customer
directly or the appropriate RDO service team to determine a solution and prevent any potential issues.
RDO Integrated Controls is a total solutions provider, partnering with customers in the construction, landfill, and mining industries to provide them with innovative technology, unparalleled product support, and world-class training.
Because of RDO’s service, Teleo will be able to offer customers service and support from a company they already know and trust. Teleo’s technology plus RDO Integrated Controls and machine monitoring transforms each machine into a semi-autonomous
vehicle to be supervised by experienced professionals.
Watch Teleo's semi-autonomous vehicle in action.
Without an operator in the cabin, the safety of the individual improves while increasing productivity. For certain use cases, actions and machines, the operator use Supervised Autonomy to switch the machine into “autonomy mode” to allow the
machine to run under supervision through live feeds and analytics. Contractors and project managers could use this information to provide insight into the job and help operators to improve performance.
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RDO team members work together to provide full-service training and troubleshooting from in-person to remote. Contact your RDO Equipment Co. dealership to learn more about Teleo Supervised Autonomy technology.
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Read more about how RDO team members, customers and partners innovate with technology.
