Trackunit’s Downtime Index demonstrated positive growth in machine utilization between weeks 18-19, with utilization improving across every region, led by Spain and Italy.
The Downtime Index is a publicly available online site that tracks construction industry machine utilization on a weekly basis to provide actionable insights on the health of the sector.
Machine activity in North America (+3 percent, see the chart above) against the higher utilization figure illustrates that existing machines are working harder to fill the backlog of jobs that have piled up during the last two months.
Using telematics, the data is gathered from OHV (off-highway vehicles) machines during use and analyzed data generates the context and specific tips for senior executives to help work within the current crisis.
The site allows users to drill into the machine activity metric for each week to see how many machines have been working since the beginning of this year compared to last year. Major economies including the U.S., Germany, France, and U.K. are among the 22 countries currently tracked.
Overall, almost 8.5 percent more machines were started and worked in week 19 compared to week 18. This represents an increase in the machine activity metric from 51 percent in week 18 to 55 percent in week 19, meaning that more machines are working, and are working longer hours.
Most notable is the improvement in machine utilization rates in Southern Europe (France, Italy, and Spain), which rose by 25 percent last week, the largest regional increase. This was primarily driven by strong growth in Spain and Italy, which are now at indexes of 107 and 83, respectively. In sharp contrast, machines in France remain at 50 percent of the expected utilization.
Despite the improvement, in engine utilization, Southern Europe remains the worst impacted region, with the indexes for the rest of Europe all significantly higher.
The index for Western Europe, which includes Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Austria, saw a big week-on-week improvement and is now over 90.
Eastern Europe (Poland, Hungary, Romania, and Czechia) and Northern Europe (including the Nordic and Baltic countries as well as the U.K. and Ireland) also saw significant improvements and are now reporting higher index values than the base rate of 100 in January.
The Downtime Index is a publicly available resource providing data and weekly analysis. It demonstrates how the construction industry can leverage data generated every day by OHV and other digitally connected equipment.
Source: Trackunit
