Xwatch Safety Tech Moves Into Fleet Specification at Select Plant Hire
Around 30 new JCB machines entering the Select Plant Hire fleet are passing through an Xwatch installation programme as part of a wider ยฃ5 million equipment investment, putting machine safety technology into the specification before much of the new plant reaches its working environment.
The programme covers machines within a substantial JCB order announced by Select in August, including 370X tracked excavators, 245XR and 145XR reduced tailswing excavators, 9-tonne dual-drive site dumpers and Loadall telescopic handlers. The equipment is intended for construction, infrastructure and engineering work across the UK, adding another sizeable batch of machines to a hire fleet operating across very different projects and site conditions.
Select Plant Hire, part of the Laing O’Rourke Group, is working with Xwatch Safety Solutions on the installations. The relationship is already established, with Xwatch systems previously fitted to larger JCB X Series excavators entering the Select fleet. The latest programme extends that work across further new machines, while a parallel telematics project is beginning to connect machine safety information with wider fleet data.
A machine leaving a hire depot may encounter lifting duties, overhead restrictions, exclusion zones and confined working environments over successive assignments. Configurable safety equipment remains with the asset as those applications change.
Briefing
- Select Plant Hire is installing Xwatch safety technology across around 30 new JCB machines entering its UK fleet.
- The installations form part of Select’s recently announced ยฃ5 million investment in JCB construction equipment.
- New equipment includes 370X, 245XR and 145XR excavators, 9-tonne dual-drive site dumpers and Loadall telescopic handlers.
- Xwatch technology can provide height and slew limitation alongside rated capacity indication on excavators.
- Select and Xwatch are also working on telematics through the XW-Insite platform, connecting machine, operational and safety information.
Building Safety Into the Machine
Excavators present several hazards simultaneously. The boom and attachment can approach overhead services or structures, the upper carriage can slew into restricted areas, and a machine being used for lifting must remain within the permissible capacity for its configuration and working radius.
Xwatch’s XW5 system combines height control, slew control and rated capacity indication. Height control monitors potential machine high points and controls the appropriate movements as a preset limit is approached, while slew limitation can establish single or dual boundaries around areas the machine should not enter. The system retains full power for movement away from a restriction and uses ramped slowdown and soft-stop control when approaching limits.
Rated capacity indication adds another layer when an excavator is lifting. The system continually monitors height, radius and load against the machine’s configured safe working load. Xwatch’s operating documentation for the XW5 MK2 shows the operator interface presenting lifting radius, height, current load, maximum safe working load and the status of height and slew limiters.
Warren Wilkinson, Business Stream Leader, Plant and Power Solutions at Select Plant Hire, said: โAs we continue to invest in new equipment, safety technology remains an important consideration for us.
โOur hire fleet covers a broad range of manufacturers, machine types and applications, so we need equipment and technology that can meet the demands of the environments our machines are going into. Xwatch has become a valued part of that process, backed by the service and support we need to keep machines working.โ
The ยฃ5 million JCB order gives the current installation programme considerable scale. Alongside the 370X, 245XR and 145XR excavators, the investment includes site dumpers and Loadalls supplied through Greenshields JCB for deployment on construction, infrastructure and engineering projects across the UK.
Safety Systems as Fleet Equipment
Installing the technology as machines enter the fleet allows the work to be incorporated into machine preparation rather than organised after an asset has been allocated to a project. Operators and fleet teams can also encounter a more consistent safety architecture as equipment moves between jobs.
Xwatch has developed the second generation of its system partly around those installation requirements. The MK2 retains height and slew restriction and rated capacity indication, while Xwatch says installation time has been reduced by 30 per cent compared with the previous generation. It also introduces proportional motion control for electric-over-hydraulic valve blocks and is telematics-ready.
Across a programme involving dozens of machines, installation time feeds directly into preparation and commissioning schedules. New capital equipment needs to move through the depot and into productive work without additional systems becoming a bottleneck.
The engineering also has to accommodate the behaviour of the host machine. Xwatch uses proportional hydraulic control to slow movement as a defined limit is approached rather than relying solely on an abrupt stop. Height control monitors the machine’s high points, while slew limits can be entered manually or established by positioning the machine. Settings are retained for subsequent start-up, with optional controls available to restrict changes.
Jemma Dycer-Hopkins, Sales and Operations Manager at Xwatch Safety Solutions, said: โThere is a huge amount happening with Select at the moment. Our engineers are working across a substantial number of new machines, covering different machine types, and it is fantastic to see Xwatch being specified on so many new fleet additions.
โSelect operates a large and varied hire fleet, so every installation has to work for the machine and the applications it is likely to encounter. That makes good engineering support and a close working relationship particularly important.
โWe also have some exciting telematics activity under way with Select. There is plenty more to talk about, and weโll be sharing the individual projects in more detail as they are completed.โ
Connecting Safety and Fleet Data
The telematics work takes the relationship beyond physical movement restriction, although the Select programme remains under development and no operational results have yet been disclosed.
XW-Insite was developed to combine machine information with Xwatch safety data through a cloud-based platform. Xwatch says the system can operate across mixed-brand fleets and provide remote access to machine and jobsite information, including safety parameters such as height, slew and rated capacity settings.
Its broader telematics functions include machine location, operating hours, fuel use, productivity, CO2 data, geofencing and fault information. Safety restriction settings can therefore sit alongside more conventional fleet information rather than remaining visible only at the machine.
For a large hire fleet, that provides another way of following an asset after it leaves the depot. Conventional telematics can establish where a machine is and how many hours it has worked; connected safety systems can potentially add information about how site-specific operating restrictions have been configured. The extent to which Select will use that information across its fleet will become clearer as the individual telematics projects are completed.
The boundary between safety technology, machine control and fleet data is becoming less distinct. Height and slew restriction begin with physical machine movement, but the same control system generates information about configuration, operating limits and events. Once that information can leave the cab, it becomes available to engineers and fleet teams responsible for assets dispersed across multiple projects.
Across a Mixed Fleet
Select’s fleet covers different manufacturers, machine types and applications. That creates a practical challenge as OEMs develop their own digital platforms, interfaces and connected services while fleet owners continue to operate machinery sourced from several suppliers.
XW-Insite has been developed for multi-brand equipment, while the Xwatch safety range can be fitted across several categories of construction plant. An independent system can therefore provide common functionality across machines without requiring the underlying fleet to be standardised around one manufacturer.
OEM-integrated systems offer their own advantages, including closer access to machine architecture and increasingly sophisticated factory-installed digital packages. Independent systems occupy a different position where an owner wants particular safety functions or a common layer of information across equipment from several manufacturers.
The current Select programme puts that approach into a sizeable fleet deployment rather than an isolated retrofit. Around 30 new machines are moving through installation as part of the same capital investment, with safety systems being incorporated before the equipment disperses across UK projects.
For those machines, the process begins in the depot with physical limits on height, slew and lifting capacity. The developing telematics work could allow some of that configuration to remain visible after the excavators have left the yard, linking the safety system fitted to the machine with the people responsible for managing it across successive jobs.
Key Industry Questions
- What safety technology is being installed on the new Select Plant Hire machines?ย Xwatch systems are being installed across around 30 new JCB machines. On excavators, the technology can provide height and slew limitation together with rated capacity indication.
- What is Select Plant Hire’s latest JCB investment worth?ย Select announced a ยฃ5 million investment covering JCB excavators, site dumpers and Loadall telescopic handlers.
- Which JCB excavators are included?ย The published order includes JCB 370X tracked excavators together with 245XR and 145XR reduced tailswing excavators.
- What does an excavator height limiter do?ย It monitors the machine’s working height and controls relevant movements as a predetermined limit is approached, helping operators work around hazards such as overhead structures or services.
- What is slew limitation?ย Slew limitation restricts the area into which an excavator’s upper structure and front equipment can rotate. Configured boundaries can prevent movement into restricted working areas.
- What is a rated capacity indicator?ย An RCI monitors factors including lifting radius, height and load and compares them with the machine’s configured safe working capacity.
- What is XW-Insite?ย XW-Insite is Xwatch’s telematics platform for bringing machine operating information and safety-system data into a remotely accessible interface. It has been developed for mixed-brand fleets.
- Why are mixed-fleet systems relevant to plant hire companies?ย Hire companies can operate equipment from several manufacturers across many sites. Independent systems can provide common safety functions and information across those assets without requiring the machinery itself to come from a single OEM.
Strategic Takeaways
- Incorporating safety systems during fleet preparation can reduce the need for project-specific installation after machines have been allocated to work.
- Configurable height, slew and lifting controls suit hire assets that regularly move between operating environments.
- Installation and commissioning time become operational considerations when technology is deployed across large batches of new equipment.
- Connecting safety-system information with telematics can extend fleet visibility beyond location and operating hours.
- Independent technology platforms can provide common functionality across mixed-brand fleets alongside increasingly capable OEM digital systems.
