Intelligent machine management with Fendt Connect

The efficient use of machines is decisive when it comes to estimating business costs per hectare and hour of operation. For this reason, AGCO/Fendt is constantly working with technical solutions that help customers use their machines efficiently and save valuable working time. The new digital platform Fendt Connect is designed to help farmers and contractors to monitor, analyse and manage the condition and use of their machines.

Farmers, plant managers and contractors can check the activities and data of their own Fendt machines on the PC, via the smartphone app or on the tablet: Where are my machines? How long do they need for specific work? How profitably are we using our machines?

Use the Fendt Connect App (for iOS and Android) to view fuel consumption, speed and working time of each machine in real time. A map view also shows the position of the vehicle, the driving directions of the machine and its status report. The Fendt Connect User can get information about upcoming service intervals or error messages from the machine.

By documenting the machine activities, you can organise a company's or contractor's entire fleet. Operating times, uptime and machine utilisation are better managed by evaluating the data. Dates for maintenance intervals can be planned effectively from your desk. With Fendt Connect, farmers and contractors are in a position to analyse and optimise how their machines are used. This increases economic efficiency and saves time and resources.

In 2018, Fendt Connect will be trialled with more than 100 selected customers. To use this app you need an integrated ACM Box (AGCO Connectivity Module), which transmits relevant CAN-BUS parameters and machine data to the Fendt Connect digital platform. The ACM Box comes as standard on Fendt Ideal combines and as an optional extra for the Fendt 500 to 1000 Vario tractor series.

Data security

The Fendt Connect app will initially be in English, German and French. As a trusted brand of agricultural solutions, data security is extremely important for Fendt. Fendt Connect is subject to strict European IT security standards.

Optimised harvest chain with the Fendt Logistics app

To efficiently harvest the crop, the entire transport chain must function smoothly from the field to the silo. Putting all your machines involved in the harvest to best use also determines the cost-effectiveness. The Fendt Logistics app minimises empty runs and unnecessary waiting times for both the harvesting machines and the collection trucks.

To make the coordination of all machines useful and efficient, you need information like the capacity of the current transport wagon and the position of the other equipment involved in the removal chain. When the maximum load is reached, the next collection team is ready to take over in good time. The whole thing has to work independently of the tractor equipment, so that all the equipment involved in the harvest can be truly integrated.

This is guaranteed by the Fendt Logistics app, which works independently of machine data. A self-learning algorithm recognises recurring situations and can make more accurate forecasts for the transport with each operation.

All drivers need to install the Fendt Logistics app on their smartphone or tablet, enter their user data and define their role: driver of the harvest vehicle or removal team. The manager or planner can create an order and specify the basic data: the run-out to harvest, the operating machines or the storage locations for the crop (filling plant, warehouse, silo, etc.). The manager and the drivers see a map on the app with the field to be harvested, the locations of all the vehicles involved, a navigation as well as a fleet division of the team. The driver of the harvesting machine can alert the next removal team with the call function or send them to another location and have them wait there. 

The app also allows the planner to plan and adjust capacities during the harvest. They receive a message when the harvesting machine has to stop because there is no removal team on site or the loader wagon cannot be emptied directly at the silo because the rolling vehicle is still working. All members of the harvest chain can communicate directly with each other via a chat function and receive push messages about important events such as roadblocks, diversions or accidents. The order is completed by the planner or the driver of the harvesting vehicle. The processed areas and the time required appears in the order overview.

The Fendt Logistics app is available for smartphones and tablets (Android and iOS devices) as well as for PCs. The maize harvest 2018 is tested on selected farms and contractors in a test phase.

NEXT Machine Management: Planning, controlling, analysing and documenting

NEXT Machine Management is a product that lets farmers easily integrate every machine into their production processes, including planning and scheduling orders, legal documentation, field mapping and wayline administration. The farmer has more transparency and a basis for future improvements in their operations. This is essential for automated, process-oriented data use, especially for companies with mixed fleets.

Agronomic machine data is added to the system via the connection to the data exchange platform Agrirouter™ and the option to process other, even manufacturer-specific, interfaces. Fendt customers with a ProfiPlus tractor and the documentation system VarioDoc Pro, or any self-drive Fendt machine (combines, Fendt Katana, Fendt Rogator 600), have both the right equipment in their machine, as well as the corresponding data processing system to take full advantage of NEXT Machine Management. As such, they can easily use the system to transfer field boundaries or waylines for the VarioGuide system as well as application maps for VariableRateControl.

This modular, open overall concept lets the farmer store key data and a digital management system based on it, which they can adapt to their own needs.

Web technology makes the location-independent working possible: With mobile devices, farmers can access their data anywhere and at any time.

With the help of an additional native smartphone app, which will be available for both iOS and Android, 'analogue' machines can also use the NEXT Machine Management module without electronics.

Data security and integrity

The module will initially be available in English, German and French from 2019. The application is subject to strict European IT security standards. The owner and manager of the data is and remains the farmer.

The six agricultural machinery manufacturers AGCO, Krone, Kuhn, Lemken, Pöttinger and Rauch and the agricultural software company FarmFacts have joined together to provide farmers and contractors with a manufacturer-independent solution for their machine data management.