7 Quick Hits on the Future of Off-Highway Maintenance with ‘Gold Rush’ Mechanic Nathan Clark and Tim Davison of Stellar

07.25.23

At CONEXPO/CON-AGG 2023, Gold Rush: Dave Turin’s Lost Mine mechanic Nathan Clark and industry veteran Tim Davison, Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Stellar, served on the “Overcoming Off-Highway Repairs: The Future of Maintenance” panel hosted by Cojali USA. The panel of industry experts discussed off-highway equipment repair challenges, trends and solutions to reduce downtime.

Here are seven quick hits on the future of maintenance from Clark and Davison. Watch the full video below for more.

1. On the importance of having technology that serves equipment operators.

DAVISON: The operators for our type of equipment that we have today are some of the smartest people you’re going to see in the industry, because they have to be smart people to understand how to work on this equipment. And we have to have the technology there to help them.

2. On the outlook for recruiting and retaining top mechanics and operators.

CLARK: You’ve got to start with the basics. You’ve got to train your people. If you ain’t putting the training in, you ain’t going to retain your people. 

3. On the future of equipment diagnostics to help technicians. 

DAVISON: You’re never going to replace a mechanic, but the more aids we can give them to do their job, they get it done faster and they’re able to be more productive.

4. On being ready for the onset of electrification. 

CLARK: We have to embrace it, just like Tier 4 (emissions standards). Tier 4 came out. We were like, “Eh, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.” But the electric has benefits. I mean, you can save a lot of fuel if you don’t have to run a truck all day long.

5. On the need for quieter equipment.

DAVISON: We have a Hybrid Power Source (HPS) with lithium-ion batteries, and customers are using it because they’re in a residential neighborhood and they don’t want to run a diesel engine. We give them the option to run a battery-powered unit that can power a truck for eight hours a day, and a lot of customers are liking that.

6. On the importance of modern diagnostic tools.

CLARK: You’ve got to have the right tools, especially with everything going Tier 4. You’ve got to have the software. If you don’t have the software, you aren’t going to make it.

7. On the future of equipment operation data.

DAVISON: Probably the most important way that we use data is to help our customers right size their fleet to make sure that they’re spending only the right amount of money they need to keep their equipment up and running.

See the complete panel discussion in the video below, courtesy of Diesel Laptops.

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