Underground Construction - September 2019 - DW-9

PRODUCTIVE TOOLS PROVIDE

SMOOTH, EFFECTIVE
OPERATIONS
Productive and durable equipment with
top-rated dealer support; multiple training options online, in classrooms, in the
field and on job sites - what more could a
manufacturer do for owners and operators
of its equipment?
The Ditch Witch® answer is, "More,
much more."
The "more" in this instance applies to
convenience and productivity tools: Parts
Lookup™, HDD Advisor™ and Orange
Intel™.
"Our mission is to give Ditch Witch customers access to critical, up-to-date information needed to make the best decisions in
a timely manner, with easy-to-use, mobilefriendly methods," said Jaime Wines, director of parts sales and customer engagement.
"With continuing investments in digital
technology and these three programs, our
goal is to assist customers quickly and in the
most useful way possible, especially when
they are in the field."
The programs have been extremely wellreceived with usage steadily increasing.
"We now have more than 37,800 users,"
said Wines, "a 51-percent increase over this
time last year."

Parts Lookup

Ditch Witch Parts Lookup is an industryfirst online tool that provides customers easy
access to detailed service parts information,
plus a direct line of communication to dealerships for service part verification and pick
list creation.
Parts Lookup allows customers to easily
add equipment to their profile by serial number, for quick and easy reference to manuals
and parts diagrams. Parts Lookup supports
more than 60 years of historical Ditch Witch
equipment to help customers find service
parts for any model in their fleets.
After adding service parts to the pick list,
customers can request a quote from their
dealer, download it as a PDF, or save it to
their account for future access or for recurring fulfillment. Parts Lookup helps customers be more efficient on the job site and
helps reduce downtime by identifying and
sharing service parts information.
The multiple benefits of Ditch Witch
productivity and convenience tools are

illustrated by how they are employed by
Missouri-based ADB Companies. The
company operates a fleet of 40 Ditch Witch
horizontal directional drills (HDDs) to provide services across the U.S. to commercial
clients and government agencies.
ADB uses Parts Lookup with any mobile
device to identify and access parts, including
electrical systems.
"Our techs have all the information they
need, precisely when they need it," said
Jamie Kelley, director of fleet services. "This
has made them more efficient and saves
valuable time when pinpointing and diagnosing parts problems on jobs. On average,
we've increased productivity 10 to 15 percent since we began utilizing this tool."

HDD Advisor

Ditch Witch HDD Advisor, another industry first, is an online tool that provides
HDD customers easy access to tooling that
is specific to the drill and pipe the customer
is running. It's designed to allow customers
to order only the correct HDD tooling and
connections for their specified equipment
and provide detailed information about each
part that is ordered. Customers can keep this
information for future reference, saving time
and ensuring selection of the correct tool.
"HDD Advisor narrows HDD tooling
options from the beginning, allowing only
searches for products designed for specific
drill and pipe options," Wines said. "With
the correct input, this feature makes it
virtually impossible to get the wrong part,
which increases your uptime and gets you
back work faster."

Orange Intel

Ditch Witch Orange Intel is an online fleet
management tool that provides equipment
managers easy access to equipment GPS
locations, has geo-fencing capabilities and
input of planned maintenance schedules.
It helps managers monitor and optimize
usage of assets, which can result in time
and money savings. Orange Intel automatically updates information through the user's
MyDitchWitch account, providing easily
accessible reports.
"Fleet managers can't be everywhere at
once," said Tyler Schwandt, Ditch Witch

product manager for parts and electronic
tools. "Orange Intel brings vital information
directly to fleet managers to confirm that
equipment and crews are where they are
supposed to be."
To assist with planning, Orange Intel
sends notifications of upcoming maintenance services needed and has the capability
of logging service information.
"Orange Intel provides me with insights
into the performance and location of our
national fleet of Ditch Witch drills," ADB
Companies' Kelley said. "I'm able to monitor
everything from utilization to maintenance
parameters that are customizable to my specific needs."
For example, newer Deutz engines that
use high-pressure, common-rail fuel systems
can quickly be damaged when fuel runs out.
Kelley created a low-fuel alert system for
equipment with these engines.
"We'd have maintenance related to fuel
damage a couple times a month before we
set these alerts," he said. "Now that the issue
is eliminated, we're reducing downtime and
keeping crews more productive.
"Repair costs also are significantly reduced since I started utilizing the Orange
Intel system. I have direct availability to help
monitor when a drill might have an issue
and call the crew or a technician before that
issue occurs."
The full suite of Ditch Witch customer
productivity tools is available through an
online MyDitchWitch user account with a
single login, consolidating all customer engagement tools in one spot. It can also be
accessed at www.ditchwitchparts.com. *
ditchwitch.com 9

http://www.ditchwitchparts.com http://www.ditchwitch.com

Underground Construction - September 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Underground Construction - September 2019