Smarter Control Systems for Heavy Equipment OEMs: From Data to Root-Cause Diagnostics

Smarter control systems for heavy equipment do more than put data on a screen. They can watch how components behave over time, flag early signs of failure, and help technicians find the root cause faster. Engineers at OEMs building cranes, mining equipment, construction machines, utility vehicles, refuse trucks, and tow trucks are now asking for this from their machine controls, not just another pop up on a display.

“Our customers are looking for these systems to be smarter,” said Josh Heinz, VP of Engineering at GS Global Resources. “They want to see what’s going on. Why is it going wrong? Is a pump failing? Is there more data behind the components we’re constantly monitoring?”

Key Takeaways

• OEMs want control systems that diagnose root causes and support predictive maintenance, not just show live values.
• Historical failure data is the most important input for programming useful monitoring logic.
• Condition monitoring can track hydraulic pressure decay, pressure spikes, electrical amp loads, and intermittent switch panel faults, among other things.
• Smarter controls may add some component cost but can lower installation labor and diagnostic time without adding design complexity.
• Multiplex controls, distributed I/O, and well-placed electronic control modules support better machine monitoring.

What Makes a Heavy Equipment Control System “Smarter”?

A smarter control system turns machine data into answers. Getting data off a machine is no longer the hard part. Heinz says GS Global Resources has been monitoring electronic control systems for more than 20 years, and displaying that data has been routine for a long time. The shift is in what the control system does with the data. Instead of just showing a pressure reading, a smarter system notices when that pressure has been slowly dropping over weeks of operation and alerts the team before the pump fails.

“Customers are asking for more information, not just another text box on the display,” Heinz said. “They want to see root causes of what’s happening. They want to do predictive maintenance on components and understand the details.”

How Predictive Diagnostics Work on Mobile and Off-Highway Equipment

Predictive diagnostics compare how a machine is operating now against known patterns that come before a failure. For mobile and off-highway equipment, condition monitoring commonly includes:

• Hydraulic pressure decay: Gradual pressure loss that can point to a wearing pump or leaking component.
• Pressure spikes: Sudden events that can signal valve, hose, or load issues.
• Electrical current and amp loads: Changes in current draw that show a motor, solenoid, or circuit is under strain.
• Intermittent switch panel faults: Watchdog-style software routines that catch on-and-off failures that are hard to reproduce in the shop.

These checks are written into the control software, so the machine itself becomes part of the diagnostic process. The same logic can also feed remote diagnostics, giving service teams a head start before a technician reaches the machine.

But because software can only look for failure patterns that someone has defined, compiling and integrating historic machine data is critical.

“The biggest challenge has been retrieving the information from historical operation of the unit and trying to get that into some kind of code we can apply to the software,” Heinz said.

When an OEM shares the failures it has seen in the field, we can program the control system to watch for the same behaviors that came before those failures. That makes collaboration between the OEM and its systems integration partner essential.

Do Smarter Controls Add Complexity or Cost?

Not necessarily. Adding monitoring can mean adding components, which does add some cost, but the total machine cost often improves.

“Sometimes it adds a little bit more cost to these systems and software,” Heinz said. “But if we’re reducing labor to install these components and reducing the time it takes to diagnose and get to the ultimate cause of these issues, we can save a lot of time. It doesn’t necessarily have to add complexity to the design.”

For OEM engineers, the trade-off to evaluate includes:

• Installation labor on the production line
• Time technicians spend troubleshooting in the field
• Downtime for end customers
• Warranty claims tied to hard-to-diagnose failures

Using Multiplex Controls and Distributed I/O for Better Monitoring

Multiplex controls and distributed electronic control modules are the foundation of a smarter control system. GS Global Resources has designed multiplex systems with control modules distributed throughout machines for over two decades. Making a system smarter often starts with taking a fresh look at that electrical and control architecture.

That might mean:

• Adding a control module at the back of the body to monitor components there directly
• Placing a module up in a pedestal, such as on a crane or aerial device, to see what’s happening at the point of use
• Redistributing I/O across a chassis so each signal is captured where it makes the most sense

“The more information we have, the better decisions we can make going forward,” Heinz said. “Reducing complexity is the ultimate goal, while giving OEMs much more monitoring capability.”

Build a Smarter Control System With GS Global Resources

GS Global Resources works with heavy equipment OEMs to design electrical and control systems that monitor components, diagnose root causes, and support predictive maintenance, from multiplex architecture and control module placement to custom monitoring logic built on your historical failure data. Our engineering team brings more than 20 years of experience with electronic control system monitoring and combining that with our hydraulic foundation means we have an unparalleled ability to integrate and own both aspects of a machine.

Ready to get more from your machine’s data? Talk to our engineering team about your next control system design.