An integrated approach with Claas connect

As part of a recent visit to the Claas UK’s new headquarters based at Saxham, in the southeast of England, the manufacturer showcased its recently launched cloud-based platform and new Digital Experience Centre.

To support the rollout of Claas Connect at the end of 2024 and the new Digital Experience Centre at Saxham, Claas UK has invested in a new digital division comprising of sales and support specialists. The new management tool brings together everything from machine management, service planning, licence management, along with yield mapping, application maps and documentation, on a single platform.

The previous Telematics portal will be shut down at the end of the year. Using the one Claas ID, all these services are taken care of within a standardised user interface and ecosystem.

Meanwhile, a similar platform called the digital service manager has been rolled out to aid technicans in the field. The app is designed to aid technicans with service and parts information as well as machine data (not agronomic data) to better support the customer if they consent to share their data.

The German manufacturer sees the ‘next step in farming’, focus on greater connectivity, user friendliness and a closer overall relationship between the customer, dealer, manufacturer and partners through more effective communication.

Since October 2023, a five-year machine connect licence has been fitted as standard on all Arion, Axion Xerion tractors, Jaguar forage harvesters and Trion and Lexion combines.

This opens the gateway for machine telematics, remote service via the digital service manager and Cemis online transfer of files, such as field maps and fertiliser application maps.

With the new platform, Claas has moved away from individual machine licensing to licensing the organisation.

Single platform

The Claas Connect platform for the first time considers both machine and digital fleet management as one, unlike previously. Starting from the beginning with a quotation for a new machine, if the customer is registered with Claas Connect, they can configure their desired machine via the configurator and request a quotation or demonstration.

The local dealer then prepares the quotation and or demonstration machine. If the customer makes a purchase, the machine data is uploaded to the customer’s portal on delivery. This gives the customer direct access to the digital operator’s manual, lubricant requirements, etc for free across all machines.

For connected machines, as part of the five-year machine connect licence supplied, all machine perfomance and logistic data ie tank levels, postioning etc is shared and analysed.

Information such as service intervals is automatically entered into the portal to inform the farmer or contractor of upcoming work and also enable the dealership to plan schedules and capacities in advance.

With a Fleet Connect licence, third-party machines in mixed fleets can easily be connected to the portal via the DataConnect interface, allowing the seamless transfer of performance and agronomic data.

In addition, machine data can be transferred to partner companies via the point data interface. In order to run other brands through the system, connected modules will be needed for those particular tractors.

Cemos Advisor, the platform extension of Cemos – the assistance and process optimisation system for numerous Claas tractors, combines and foragers, stores all performance data so that it can be analysed and compared, enabling adjustments to be made to maximise the performance of the overall fleet.

Fleet reports can be generated on a daily or on-demand basis. In order to minimise downtime, this system can be set up to notify the local Claas dealers of alarms and automatically create a job card for the particular machine in question.

Claas said it is working on devloping an online parts shop/ordering system whereby customers can select a specific part from their machine specific parts catalogue (serial number linked), check dealer stock levels and buy the part online.

Precision farming

The add-on licences for Farm Connect with Field Connect provide farmers and contractors with numerous options for precision farming applications.

With Field Connect, farmers can access functions needed to prepare potential application maps from geodata, such as satellite images or soil analyses. Field boundaries and other master data can be imported as Shape or ISO-XML files.

Yield maps from different machines and manufacturers can also be incorporated and stored within the Geocentre. In a similar way, if two or more combines are working in the one field, the platform will merge the yield map data. Yield map data accuracy has also improved and maps can now be created based on specifc parameters such as protein etc.

Fleet Connect automatically documents field-specific task data relating to yield, constituents or application rate, enabling the status and progress of pre-planned tasks to be tracked in real-time via smartphone, tablet or PC.

It is also possible to create reference lines and plan tracks based on field boundaries in Fleet Connect.

Other compatible farm management information systems can be connected to Claas Connect via connection manager. Furthermore, it will be possible to exchange data between different Claas IDs using data sharing in future. This will simplify task planning, implementation and documentation, including invoicing for farmers and contractors.

Security

Each customer/user owns their own data. Their local dealer has no visibility, unless the user allows the dealer to access the platform. They can also choose to see what the dealer sees. In terms of security, Claas says this platform has the same military grade security as all its online sites.