Here’s How Caterpillar Is Achieving New Levels of Plant Uptime
If you read our piece regarding the exciting goings on at John Deere, you’ll already know our feelings on the construction and agriculture industries and their critical place within our civilization, so we won’t labor the point here.
Needless to say, any brand which serves this space has one core objective in mind— uptime. Uptime is the metric by which nearly all field service success is measured and all brands in the business should have this goal at the fore of their mind when innovating and developing new methods of operation.
Downtime costs customers money and damages their reputation as they fail to meet targets and therefore disappoint their own clients further down the value chain. As such, avoiding unplanned downtime should be a top priority for field service providers.
Caterpillar
One of the biggest brands operating in the plant and agriculture space is Deerfield Illinois-based machinery manufacturer, Caterpillar. Not only does this Fortune 100 company design, develop, engineer, manufacture, market, and sell machinery, and engines, but also financial products and insurance, and even saw its branded clothing become fashion items back in the 90s.
Because of this, it’s fair to say that Caterpillar is one of the more wellknown companies in this industry and has therefore positioned itself as one to watch when it comes to the way it serves its vast portfolio of clients. On top of this, Caterpillar has a reputation for producing some of the most reliable machines in the business, working on the philosophy that the best way to carry out field service is to have to do it as little as possible - something it achieves with a slew of innovative technology.
Cat Command allows operators can control equipment from outside the machine, allowing for greater visibility into the work being carried out and a significant reduction in the likelihood of injuries. Construction workers can use Cat Detect to stay aware of objects in their surroundings. The technology keeps operators informed of their surrounding preventing accidents and damage to the machine which would result in costly downtime. Cat Payload keeps operators and managers informed about which materials have been loaded, when they were loaded, when the load was sent, and where it was headed—ensuring loaders and haulers are used to maximum potential and reducing damage to machines caused by overloading.
“Cat machines have a reputation for being some of the best equipment on the market, and that reputation comes backed by concrete evidence of their capability and longevity,” writes Caterpillar in a blog post. “There are plenty of excellent reasons to invest in a machine from Caterpillar. The benefits of Cat equipment reach well beyond its performance and usability, with numerous factors contributing to why Cat machinery is the best on the market.”
IoT
To further boost its field service offering, Caterpillar recently formed a partnership with SAP and an unnamed connected technology provider. Through this partnership, Caterpillar is bringing Internet of Things technology to its fleet of vehicles and empowering them with predictive maintenance capabilities.
We’re creating a digital thread from our products in the manufacturing facility to our customers with our live factory that uses SAP Digital Manufacturing Insights and Vehicle Insights, and the SAP Digital Boardroom," said Operational Technology Leader at Caterpillar, Marty Groover. "Sensors […] are just the beginning. We’re also doing predictive maintenance using sensor collected data from our machines."
These technologies will make sure Caterpillar’s machines keep running at their absolute best through, not only the ability to detect faults early on before they grow and result in costly shutdowns, but to also inform ongoing product development. If Caterpillar can use the data gained from its connected machines to identify areas where faults regularly occur, it can address those issues at the manufacturing stage—further increasing the reliability of its products.
It’s these factors and more which have led to the recent news that investment in Caterpillar next gen excavators can lead to a massive 90% increase in uptime and a 30% reduction in fuel consumption.
"[Caterpillar] makes it very easy to keep up-to-date with machinery servicing, on any device, and the accompanying Cat App is just as useful with real-time information, sent via a phone notification to alert us if there is a problem with a machine," said Caterpillar customer, Alltracks Plant Hire Managing Director, Fazil Nazim. "We get a call around 50 hours out from any scheduled service period, which makes it easier to arrange alternative machines and factor the services in around our customers’ demands."
Final Thoughts
Caterpillar’s reputation as a producer of some of the industry’s most reliable machines is certainly well earned, and that reputation is only going to grow as it continues along this path of innovation.
Reducing unplanned downtime is going to be a hot topic at Field Service Palm Springs 2022, taking place in April at the JW Marriott Desert Springs.
Download the agenda for more information and insights.