Caterpillar 2013 Annual Report Download - page 22

CATERPILLAR INC. 2013 YEAR IN REVIEW
20
CUSTOMER & DEALER SUPPORT
Customers Succeed with
Equipment Management
Solutions
Caterpillar is in business to help customers succeed, and nothing is
more critical to customer success than having machines ready to do
the job wherever and whenever they are needed. Cat® dealer NMC
understands this and works with customers to ensure they succeed.
Based in Nebraska, NMC’s customers range from construction
companies to feed lots, but they all have one thing in common – the
need for reliable, dependable equipment. NMC’s Equipment Manage-
ment Solutions department offers a variety of solutions to their
customers, such as Product Link™ and VisionLink™ technology,
Fluid Analysis, Fault Code Monitoring, Machine Analysis Reporting
and Customer Support Agreements.
Fault code technology enables a machine’s engine to generate a
“fault code” whenever it operates outside of expected performance.
NMC’s Fault Code Monitoring service utilizes Cat® Product Link to
transmit machine fault code alerts to NMC’s knowledgeable staff via
satellite or cell phone as they occur. The team then analyzes the data,
researches potential causes and repairs and notifi es the customer with
a recommendation. By catching potential problems early, customers
save time and money by avoiding major repairs.
Recently, the NMC Equipment Management Solutions Team saved
customer Werner Construction thousands of dollars with Fault Code
Monitoring. The customer saw a cost savings of 90 percent by catching
a fuel injector problem early and replacing it, rather than having to
replace the entire engine of the machine.
“We count on NMC’s Equipment Management Solutions group to help
us monitor and manage our fl eet of Cat® equipment. By monitoring fault
codes, they identifi ed a fuel injector on one of our Cat® 972K Wheel
Loaders that wasn’t responding correctly and quickly replaced the part
before it caused any damage to the engine. This type of customer service
allows us to maintain equipment uptime and manage our repair costs,”
says Brad Beck, Fleet Operations manager for Werner Construction.
Werner Construction is a family-owned company that has been in busi-
ness for 77 years and has more than 120 pieces of Cat equipment, as well
as several other pieces of equipment with Cat® engines.
NMC also provides Fluid Analysis service to customers. The Fluid
Analysis Lab is able to test almost any fl uid on a piece of equipment:
engine oil, transmission fl uid, hydraulic fl uid, fuel, coolant, etc. This
allows NMC to accurately and scientifi cally identify mechanical problems,
which helps reduce customer downtime and minimize repairs costs.
The tests performed include identifying wear metals that are present,
particle counts of metallic and non-metallic debris and analyzing the
sample for the presence of fuel, water and glycol. These tests and
others provide one detailed sample report with a recommendation
in an understandable language.
In May 2013, NMC’s Fluid Analysis Lab also provided signifi cant
savings to Werner Construction by identifying an issue with a
machine’s transmission and making a small repair before the issue
destroyed the entire transmission.
“We’ve incorporated NMC’s Fluid Analysis Services into our Fleet
Management Program in part because it allows us to better manage our
expenses by identifying any potential equipment failures before they
become more serious or catastrophic. We receive the analysis results
quickly and can always count on the staff at NMC to provide support,
and if necessary, service repairs,” commented Beck.
In a world where time is money, NMC’s Equipment Management Solutions
department allows customers to reduce unexpected downtime, schedule
service around production demands and ultimately realize a systematic
approach for managing fl eet and repairs – providing critical information
whenever they need it, wherever they are.