Peoria, Ill.-based Caterpillar will equip most of its new core, mining and industrial machines with EquipmentManager and Product Link, the company's remote asset management solution. The remote tracking and management system will be a standard feature in the United States and Canadian markets. The company is also considering offering Product Link on its telehandlers, although it does not have a time frame set yet for that.
The company has provided remote asset management capabilities as an option since 1998 and will now deliver these capabilities as an integral part of most core Caterpillar machines. Product Link will be available as an option for the remaining Caterpillar machines.
Caterpillar will phase in EquipmentManager and Product Link beginning with wheeled hydraulic excavators and articulated trucks. The remaining machines will be phased in throughout 2008, arriving to dealers and customers with Product Link as standard equipment, along with a three-year subscription to Asset Watch, the remote asset management portion of EquipmentManager.
The Caterpillar system provides the full depth of asset management, maintenance, and health information required by equipment managers to effectively manage their fleets.
EquipmentManager is a secure, web-based application that uses key indicators from equipment such as hours, location and diagnostic codes. Combined with tools such as mapping, maintenance scheduling and troubleshooting instructions, EquipmentManager quickly sorts through machine data to identify events that require attention and delivers information in a meaningful and actionable manner.
Product Link uses satellite technology to enable information to flow between on-board systems and the web-based application, EquipmentManager. The remote management system provides machine location and hours as well as time and geo-fencing capabilities.
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