For two German construction companies seeking a solution to lower fuel costs, boost equipment availability and eliminate unscheduled downtime, the answer came in the form of Equipment Management Solutions utilizing Cat® Product Link™ and VisionLink®—and the results included significant operating cost savings.
GEBR, KLARWEIN GMBH, a mid-sized construction firm based in Wessling, and AMAND GMBH & CO, KG, a large construction company based in Ratingen, faced similar issues: Costs related to downtime and fuel consumption were too high. Machine availability was critical to profitability. And managing and monitoring multiple fleets working at multiple locations was proving a challenge.
So Cat dealer Zeppelin Baumaschinen proposed an equipment management solution—specifically Cat Product Link and its web-based user interface, VisionLink.
“Just imagine us practically looking inside the machine on a daily basis and being able to see if any damage is likely to happen, so that we can save our customers the cost of expensive repairs,” says Thomas Wiedemann, product support general sales manager at Zeppelin.
With Product Link already installed on much of their equipment, the two companies each activated their VisionLink accounts. Now, both dealer and customer employees use this remote monitoring and fleet management solution to view and manage critical data—everything from machine location, working versus idle time and fuel usage to event and diagnostic codes and more.
Gaining easy access to this information has enabled both companies to optimize equipment life, minimize idle time and virtually eliminate unscheduled downtime.
“If I know in advance that my machine needs service or needs repairing, I can respond more rapidly and plan more quickly,” says Andreas Klarwein, vice president of GEBR.
Product Link and VisionLink have also helped the two companies lower their operating costs, specifically in the area of fuel consumption.
“VisionLink has changed our daily working process significantly. We rely on it,” says Norbert Amand, AMAND’s CEO. “The percentage of cost savings is almost in double digits.”
