I've been asked a couple of times now about these machine monitoring systems being installed on new machines and just how they are supposed to save money and how they work. Since that is about a moon shot away from what I do I thought I might ask the experts here. The Cat system is Product Link, I think the Komatsu system is Komtrac and the Deere system is JDLink. What exactly do they monitor, can the customer have full time access to the data and is this just another way for the manufacturers and dealers to rake more cash out of the end user's pockets? What kind of experience has anyone had? Thanks!
We're using the latest version of Cat Product Link (PL321) on 3 machines as a trial and the information it supplies is mega. I suspect that if you're a machine rental outfit it would be of even more use to you so you'd know where all your machines were at any one time. We are just a single site operation. The system is extremely useful to monitor stuff from the office if you cannot actually get out to the machines yourself as often as you would like. It removes the doubts about "what happened" if the machine fires off an alarm, because you have access to all the machine data from that time, not just the fact the alarm went off. You can have full-time real-time access to the data, it sits there on your desktop. Downside is that you have to have the system installed on every machine, budget about $1500-3000 if you buy it as an attachment installed on a new machine from the factory, probably more if it's installed after purchase of the machine. You may be surprised to find a lot of larger models come Product Link equipped direct from the factory. Please note these comments apply only to the Cat system. Here's a video link ........... http://www.cat.com/itpaystoknow/home
I work for a Volvo dealer and there system is Caretrac, it is amazing what you can see and do. You can see error codes read the data sets of the ECUs and even hardware numbers. You can get machine location and you can shut the machine down if it is stolen. I know that Volvo offered free hardware, free software and free installation of there system for the first half of last year. And they were popular I only did about 75 machines.
Thanks for the responses. I've heard the Cat system is free for the first year or six months on a new machine. Any idea what it costs after that "free" time frame. I would assume you pay a subscription fee after that based on time, say so much a month per machine. Another issue I can see is the data on machine operation being used to negotiate warranty repairs. Any feeling on that. What was entailed in installing the Volvo system, say on parts and time. Does the system just plug into the existing wiring or do you have to patch in? Does anyone have any success stories? How about negatives? Thanks
We see it as a positive. Operators can't get away with stuff when the electronics tells on them like this. Also we can get immediate information when a machine throws a diagnostic code so that we can take action before things potentially get serious. Activating Product Link on Cat's is "Plug & Play" provided that the machine has the Product Link module installed in the first place. A lot of models do Negatives..? Not sure, but the way I read the electrical schematics is that even if the Product Link was to fail the machine carries on working as normal. Effectively the Product Link system is like a dedicated radio transmitting all the machine data direct to your desktop. Regarding warranty as a customer I would not be too upset if a warranty was denied because of something my operators were doing wrong, unless they had been taught that practice by the dealer's trainer, in which case things would likely get very ugly very quickly.
On the Volvo it depends on the machine how labor intensive it was on the Excavators I got installation down to about 45min but on loaders and haul trucks it was about 2hrs, and the one down fall is definitely Volvo being able to watch warranty claims.
Thanks for the input. I'll do some more research.
Ive gotta tell ya....there's nothing better than receiving an email on my blackberry from a customers machine at 3 am,telling me he has a light or two out. :Banghead
Ah ... Product link .. Production / Tons / BCM .. Thats where the money can be saved really John .. Empty time, Load time, Cycles, Haul distance, Empty return haul, Carry back etc ... Live VIMS / TKPH reporting.
I thought it was possible to filter what sort of events you choose to receive notification via e-mail ..? I assume you're talking about Cat Product Link here. Can't say for any of the others. Our issue is with most of our large mining machines being equipped with full-blown Wireless VIMS it's possible to monitor in real time from the office everything up to and including a detailed analysis of the contents of the operator's last visit to the bathroom .... When confronted with something like a tractor or grader that doesn't have this function you start to feel naked. And generally these are the type of machine that give trouble on a regular basis, the big kit doesn't.