UTE launches CAT’s ‘Product Link’ in Sri Lanka

Thursday, 13 December 2012 00:49 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

United Tractors and Equipment Ltd. (UTE), exclusive dealers of the world’s leading brand in construction equipment Caterpillar (CAT), have launched ‘Product Link’ in Sri Lanka.

The revolutionary service, designed by CAT in the USA, allows customers to receive real time data on the condition, location and usage of all product link enabled machines they possess, via the internet.

‘Product Link’ provides information on the condition of the machine and its parts, as well as the location of the machine, the remaining fuel and fuel consumption, in real time, to the customer’s PC through the internet.

This allows the customer to intervene if any anomalies arise. For example, if there is a problem with the machine’s water pump, the customer can intervene and replace it before the engine sustains damage from overheating, rewarding the customer with a substantial saving through early intervention.

UTE Chief Executive Officer Riyad Ismail, commented on ‘Product Link’ stated, “CAT is the global leader in our industry, so all the cutting edge innovations come from them. UTE, as exclusive Sri Lankan dealers in CAT products and services, are proud to spearhead the industry’s innovation and evolution locally. Product Link is the next big step – it applies cloud computing to project management.”

‘Product Link’ also generates timelines and graphs that let you measure a machine’s condition, fuel consumption and usage over time thus allowing you to judge trends and see which jobs the machine performs that place the heaviest strain on it, and consume the most amounts of resources. Essentially, it allows the customer to make informed micro-management adjustments through the Internet without even being on site.

“The Product Link Motto is ‘it pays to know’. The benefit this service brings is that it allows the customer who may be seated in an office miles from the work sites to monitor the condition, location and use of all the machines in the fleet. This gives you the knowledge of your operators, your site supervisors and your maintenance managers all from your computer, saving you time and money and allowing you to make sure you are getting most out of your machines,” added Ismail.

‘Product Link’ also benefits customers by allowing them to see their entire fleet simultaneously. Customers can see the consumption and maintenance patterns that arise and can route their fuel lorries and maintenance teams appropriately to achieve maximum efficiency. Machines that are under-performing can also be identified and the fleet can be reorganised to get the highest performance from the machines in your possession.

‘Product Link’ works by using three elements. The first is a small piece of hardware placed in the machines that monitors their condition and relays the data. The second is the relay network – ‘Product Link’ uses the existing mobile networks of US based Telco AT&T’s local partners as well as GPS to relay the data. Finally all the data is compiled on the CAT web servers and presented to the customer in an easy to read user friendly format. All the customer has to do is log on to the website.