Caterpillar Inc answers productivity questions with expert Matthew Hendry

Matthew talks to Peter Haddock about the questions he gets asked all the time, whilst explaining how one customer reduced CO2 emissions by 15%, hitting productivity targets in five instead of six days!

What's impacting my earthmoving productivity, and how can I reduce my impact on the environment?  This is just one of the key questions our followers and people Peter meets on site want answering. For Content With Media, it's all about the 'Five P's'.  'Productivity- Planning - Proof - Payback and Profitability.'  Fortunately, Peter recently had the pleasure at the Cat Learning and Development Centre in Malaga, Spain, of catching up with Cat Productivity specialists Matthew Hendry. 

He explained how the team, Cat dealers and customers use telematics data to provide the proof that supports better planning and the insights that deliver a payback on investments, increasing productivity and profitability.  Matthew: "With the rise in global fuel prices and a greater focus on sustainability, we are increasingly helping customers to improve productivity.  "For example, recently, a quarry customer asked us questions about reducing fuel burning in the material loading and hauling processes. Using our tools, we managed to reduce CO2 emissions by 15%, dramatically impacting fuel burn, whilst increasing productivity levels.

The impact has been so great the business is now working five days a week instead of six to meet its targets."   Matthew added: "This was all achieved by taking advantage of our connected machines to understand what is happening on the customers' connected worksite. At Caterpillar, we can take data from our machines and turn it into useful information through our Cat Productivity web portal. This is shared with customers who can work with our teams and dealers to improve outcomes. 

"It's a solution developed over several years to measure and report what is happening onsite at any given time.  "For example, this information can show how an individual or fleet of trucks is being loaded, show cycle times from loading to tipping, including payload, and highlight where there may be opportunities to improve this process.  "This can relate to simple things like positioning a truck better for loading or identifying potential issues with haul roads that need maintaining.

Similarly, there could be wider opportunities across the site to make larger operational changes or to focus on areas like GET management." We have seen this type of approach being used on sites with Caterpillar machines, and one, in particular, was CATPLANT LIMITED which Peter visited last year.