TECHNOLOGY & EQUIPMENT MORE SO THAN ever before manufacturers and end users are embracing technology, using improved on-board controls, advance diagnostics and machine control to improve up-time and performance of machines on construction sites. And now OEMs are looking to improve their predictive abilities by harnessing the power of big data. This is part of a wider emphasis on the industrial internet and the Internet of Things; a sector which has been estimated to be one day OEMs are looking to improve their predictive abilities by harnessing the power of big data
worth $19 trillion, encompassing the whole range of activated technology, from smart phones to cars to construction equipment. Earlier this year, Caterpillar bought a minority stake in Uptake, a tech start-up in Chicago. Uptake was already developing predictive diagnostics and fleet optimisation solutions for locomotives for Electro-Motive Diesel (EMD), a subsidiary of Caterpillar, and its success the company consider wider possibilities within the construction equipment sector. And CAT is not the only company embracing big data - Komatsu is collaborating with General Electric to develop its next-generation mining equipment, as well as providing recommendations for optimisation of mines to Komatsu customers, by using GE’s high-powered analysis of data collected by sensors on dumpers. Big data and the Internet of Things The new initiatives amalgamate around the concepts of big data and the Internet of Things. The term ‘big data’ refers to increasingly huge data sets which can be mined for
14 September 2015