Page 52: of Marine News Magazine (May 2014)

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to be purchased to utilize ad- vance features. But Mc-

Intosh insists, “Our vi- sion is that basic engine monitoring is available without cost to every

Caterpillar and MaK customer. This will pro- vide basic connectivity and a static view of basic engine parameters. Addi- tional more complete levels will be a subscription service offered via our dealers, with each level including the possibilities for the gpLink monitoring solution are seemingly endless. For example, “Geo- fences” are virtual boarders that are set up by geographic coordinates. Once a GEO-fence is set up you can use them to notify you when an asset enters or leaves that boundary.

This can be used to set up boundaries for standard routes, protected zones, or even around your docking location of your vessel. McIntosh adds, “We’ve seen customers use

GEO-fences to put checks on vessel operations to ensure that the crew isn’t making unscheduled stops, which could lead to fuel theft and / or other unauthorized activities.

We are using GEO-Fencing at Caterpillar as part of the

AIS system currently available worldwide to evaluate vessel docking and port frequency, allowing us to better establish market leading service infrastructure for marine. This is all part of ensuring that we can offer the best marine product support available to our valued customers.

CBM, RETROFITS, AND MORE …

Today, Cat is even talking about fi eld trials on competi- tor’s engines. For example, the gpLink system monitors messages over both public J1939 and Caterpillar propri- etary communications. Hence, the possibility that their system could be used to pull the public data from competi- tor’s engines is being explored because it could allow Cat to help provide a complete solution for customers who may not have just Cat engines on their vessel or fl eet.

In today’s fast moving marine world, the next step in- volves “complete ship monitoring” along with remote cen- ters and call-in “Alerts.” And, Cat is already there. McIn- tosh told MarineNews, “We currently offer a service for our yacht owners called ‘Cat Concierge’ that provides 24/7 call in service. Although Cat Concierge does not require re- mote monitoring, it has been proven to be a more effective solution when paired with gpLink.

We have also launched our new Navigator program, providing similar services to our top Commercial

Marine accounts. We understand the challenges facing the market today and have a vision for the future.”

Condition Based Mainte- nance (CBM), of course, is part of that vision and the future for all successful operators. Caterpillar plans to provide CBM to customers as part of the higher level subscription based services. Cater- pillar’s experience with engine performance and develop- ment provides the ability to set up analytics to help cus- tomers avoid failures through highly sophisticated CBM.

Says McIntosh, CBM will be part of our initial remote monitoring offerings and will be expanded over time.”

Finally, and while monitoring solutions are a good bet for newbuild tonnage and repower jobs, the task becomes a bit more tricky when dealing with existing engines and equipment. Addressing that challenge, McIntosh said, “We defi nitely plan to offer a retrofi t kit. There will be some limitations around engine models supported via the Cat hardware, however, we are actively working to fi nd that perfect match of Cat hardware (for Cat and MaK equip- ment) and third party hardware for non-Cat and MaK, all sending data to the same source, running through the same analytics engines, and reporting via the same cus- tomer interface. This technology is incredibly challenging, but also very exciting, and we believe the future of marine operations.” www.marine.cat.com

PROPULSION

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