Caterpillar Buys Into Analytics Firm Uptake

Heavy machinery giant Caterpillar has agreed a technology partnership with predictive analytics specialist Uptake, and taken a minority stake in the Chicago-based company.

The partners will jointly develop an end-to-end platform for predictive diagnostics to help Caterpillar customers monitor and optimize their fleets more effectively using web-based and mobile tools.

Founded between the wars, Caterpillar Inc. is known for its manufacture of construction and mining equipment, gas turbines and other heavy industrial machinery, and had 2014 revenues of $55.2bn. The two firms have been working together for a year, with Uptake developing locomotive-related predictive diagnostics and fleet optimization solutions for Caterpillar subsidiary Electro-Motive Diesel (EMD).

Caterpillar Chairman and CEO Doug Oberhelman says: 'Our existing solutions are effective, but it's time we take it to the next level... We'll be able to transform the quintillion bytes of incoming data we see every day into useful information we feed back to our customers for on-the-spot decisions and planning purposes to further reduce owning and operating costs.' He adds: ' We want to empower our customers with the insight necessary to shift from a reactive 'repair after failure' mode to a proactive 'repair before failure' stance... The more our customers' machines and engines stay running, the more money they make.'

Brad Keywell, Co-Founder and CEO of Uptake, comments: 'Our platform takes massive data provided by sensors, combines it with data science to understand signals and patterns and deploys insights in real time that save money, optimize performance and prevent unplanned downtime.'

The partners are online at www.uptake.com and www.caterpillar.com .

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.