Warren CAT
Warren CAT Improves Preventative Maintenance and Consignment Billing with SkyBitz® Technology
For 25 years, Warren CAT has served West Texas and Oklahoma as one of the largest and fastest growing Caterpillar® dealerships in North America. Based in Midland, Texas, Warren CAT operates five divisions covering heavy construction and governmental, rental and general construction, engines and generators, agriculture and parts and service.
Situation
With Warren CAT’s recent expansion into renting construction and agricultural equipment, management made the decision to install asset tracking solutions to provide greater visibility of its rental equipment. Warren CAT saw the need to track equipment location and hours of service to help accurately manage consignment billing and preventative maintenance (PM).
Before deciding on SkyBitz’s patented GLS tracking technology, Warren CAT had tried several different systems without the desired results. “Before utilizing asset tracking, we relied on the honesty of our customers, along with our service department, to track and maintain our assets,” said Warren CAT’s Midland Rental Power Coordinator Carrie Woodfin.
Previous asset tracking systems employed by Warren CAT did not produce to the standards the company required and they “found the SkyBitz system to be much more user-friendly.”
Solution
In 2008, Warren CAT installed the fi rst of about 250 SkyBitz GLS210 and GLS400 Mobile Terminals on its rental equipment, ranging from portable generators and pumps to air compressors and light towers. The flexible GLS Mobile Terminals were paired with SkyBitz’s Engine Hour Meter to provide accurate runtime reports and real-time location.
Woodfin said they chose SkyBitz over other asset tracking solutions for many reasons, including the ability to monitor position and hours of service for each unit, the ease of installation and activation, the easy-to-use SkyBitz InSight Web application and the ability to actively respond to stolen or misplaced assets. These benefi ts have resulted in more accurate billing and PM scheduling, in addition to a powerful customer service tool.
“SkyBitz’s solution is very user-friendly and provides us with the operational data our business needs from one simple to use unit,” Woodfi n stated. “We are able to track equipment location, monitor usage and provide our customers access to the same data we use via the SkyBitz InSight Web application.”
Results
“The most important benefit we have seen is the accuracy of preventative maintenance on our equipment,” Woodfin stated. “We are able to closely monitor each unit’s hours and know exactly when it is ready for service.” Warren CAT has seen a drop in preventative maintenance costs since installing SkyBitz Mobile Terminals, eliminating excess travel costs to service units not scheduled for service and conducting proper maintenance on equipment based on recorded hours-of-service.
In addition to reducing PM costs, Woodfin added that they have seen an increase in the accuracy of consignment billing. “With SkyBitz, we are able to monitor when and if an asset is being used and charge that customer the appropriate fees.” Warren CAT looks to expand its asset visibility in the future, planning to equip 100 percent of its rental power equipment with SkyBitz technology.