Officials from Caterpillar and Trimble announced on Oct. 2 their intention to continue a collaboration aimed at improving grade control technologies and interoperability, as well as availability of those technologies to end users and OEMs.
The agreement is designed to allow the two companies to increase innovation and differentiation, develop new products and pursue new industry and geographic opportunities.
For Caterpillar customers, this agreement means:
- Factory-fit grade options through Caterpillar
- Cat Grade 3D Ready options allow upgrading at any point within the machine lifecycle
- Expanded aftermarket and digital offerings directly through Cat dealers
Trimble customers will experience:
- Continued mixed-fleet support from trusted SITECH dealers
- Expanded distribution network to reach and meet the needs of mixed fleet customers
- Streamlined access to grade control through Trimble Construction One suite of digital solutions further extends Trimble's construction technology ecosystem
Scott Crozier, vice president of civil construction field systems at Trimble, said the renewed agreement builds upon a partnership Cat and Trimble started in 2002. Crozier was one of the first mechanical engineers from Trimble to work on the grade control Caterpillar Trimble Control Technologies (CTCT) partnership with Cat. He’s been involved with the project in some form ever since. He now serves as a member of the CTCT board of managers.
“For my predecessors, it was great foresight; you couldn’t have picked a better partner to with than Caterpillar,” Crozier said. “I remember in 2003, (Trimble) celebrating the first 100 systems that we sold in a year. Now the joint venture sells close to that on a daily basis.”
When it comes to the evolution of grade control technology, two aspects have improved dramatically during the past two decades: usability and performance.Caterpillar
When it comes to the evolution of grade control technology, two aspects have improved dramatically during the past two decades: usability and performance, Crozier said. There has been a large increase in the amount of grade control technology during the past seven years, he added.
“This is where Trimble's GNSS positioning, performance has improved significantly, even in the last seven years, and you couple that with Caterpillar’s knowledge of the machine and machine dynamics, and that gives us a very high performing grade control system,” he said.
Throughout the years, as the two companies and technologies have evolved, so has the joint venture. This most recent, renewed agreement ensures a long future of continued technology development for grade control and other applications.
“We're positioning ourselves not just to be successful now, but to be successful years from now, with a seven-to-10-year kind of vision,” Crozier said.
The continued partnership aims to accelerate innovation, for one, Crozier said.
“Technology adoption is increasing, and we're seeing more and more players in this space,” he said. “For us to remain industry best with many of the industry's innovations that have come from Caterpillar and Trimble over the years, we want to make sure we're still positioned to enable those innovations.”
Another key part of the agreement is its focus on continued technology adoption, partly through improved distribution.
“We talked about the growth in systems that we sell on a regular basis,” Crozier said. “How do we keep that going (and expand) to parts of the industry that have not adopted technology yet?”
Dealers will continue to be a primary mode of distribution for end users. They also plan to work with OEMs to provide the technology directly.
“What you will see in this expanded distribution is the ability for equipment manufacturers to get the right technology for their machines,” he said. “That's not going to happen overnight. It's an opportunity for Trimble to work with those equipment manufacturers to set up retail outlets.”
The agreement makes available interoperable grade control technology through a platform for use by Cat, Trimble, technology providers and equipment manufacturers. This flexible platform will increase opportunities for innovations, he said.
“We believe creating a platform and allowing Trimble, Caterpillar and the third parties to add capabilities onto that grade control platform, whether that's augmented reality, whether it's scanning or mapping solutions, or whether it's safety solutions -- we find we will enable that through open interfaces on the grade control platform,” Crozier said.
The agreement is designed to allow the two companies to increase innovation and differentiation, develop new products and pursue new industry and geographic opportunities.Caterpillar
Improved interoperability between systems is a goal, as these technologies continue to evolve.
“At the moment, a Cat/Trimble system works very well within the Trimble site infrastructure. We need to make sure that as the technology adoption increases, different types of technologies play well with each other. So you can bring different types of technology, different brands of technology, and they will work seamlessly with each other,” he said.
Users can expect continued upgrades in mapping, field-to-office connectivity and integrations with project management and project scheduling capabilities. The company is focused on safety and automation, as well.
He highlighted the potential of Trimble's reality capture technology, including scanning and sharing data in real-time.
“The ability to visualize and share a construction site, in real time across the world, I think, is the is the next innovation in Trimble’s reality capture solutions,” Crozier said. “This is scanning and scan-to-cloud so that the scans can be easily shared. And it enables people from anywhere to visualize what's happening on the site in real time, but also to measure. These are not just images. It's data sets that can be used to measure and analyze progress on a regular basis and compare that to what the plan or the schedule was.”
The agreement makes available interoperable grade control technology through a platform for use by Cat, Trimble, technology providers and equipment manufacturers.Caterpillar
