Connected Tour | Finning News and Diggerman Blogger Hit The Road

Back in September, Finning News headed out on a road trip with industry blogger, Nick Drew for our ‘Connected Tour’, where we retrofitted PL542 boxes onto Cat® and non-Cat machines up and down the country.

The PL542 records data from your equipment and communicates it through the Product Link™ platform, VisionLink. With the ability to track machine location, monitor fuel consumption and downtime, the unit allows plant managers to oversee both its fleet and operators to ensure the safe and efficient running of a site.

PlantForce Hire in Western-Super-Mare was the first stop on the map, where the PL542 was fitted to an Ammann Compactor. The DiggerMan blogger, Nick Drew, was given the opportunity to fit and register the device using the Cat Activate app.

The next stop of the Connected Tour was Gloucester, where Nick Drew showed plant co-ordinator Shane Groves at Smiths of Gloucester Ltd. how to fit the unit himself to one of his Cat 308E Excavators.

After successfully retrofitting the boxes, the day came to a close at O’Brien Contractors in Warwickshire. Engineering manager, Gareth Price, installed the PL542 to their brand new JCB 3XC contractor backhoe loader.

Gareth said: “It has taken minutes to install, it’s probably taken longer to unscrew the casing than it has to plug this back in. It is already transmitting information and it’s all working.”

The road trip came to an end at the Finning HQ in Cannock where the Finsight team of engineers, who monitor thousands of connected assets across the UK and Ireland, tracked the teams connected machines.

Finsight discussed how they can locate, identify and flag up any potential issues with a connected machine, advising whether individual units need preventative maintenance or servicing, with the team able to demonstrate the power of connectivity.

The unit itself is now available for free as part of a 36 month £16.50/€19 per month subscription, which includes six months of free Condition Monitoring, 36 months of fleet benchmark reports and expert advice from our dedicated analysists.

Key Features:

• Monitors operator performance

• Tracks machine location

• Monitors fuel consumption

• Quick and flexible installation

• Connects with Cat and non-Cat equipment

• Battery backup