Finsight – a new condition based monitoring team

Finning (UK) Ltd is the UK division of Finning International Inc., one of the world’s largest distributors of Caterpillar plant, complementary equipment and power systems. Towards the end of 2009, a number of factors motivated Finning to consider how they could support customers in a different, more comprehensive way. The increasing commoditisation of products coupled with challenging market conditions provided substantial motivation, and there was also a desire to focus on customer experience and how long-term customer relationships could be improved.

Finning focused on the challenge of providing condition-based information about machinery and plant status. The question was not just whether or not information could be obtained from a piece of equipment, but rather whether the information available was actually being used at the right time and in the right way.

Customers were facing an overload of data and, apart from the few with the resource and skill-set to deal with it, were becoming increasingly blinded by what they should and should not react to. In addition, the information was being provided in separate ’silos’ so customers were not always acting on information they may otherwise have done had a holistic picture been presented to them.