Caterpillar and Uptake to Create Analytics Solutions

PEORIA, Ill., March 5, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- To help customers around the world better understand the health of their equipment and optimize machine availability, Caterpillar Inc. CAT today announced it has entered into a technology and predictive analytics agreement with Uptake, provider of a dynamic analytics and insight platform for a wide array of industries, based in Chicago, Illinois. Caterpillar has made a minority investment in Uptake and will jointly develop an end-to-end platform for predictive diagnostics to help Caterpillar customers monitor and optimize their fleets more effectively. The new technology will be available for both Cat® products and non-Cat branded products.

"Customers use our current technology for fleet monitoring and to track fuel efficiency, idle times, location and more," said Doug Oberhelman, Chairman and CEO of Caterpillar. "Our existing solutions are effective, but it's time we take it to the next level. This relationship will combine Caterpillar's world-class product engineering and design expertise with Uptake's software, application and data analytics expertise. As a result, 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."

Oberhelman continued, "Through this agreement, we'll build a platform to bring the next generation of our technology services and products to market sooner, and will act as a springboard for years of development after that. 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 end result will be more efficient operations and increased fleet availability for our customers. And the more our customers' machines and engines stay running, the more money they make."

Since 2014, Uptake has been developing locomotive-related predictive diagnostics and fleet optimization solutions for Electro-Motive Diesel (EMD), a subsidiary of Caterpillar. The early successes of the locomotive project led Caterpillar to expand its relationship with Uptake into other industries Caterpillar serves. As Uptake's exclusive partner in various industries, Caterpillar can leverage its data and operational insights with Uptake's technology and data science platform to provide unparalleled solutions for customers in each of those industries.

"We are at a unique time in history—analytics are enabling insights that are changing the way entire industries work. Uptake is at the front of this evolution," said Brad Keywell, Co-Founder and CEO of Uptake. "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. Our partnership with Caterpillar has resulted in a cross-industry platform that is informed by the best data and the best operational insights."

Caterpillar selected Uptake as its partner based on the capabilities the company witnessed following the agreement with EMD. Uptake's location in Chicago, which is near Caterpillar's headquarters in Central Illinois and the company's largest concentration of U.S. engineers and factories, was also a key factor.

"We're excited about an optimal platform that will not only increase the value of the information our customers and dealers already receive, but also help them maintain a competitive advantage," Oberhelman added. "What we're really talking about is graduating to even smarter, more connected products. We're working on getting ahead of the curve, because with our knowledge and expertise, there is no one better than Caterpillar to provide the platform and tools necessary to help our customers achieve new levels of equipment availability, productivity and profitability."

In the coming months, Caterpillar will collaborate with Uptake and the Cat dealer network to roll out the latest predictive analytics and insights through web-based and mobile tools for customers.

About Caterpillar:
For 90 years, Caterpillar Inc. has been making sustainable progress possible and driving positive change on every continent. Customers turn to Caterpillar to help them develop infrastructure, energy and natural resource assets. With 2014 sales and revenues of $55.184 billion, Caterpillar is the world's leading manufacturer of construction and mining equipment, diesel and natural gas engines, industrial gas turbines and diesel-electric locomotives. The company principally operates through its three product segments - Resource Industries, Construction Industries and Energy & Transportation - and also provides financing and related services through its Financial Products segment. For more information, visit caterpillar.com. To connect with us on social media, visit caterpillar.com/social-media.

About Uptake:
Uptake, a predictive analytics company, empowers global companies to optimize performance and reduce failure of assets. Leveraging unique partnerships, Uptake integrates cross-industry expertise, data science, and workflow connectivity to build high-value solutions based on massive data sets. The result is a platform that identifies problems before they happen and delivers refined insights to drive unparalleled efficiency and productivity. For more information, visit uptake.com.

Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements in this press release relate to future events and expectations and are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as "believe," "estimate," "will be," "will," "would," "expect," "anticipate," "plan," "project," "intend," "could," "should" or other similar words or expressions often identify forward-looking statements. All statements other than statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, statements regarding our outlook, projections, forecasts or trend descriptions. These statements do not guarantee future performance, and we do not undertake to update our forward-looking statements. Caterpillar's actual results may differ materially from those described or implied in our forward-looking statements based on a number of factors, including, but not limited to: (i) global and regional economic conditions and economic conditions in the industries we serve; (ii) government monetary or fiscal policies and infrastructure spending; (iii) commodity price changes, component price increases, fluctuations in demand for our products or significant shortages of component products; (iv) disruptions or volatility in global financial markets limiting our sources of liquidity or the liquidity of our customers, dealers and suppliers; (v) political and economic risks, commercial instability and events beyond our control in the countries in which we operate; (vi) failure to maintain our credit ratings and potential resulting increases to our cost of borrowing and adverse effects on our cost of funds, liquidity, competitive position and access to capital markets; (vii) our Financial Products segment's risks associated with the financial services industry; (viii) changes in interest rates or market liquidity conditions; (ix) an increase in delinquencies, repossessions or net losses of Cat Financial's customers; (x) new regulations or changes in financial services regulations; (xi) a failure to realize, or a delay in realizing, all of the anticipated benefits of our acquisitions, joint ventures or divestitures; (xii) international trade policies and their impact on demand for our products and our competitive position; (xiii) our ability to develop, produce and market quality products that meet our customers' needs; (xiv) the impact of the highly competitive environment in which we operate on our sales and pricing; (xv) failure to realize all of the anticipated benefits from initiatives to increase our productivity, efficiency and cash flow and to reduce costs; (xvi) additional restructuring costs or a failure to realize anticipated savings or benefits from past or future cost reduction actions; (xvii) inventory management decisions and sourcing practices of our dealers and our OEM customers; (xviii) compliance with environmental laws and regulations; (xix) alleged or actual violations of trade or anti-corruption laws and regulations; (xx) additional tax expense or exposure; (xxi) currency fluctuations; (xxii) our or Cat Financial's compliance with financial covenants; (xxiii) increased pension plan funding obligations; (xxiv) union disputes or other employee relations issues; (xxv) significant legal proceedings, claims, lawsuits or government investigations; (xxvi) changes in accounting standards; (xxvii) failure or breach of IT security; (xxviii) adverse effects of unexpected events including natural disasters; and (xxix) other factors described in more detail under "Item 1A. Risk Factors" in our Form 10-K filed with the SEC on February 17, 2015, for the year ended December 31, 2014.

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SOURCE Caterpillar Inc.