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? understanding each individual in-dustry segment. Since 2007, Cat has talked to more than 300 customers in focused, 1.5 hour interviews. What they discovered was that one size does not t all anymore, and it also became clear that customers wanted one integrator. A new business strat- egy then emerged, focusing on 10 different industry segments. Fischer continues, ?We are committed to re- maining a market leader in the marine industry and strive to build long-term partnerships with our customers. Un- derstanding our customers? key value propositions has guided Caterpillar Marine Power Systems to engage in a strategically-segmented approach to the marine industry and adjust to our customers? short-term needs. Our segments include offshore, tug and salvage, pleasure craft, cruise, ferry, shing, dredge, cargo, governmental and inland waterways. We are cur- rently experiencing signi cant growth in our offshore segment and are uniquely suited to leverage the syner- gies between marine and oil and gas divisions in this particular segment.? Along the way, the differences in the requirements and concerns for each of the sectors also became clear. Fischer told MarineNews that OSV?s, for ex- ample, might be more concerned with reliability than they might be with fuel ef ciency because no one wants down- time in this high-dollar day rate game. Others want to know about owning, operating lifecycle costs, while for some marine operators, the solid relationship with their engine supplier comes rst and foremost. Lowering their environ- mental footprint and measurable emis-sions is still a big concern of course, especially from the cruise industry. Spending twice as much in research and development now, as it was just three years ago, Cat continually strives to be the industry?s one stop shop that melds business and technology into one service. BEYOND MCOE: INNOVATION , INTEGRATION AND TECHNOLOGY , TOO During our visit site visit, Fischer also took us beyond MCOE with a closer look at other developments at Cat. Re- ferring to Cat?s new and aptly named gplink, the new satellite/cellular based tracking, monitoring, and noti cation system is speci cally designed for Cat engines, he said, ?Caterpillar?s use of satellite and cellular remote monitor- ing is just one component of our value proposition to our customers; we want customers to have one source for all of Brad Fischer, Caterpillar?s Manufactur- ing Engineering Managerwww.marinelink.com MN 47MN April2013 Layout 32-49.indd 47MN April2013 Layout 32-49.indd 474/2/2013 10:58:10 AM4/2/2013 10:58:10 AM
