![[VIDEO] How Caterpillar Vision Link Gives Strack Inc. a Hybid-Excavator Competitive Advantage](https://img.forconstructionpros.com/files/base/acbm/fcp/image/2016/10/default.57f293554ddb4.png?auto=format%2Ccompress&fit=crop&h=288&q=70&w=512)
"In today’s construction environment, people don’t acknowledge the true cost of doing business, they don’t acknowledge the increased cost of fuel," says Jonathon Strack, owner/president of Strack Inc. "Any tool you can get that helps you see that and track that and find a way to be a smarter contractor just puts money in your back pocket."
Pressure to gain cost advantages has become a matter of survival for the third-generation, Georgia-based, heavy civil/utility contractor. The company focuses on large-scale, fast-track projects, and increased competition for this kind of work has forced the company to sharpen its bids to win projects and maintain profit margin.
“More competition bidding on fewer jobs is always an issue for us now," says Strack. "Any edge we can get over the competition, we’ll take it.”
Strack and his managers have found the Vision Link online interface to Caterpillar's Product Link telematics data helps build an advantage. Not only do they use reports such as machine idle time compared to working time, but they're also finding the system's fuel-consumption monitoring important to measuring the return on investment on their Cat 336 hybrid excavator. The information takes the company an important step from understanding that the expensive excavator is not just burning less fuel, but knowing exactly how much less fuel it burns, and how much they can discount the cost of work that it does while still earning a profit.
“I’m heavily focused on technology in the business," says Strack. "I love the Vision Link product. I can track our fuel burn; I can track where my equipment is. Using it, you’ll know exactly what your fleet’s doing."
