Generator Set Repair Options

Join me for a discussion with Joe Gorski to talk about options for genset repairs.

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Transcript

Intro: Good Day and welcome everyone to Power Bytes!  I am your host Lou Signorelli and Power Bytes is your destination Podcast for power generation conversation.  As always please know how much we appreciate you, our listeners.  We hope you find our topics helpful and interesting.  There are several ways for you to get in touch with the show. You can send us an email at powerbytes@cat.com, visit us at Cat Electric Power on Facebook or LinkedIn.  Please remember to subscribe wherever you listen to our show… it really helps.  

I'm sure each of us has purchased something that we know we can fix.  And.. We have purchased things we know that we are going to need some assistance maintaining or repairing.  Today we are going to talk about just those kinds of options as they relate to generator sets. 

 Joining me today for just such a discussion is Joe Gorski  

·         Joe has been with CAT for more than 14 years, most of that time spent in new product development as an Engineer designing and Leading projects to design Caterpillar Electric Power Products  

·         For the past 2 years Joe has been working as a part of the Electric Power aftermarket team, focused on providing aftermarket solutions for our genset owners.  Primarily focused on products 1250ekw and below.    

·         He is currently based out of the Griffin GA Facility 

 Welcome Joe! 

 Joe:  Thanks Lou, I appreciate you allowing me to speak with everyone today and talk about some of the important work we've been doing in the Electric Power genset Aftermarket space.  In our Electric Power aftermarket team we've been very focused over the past 1-2 years in speaking with genset owners to better understand what they need to  service their genset equipment throughout that gensets entire lifecycle.  Ultimately, we’ve used this feedback to guide our aftermarket repair options strategy with 2 main objectives.  The first being to Provide comprehensive repair options that not only cover the entire product’s lifecycle, but also offer multiple repair options at each stage in that gensets lifecycle to support an owner’s repair preferences and the second objective being to make these repair options easier to find and purchase for the genset owner.   

 Lou: Joe, there are many kinds of genset owners out there. Short of simply calling their local Cat dealer, what can I do as a genset owner if I want to repair or maintain my own genset? 

 Joe:  While the recommended option is to lean on the expertise of the local Caterpillar Dealer to maintain and service your genset we understand that there are a lot of owners that prefer to do some of their own basic maintenance like oil changes, and swapping their own oil, fuel, and air filters.  For these do it myself genset owners their Operation and maintenance manual is the best tool to understand when those basic service activities are required.  It will spell out for them those key activities and define the interval, whether it’s every 500 run hours or maybe an annual oil and filters change for a strictly standby genset.   

 Lou:  Is there anything we've done recently to help owners identify the maintenance parts they need for their gensets?

 Joe:  One initiative I'd like to mention that supports these do it myself owners is something we've done recently to make the planned maintenance parts for these oil, fuel, and air filter changes easier to identify and order.  A genset owner can now go to our cat.com website under the Power Systems, and Electric Power Product Support page.  On this page in the maintenance and support section we've provided a listing of preventative maintenance options for these planned maintenance kits.  Within this page they can identify their specific genset model down to the serial prefix and it will show them the filters kit they would need.  Each kit on that page also has a hyperlink that will take them directly to the parts.cat.com website and auto populates their shopping cart with the necessary parts.  All of this was done in the spirit of making the parts a genset owner needs easier to find, and easier to order.    

 Lou: Joe, what if my genset has a lot of hours on it.  What are my options to bring it back to like new running condition?  

 Joe:  Yeah, great question and topic Lou.  For this we’ve really tried to listen to owner feedback and that feedback led us to take a fairly comprehensive approach and provide several levels of options for repair, rebuild, and replacement.  We understand that for one owner the answer for their high hour genset may be a rebuild.  Normally this is on larger gensets in the 300kw and above range.  In these instances, the technical know-how may exist in their region and the financials may make sense and allow for an engine rebuild to be a good option.  While in other regions or for other owners they may want to do a higher level replacement with a short block, long block, or complete replacement reman engine.  By taking the holistic approach we’ve taken the opportunity to lay out all of these options for a genset owner to make the best decision for themselves.  

 Lou:  Joe, it sounds like Cat has done their homework.  Can you tell us about a program that came from this greater understanding of genset owners?

 Joe:  One recent program to support owners in this decision making is our Packaged Repair Solutions program.  Again, I’ll reference the cat.com electric power product support sight I mentioned previously.  On this site is the repair options page which has some great information for the Packaged Repair Solutions program.  Here we have some documents for our genset platforms where we've been able to lay out all of the repair options for key components like cylinder heads, cylinder packs, injectors, pumps, turbos and the associated gasket kits they would need to repair or replace these components.  Also, for each of these key components we're giving them visibility to both the new and reman parts so they can work hand in hand with their local dealer to really tailor the rebuild how they want it.  If a genset owner wants to use all new parts they can, if they want to use as many reman parts as possible then they can, or a mix of something in between.  And even on these larger engines we provide visibility to reman replacement engine options if that's what solutions fits the owner's needs best.   

 Lou:  Joe you mentioned that program might best suit larger gensets 300kw and above.  What about say, the smaller gensets below 300kw?   What if I'd prefer to not do a rebuild and simply replace the engine and not the entire genset.  What are my options? 

 Joe: For many of our smaller gensets, typically in the 300kw and smaller range, when they get a lot of hours on them sometimes the financials just don't work out to do an overhaul or rebuild.  Or maybe the owner just can't deal with the downtime required for a rebuild or overhaul.  We've been doing work in this space as well to provide some additional higher level solutions.  For example, for many of our genset engines we have short block and long blocks available that provide that core engine iron and may allow them to reuse some of the existing engine components if they are still in good working condition.  Another focus area has been to provide additional visibility and offerings for complete replacement engines, both remanufactured and even new replacement engines.  This may be ideal for owners who want to minimize downtime and maximize simplicity and the peace of mind that dropping in a new replacement engine can provide.  We've been expanding our offerings of both reman and new replacement engines and working to build up stock to make them available just like a part.    

 Lou: Joe, what resources are there to help owners decide on the right maintenance path for their particular genset.

 Working with the Caterpillar dealer, all of the factors can be taken into account to provide the optimum solution for the genset owner.  I'd like to again point people toward the cat.com Electric Power Site.  In the Product Support repair options section we have some great information in there about the different replacement engine options and the benefits and tradeoffs between each of these.     .   

  Lou: great!  Sounds like there is a great deal of flexibility to suit whichever experience level or preference an owner might have.  Are there a range of rebuild programs as well? 

 Joe:  Definitely, we have several programs to support owners in whatever region they're located.  We have discount programs for our package repair solutions, and other programs to support overhauls and rebuilds.  These programs offer some discounting on their parts when they partner with their local dealer on a project.  I'd encourage anyone with a genset nearing a rebuild or overhaul and interested in one of these programs to contact their local caterpillar dealer to see what discount programs are available in their region.   

 Lou:  Joe, thanks for joining us today to talk about all the various repair options available to genset owners today.

 Joe:  Thanks for having me today Lou.  I really appreciate it.  In closing I'd encourage the listeners to check out the cat.com electric power product support page.  There's a bunch of new information on there to help support our genset owners.  Everything from planned maintenance kits all the way to complete replacement engine options.  Thanks again and I hope you have a great day. 

 Lou:  Well, there you have it folks.  As a bit of a reminder, if you go to cat.com and search "Electric Power Product Support", the very first result will take you to a wealth of information.  As always thank you for joining us today on Power Bytes.  Remember to like, share, follow, and comment on all the episodes that you listen to.  It really helps!  Be sure to check Cat Electric Power on Facebook or LinkedIn.  Till next time, thanks for listening to Power Bytes.