Throughout the duration of this I have been assessing.docx
1. Throughout the duration of this course, I have been assessing
Throughout the duration of this course, I have been assessing Caterpillar Inc. Caterpillar is
an industry leader in heavy equipment, as well as generators, gas engines, and Diesel
engines. Caterpillar’s newest innovation is the minestar program that they have created.
This program allows a company to track, monitor, and automate all types of assets. This
innovative program can be used in a wide range of industries, such as mining to hauling.
Many of these industries complete many jobs that are never the same as the last and the
minestar programs allows the company to gear the program to the task at hand, rather than
the program being geared towards a specific job.This innovative idea would be considered a
radical innovation because it is not an improvement on an existing product, but rather a
new concept for the industry. Although it does improve preexisting products, the innovation
also allows for an increase in tracking and efficiency, which makes it an independent
innovation rather than a supporting innovation. In terms of product-relation or process-
relation, this innovation meets the requirements to be both. The company will have to
produce the required software to make the process possible while producing the product
required to accept the software, which addresses product-relation. Caterpillar meets the
criteria of process-relation by improving both the production and delivery method of the
product. From my research, I have not seen any mention of Minestar being able to increase
or decrease productivity based on weather in the local area. There are often times where
weather is a major contributor in harvesting product due to earth density and machine
efficiency. This could be worth looking into for Caterpillar to help improve the minestar
program.CAT® MineStar™ Solutions. https://www.cat.com/en_US/by-
industry/mining/minestar-solutions.html. (n.d.). Retrieved December 2, 2021, from
https://www.cat.com/en_US/by-industry/mining/minestar-solutions.html. Product and
process innovation. Innovation Policy Platform. (1970, January 1). Retrieved December 2,
2021, from
https://www.innovationpolicyplatform.org/www.innovationpolicyplatform.org/content/p
roduct-and-process-innovation/index.html. Radical and Incremental Innovation. Innovation
Policy Platform. (1970, January 1). Retrieved December 2, 2021, from
https://www.innovationpolicyplatform.org/www.innovationpolicyplatform.org/content/r
adical-and-incremental-innovation/index.html.
