Brisbane, Qld, January 30, 2002- Dingo Maintenance Systems has been offered a A$1.9 million research and development grant from the Australian government.  Funds from the Commonwealth R&D grant program have been earmarked to facilitate aggressive expansion of Dingo's Internet-suite of equipment condition monitoring and analysis software. The Industry Research & Development Board made the grant through the Commonwealth Government's business unit, AusIndustry, in December 2001. 

Announcing the grant, Bernie Piovesan, GM Asia/Pacific of Dingo Maintenance Systems, revealed that the focus of the grant monies will be to help the ten-year-old software company expand capabilities of its leading Internet-based suite of equipment condition monitoring and analysis software.  With the added R&D funds and the successful completion of R&D software prototypes, Dingo plans to introduce software modules that further enhance current capabilities and ultimately provide comprehensive online maintenance condition assessments of industrial heavy equipment.

Chairman of the Federal Government's Industry Research and Development Board, Professor Don Anderson, said the R&D Start Program, which supports businesses to undertake research and development was an integral part of the Federal Government's Innovation Program.

"Dingo Maintenance Systems is an innovative company, and support from the Federal Government under the R&D Start program will provide them with the necessary assistance to expand their Internet-suite of equipment conditioning monitoring and analysis software," Professor Anderson said.

"This is a company with customers in many countries, and their success with this project will not only expand their business, but also provide more job opportunities for Australians in the IT industry as well as increasing exports for their products."

Professor Anderson said Australia could prove it was internationally competitive only if the innovative projects made it onto the world stage. That is precisely what Dingo Maintenance Systems has done, successfully sold its products on the international market.

Called MaintenanceGuy, Dingo's online suite creates a central database for equipment condition histories and generates intuitive graphs to help companies identify at-risk equipment and make better, cost-effective maintenance decisions. Timely equipment condition information reduces costs through component life extension, extended oil drains and breakdown avoidance. The online software employs the leading edge Microsoft .NET architecture.

The first module in the MaintenanceGuy suite is Oil Analysis, which fully automates a technique widely used in equipment maintenance to produce significant savings in upkeep costs. Much like the human equivalent of a blood sample, regular oil samples from a machine can be chemically analyzed to determine equipment health problems.

Dingo's Microsoft-based Internet service allows maintenance planners to view equipment trends and draw conclusions from diagnostic data via any computer connected to the Internet. Color-coded alarms assure quick attention to at-risk equipment.

Further product enhancements will include capabilities for online component tracking and monitoring wear in bearings, gearboxes, and electrical systems through thermography.

Dingo's service is being provided to end users via the Internet for an introductory monthly subscription fee of A$109.00 per user. Laboratories that support these customers simply email test results to Dingo's password secure servers. Customers then log on to the website, run the software, and stay current on equipment condition.

"Many companies are already conducting routine equipment analysis, but reams of paper lab reports often become no more than a filing exercise," said Dingo's Bernie Piovesan. "This defeats the purpose of timely and proactive equipment analysis, which involve predictive diagnostic processes to save equipment from costly repairs. Our web solutions takes the hassle out of data management so that maintenance staff always have the latest information at their fingertips and can make better decisions, faster."

For companies with multiple sites, all this data can be combined into one database, enabling comparisons and benchmarking of different equipment throughout the company. Maintenance staff can then share information online with anyone, anywhere. 

Currently testing Dingo's Internet-based software applications are heavy equipment intensive companies such as Mount Isa Mines, Peabody Energy, Round Mountain Gold, Minera Candelaria, among others.

Dingo's software products include MaintenanceGuy, Dingo Lube Professional, Dingo FleetOil Professional for Windows, Dingo Lube Explorer, and Dingo Lab Manager.  Dingo's customers include Alcoa, BHP Coal, Chicago Transit Authority, Echo Bay Minerals, Enron ETS, Kennecott Energy, Lockheed Martin, New York Times, Peabody Energy, Illinois Power, Minera Escondida, PT Freeport, Rio Tinto, and Caterpillar dealerships in Australia and the United States. Dingo also conducts oil analysis education and is the Licensed Noria franchisee for Asia Pacific.

Dingo's Australian offices are located at Level 2, Toowong Tower, 9 Sherwood Rd, Toowong Qld 4066  Tel 07 3115 9000, Fax: 07 3115 9010. News releases are also available via the Dingo Home Page at www.dingo.com.

###

Click here to download a pdf version of the release

Contacts:
Bernie Piovesan, Dingo Maintenance Systems
61 7 3119 9000
bpiovesan@dingo.com

Brent Green, Brent Green & Assoc.
(303) 743-0140
brent@bgassociates.com