Autonomy & Digital Oilfield Solutions

[00:00:00] Josh Lowrey: Welcome to the Energy Pipeline Podcast. My name is Josh Lowrey. We are, we are coming to you live from the Upright Digital Studios at the Prang and Associates office in Houston, Texas. Um, this is the Caterpillar sponsored podcast, which is out- Caterpillar Oil & Gas. I always get that wrong, and I'll tell you what else I get wrong in a minute-

[00:00:19] Josh Lowrey: but that's a whole other story. Um, we are joined today by Matt Rayson, the Director of Product Management at Oil, or, uh, of Oil & Gas Caterpillar. Did I get it right?

[00:00:28] Matt Rayson: You did. Well done.

[00:00:29] Josh Lowrey: Do you know why I ask if I get it right? Because this is the worst part of the entire show. Like, we were just talking off air-

[00:00:35] Matt Rayson: Yeah

[00:00:35] Josh Lowrey: and I'm already a different person.

[00:00:37] Matt Rayson: I can see you're

[00:00:37] Josh Lowrey: nervous. Yeah. I'm not nervous. It's just the worst. Try looking at the camera, remembering where you are, what show you're doing, who you're introducing, g- getting name pronunciation. Yours is great. Yours is easy. But I mean, it... And then you have to go into the interview.

[00:00:51] Josh Lowrey: But the... My least favorite part is the intro. And I'll tell you what's really bad is if you go do this at a live event. Right. You have 25, 30 people. We had to do this at, you know, the Baker Hughes annual conference, and they had a huge audience, which is, again, not nervous, but just, "Oh, boy, you better get this right the first time."

[00:01:08] Matt Rayson: Just get it going. Yeah. Well,

[00:01:09] Josh Lowrey: let's get

[00:01:09] Matt Rayson: into it.

[00:01:10] Josh Lowrey: Well, welcome. By the way, folks, you are about to see... You should tune in. This is a great segue. This is why I'm the best podcast host ever. You need to go to Caterpillar Oil & Gas and check out their page for, uh, where they keep the podcast. They are highly organized, the way they do things, as they should be.

[00:01:27] Josh Lowrey: They're a 100-year-old company. But they, they're so great on how prepped you guys are when you come in, and they expect me to be prepped. That's... This is just terrible, Matt. So the notes that he has brought in, they almost intimidate me, folks. So I... Come check this out. If he thinks I'm nervous, wait till he gets...

[00:01:46] Josh Lowrey: wait till the fire gets turned on this. So Matt, welcome to the podcast.

[00:01:50] Matt Rayson: Great to be here. Thanks for having me.

[00:01:52] Josh Lowrey: Have you ever done a podcast before?

[00:01:53] Matt Rayson: I've never done a video podcast. I've done, uh, audio podcasts before.

[00:01:57] Josh Lowrey: Just the audio. It's like a Zoom call- Just the audio ... and almost- Just like a

[00:01:59] Matt Rayson: Zoom

[00:01:59] Josh Lowrey: call

[00:01:59] Josh Lowrey: it's like a phone call, for crying out loud.

[00:02:00] Matt Rayson: So I dressed up today. I don't normally dress like this.

[00:02:02] Josh Lowrey: That's another reason to tune in. He, he is kind of making me look bad. He's got a great accent.

[00:02:07] Matt Rayson: I went for European style.

[00:02:08] Josh Lowrey: Yes. Thin, tall, great accent, handsome.

[00:02:12] Matt Rayson: I won't go that far, but

[00:02:13] Josh Lowrey: thank you I, I mean, this is...

[00:02:15] Josh Lowrey: People need to tune in now to find out. Um, well, what, the other podcast you do, what kind of stuff do they talk about?

[00:02:21] Matt Rayson: Yeah. I'd, I've been around Cat, I've been Cat for 25 years, so I didn't- I've been in different industr- industries in Cat. Okay So, um, I've done podcasts on marine when I was in the marine business.

[00:02:30] Matt Rayson: I've done, more recently I've done some oil and gas stuff, so-

[00:02:32] Josh Lowrey: Okay ...

[00:02:33] Matt Rayson: I've done different, different p- bits and pieces around- Where did

[00:02:35] Josh Lowrey: you start within Cat- Caterpillar?

[00:02:37] Matt Rayson: I started in our Perkins business. So- Perkins ... Perkins, Perkins Engines, yeah. So Caterpillar own the Perkins Engines business. It's a brand, uh, that's utilized around the world, goes into agricultural equipment, gensets, industrial engines, essentially.

[00:02:50] Matt Rayson: Um-

[00:02:51] Josh Lowrey: Where did you start?

[00:02:52] Matt Rayson: In the UK. Okay In a place called Peterborough. It's manufacturing. Been there since 1932. Not me, obviously. Uh, the company. And, um, yeah, it was local to where I lived at the time and, and joined their, their graduate scheme back in 2001, and here I am, 25 years later, in the oil and gas business, having been through marine, the services business, lived in four countries, worked in four countries as a result.

[00:03:14] Matt Rayson: So very grateful, very happy and-

[00:03:16] Josh Lowrey: That's a phenomenal little Caterpillar career so far.

[00:03:18] Matt Rayson: Yeah, yeah. You enjoyed it? My wife also works for Cat, too, so- She

[00:03:21] Josh Lowrey: does?

[00:03:22] Matt Rayson: Yeah. We're, we're a dual career, and, um, yeah, we, uh, we both met in the UK, worked in the UK, and ended up in Singapore for six years. Went back to the UK briefly, off to Switzerland, Geneva, for six years- And-

[00:03:33] Matt Rayson: and then over to the US ...

[00:03:34] Josh Lowrey: what is a Caterpillar culture in Singapore versus Switzerland versus the US look like? Is it pretty consistent throughout or-

[00:03:43] Matt Rayson: Yeah, in- inside the company, for sure. Yeah. I mean, our, our culture is built around, uh, behaviors and values, and, uh, that doesn't change wherever you are in the world.

[00:03:50] Matt Rayson: Um, the customers change, the culture changes with the customers that you deal with- Right ... and the dealers you deal with. But ultimately, within the company, it's the same. And, um-

[00:04:00] Josh Lowrey: I mean, think about that. A 100-year-old company-

[00:04:02] Matt Rayson: Mm-hmm ...

[00:04:04] Josh Lowrey: global operations. How many employees do you... Somewhere

[00:04:06] Matt Rayson: in the- Over 100,000.

[00:04:07] Josh Lowrey: Yeah, 100,000-plus emplo- employees. Yeah. That's really impressive to be able to hammer that... Hammer's maybe the wrong word, but just instill that culture.

[00:04:17] Matt Rayson: It, it is mind-blowing, actually. And, and I'd meet a lot of people who come into our company, mid-career hires, for example, who had worked in other companies.

[00:04:25] Matt Rayson: Uh, and I always ask them, "What, what strikes you most about Cat?" And they always refer to the culture and the positive culture, the way that people are prepared to help them, support them through their, their entry into the business, and, um, and bring them online. So the culture's very strong. It's something we work on every day, something I work on with my team every day, and it's really is the foundation of what we do.

[00:04:46] Josh Lowrey: So as I mentioned, Caterpillar is just outstanding with their, their notes and their framing and, you know, how they, their, their preparedness, if you will. Mm-hmm. So you have great notes. A lot of notes. If I was cheating in class... Those are all your notes? Well- I thought just the top page was ...

[00:05:00] Matt Rayson: no, they're all notes, but they're distilled into one page.

[00:05:03] Matt Rayson: Oh. But, and I know you're not gonna ask me any of these questions, so

[00:05:05] Josh Lowrey: I'm gonna learn something. I'm gonna ask you the questions. Believe me, I'm gonna a- what would you, what's the one thing on there that we, people wanna know? What do you want people to know?

[00:05:13] Matt Rayson: Well, I would love people to know, you know, our rich history in oil and gas, and how important that is, and how that's evolved over time, and, and what we're gonna be doing moving forward to make sure that that rich history remains and we- Is that on your page?

[00:05:23] Matt Rayson: we live another 100 years.

[00:05:24] Josh Lowrey: Is that on your page?

[00:05:26] Matt Rayson: In, in pieces.

[00:05:28] Josh Lowrey: So we, uh... I'm asking this because that, we actually have interviewed a couple different Caterpillar guys. Right. And I have, again, I, I don't like turning these into commercials just 'cause I think people wanna hear the people, the products, and kinda how they solve issues for the customer.

[00:05:45] Josh Lowrey: Mm-hmm. But it just can't... Every time I talk to one of you guys, I'm thinking, "How is this company 100 years old?" Like, how? Because the mindset just seems to be refreshed over and over and over.

[00:05:58] Matt Rayson: Yep.

[00:05:58] Josh Lowrey: With... You don't seem, you seem like a almost a startup with 100,000 people, if that makes sense.

[00:06:02] Matt Rayson: Yeah. It's, it's the mentality of our leadership.

[00:06:05] Matt Rayson: Um, we, we're always very focused on our strategy. We're always very focused on evolving with the customer requirements, right? And you were even saying our strategy, right? Solving our customers' biggest challenges. Yeah. I think you just said it. And, um, that's how we live. That's how we evolve, because we're constantly talking to our customers.

[00:06:20] Matt Rayson: We're constantly understanding what's happening in the marketplace and bringing that information back into our business to say, "How do we solve these problems for our customers?" And that could be pure product, right? It could be an engine. It could be a service. And, and the world's moving that way. They want more services from us.

[00:06:35] Matt Rayson: Um, they- That's

[00:06:36] Josh Lowrey: interesting.

[00:06:36] Matt Rayson: Yeah. They, they wanna solve their problems, whether it be emissions, power density, whether it be total cost of ownership. Um, they want us to help them solve those problems, and we'll look at all the different ways of doing that. And the way things like AI and digital are evolving now, and digitizing iron, that, that...

[00:06:53] Matt Rayson: There's still a lot to do in that space.

[00:06:56] Josh Lowrey: Well, you kinda took my first question there, because it was really more about like what are the customers, what are the customers asking for? Mm-hmm. Is, is it better equipment? Is it newer equipment? Is it help us remo- you know, what d- to do with our equipment? Uh, but you're saying it's primarily service as a service.

[00:07:12] Matt Rayson: Yeah. Service is a big part of what our customers need f- from us, and that's about going out into the marketplace, understanding what their fleet looks like today, understanding what they're gonna be bringing online in the future, and how can we help them maximize the efficiency, the reliability, the durability, the total cost of ownership of that product, right?

[00:07:30] Matt Rayson: Our customers are very- cost discipline. They're very cap- capital disciplined. Mm-hmm. So they wanna make sure that as they, as they work with CAP that we can provide them those services. So yeah, we dig in with those. We try and digitize the iron as much as we can. The physical hardware needs to be there, but the software is coming online now.

[00:07:46] Matt Rayson: Allows us to, to connect that equipment. Ha- allows us to bring data in-house. We can analyze it through thre- fleet management. We can, we can help them understand what's happening with their equipment ahead of any major failures.

[00:07:59] Josh Lowrey: Yeah.

[00:07:59] Matt Rayson: So that really gets them ahead. Preventing a predictive- Yeah. Previ- previ- predictive maintenance- Mm

[00:08:03] Matt Rayson: is a big thing these days. And, um, being able to capture a failure, a potential failure ahead of it actually happening is a big deal because it saves you a lot of downtime, saves you a lot of cost in the future.

[00:08:13] Josh Lowrey: Are you yourself a, uh, tech guy? Do you enjoy that personally?

[00:08:17] Matt Rayson: I do. I like tech in all its forms, uh, both in our side of the business, but outside as well.

[00:08:22] Matt Rayson: I mean, I'm al- I'm always, I'm a, I'm an early adopter in terms of tech. I- Are

[00:08:26] Josh Lowrey: you? I'm,

[00:08:26] Matt Rayson: yeah.

[00:08:26] Josh Lowrey: Okay. You always have been?

[00:08:27] Matt Rayson: Yeah. Yeah. Although this is an interesting story.

[00:08:30] Josh Lowrey: Okay.

[00:08:30] Matt Rayson: Um, I came to, I came... I moved to, to the US in 2024. Um, July the 4th, I came back to take back, um- ... for Great Britain, but it didn't work. So we remember that day.

[00:08:43] Matt Rayson: Um- That's

[00:08:44] Josh Lowrey: right ...

[00:08:45] Matt Rayson: but

[00:08:45] Josh Lowrey: I- Yeah, as, as your, as King, uh, uh- King

[00:08:48] Matt Rayson: Charles ...

[00:08:48] Josh Lowrey: Charles said yesterday, he, it's the end around.

[00:08:50] Matt Rayson: Yeah, exactly. That's

[00:08:51] Josh Lowrey: right.

[00:08:51] Matt Rayson: Um, but you know, I, I fell in love with the, uh, the tech on the Tesla car-

[00:08:57] Josh Lowrey: Okay ...

[00:08:57] Matt Rayson: and, uh, the self-drive feature. And people are like, "How, how can you be in oil and gas and have a electric car?"

[00:09:01] Matt Rayson: But that's, we can talk about that if you like. But, um, and I love the tech on it. It's fantastic, the self-drive system, et cetera. So, you know, I, I really en- enjoyed that. But, you know, you very quickly realize that the only thing you can drive in Texas is a truck, so I've gone for the Tesla.

[00:09:13] Josh Lowrey: Well, I, I, I, fact we just had this conversation yesterday- Yeah

[00:09:16] Josh Lowrey: with some guys. I, I didn't realize how autonomous Teslas really were.

[00:09:22] Matt Rayson: Unbelievable.

[00:09:22] Josh Lowrey: So we have a GM.

[00:09:24] Matt Rayson: Yep.

[00:09:25] Josh Lowrey: And, you know, you can hit, I think it's called Super Cruise.

[00:09:27] Matt Rayson: Yes.

[00:09:28] Josh Lowrey: And it'll drive itself on the- Yeah ... on a big highway, but it won't take you off.

[00:09:31] Matt Rayson: Yeah, exactly.

[00:09:32] Josh Lowrey: So I thought that's what s- Mm-hmm ... autonomous meant.

[00:09:34] Josh Lowrey: Mm-hmm. And they're like, "No, no, no. This thing will drive, turn corners- Yeah ... take you home, you know, basically park itself." Yeah. This is what you're talking about.

[00:09:41] Matt Rayson: Exactly, yeah, yeah. So I, I love all that and, and being just generally interested and, and generally one that picks that up pretty quick, so.

[00:09:49] Josh Lowrey: So how do you feel like that type of technology is- What's the word?

[00:09:54] Josh Lowrey: Infiltrating, I don't know if that's exact- or coming into the oil and gas world. Yeah. Do you see that kind of stuff? Cool. Not necessarily autonomous driving cars, but

[00:10:00] Matt Rayson: like- Well, au- autonomy's a thing, right? Yeah. Autonomy's a thing in the oil and gas space. And, and if you look at our, our well service business and autonomy even within, like, the Flow Iron stuff we have, um, in, in the frac space, I mean-

[00:10:11] Josh Lowrey: What's an example of some of that stuff?

[00:10:12] Matt Rayson: Um, yeah, we have, like, maintenance-free valves and things now. And, uh, we connect those assets that allows, um, the, the service operator to look at that from afar, and enables them to, to take that information in and not have to go into red zones, for example, to service those things. So that creates a extra layer of safety for our operators in the field.

[00:10:31] Josh Lowrey: Yeah.

[00:10:32] Matt Rayson: Um, so these are real-life examples, real-world problems- Absolutely ... that needed to be solved, and automation can help us do that. We can automate engine controls as well. You know, we, one of the things we do is dynamic gas blending, right? So we, we substitute diesel with gas in some of our products.

[00:10:47] Matt Rayson: And, and we have automation in that process as well. So the en- engine can adjust itself, uh, depending on the gas quality, et cetera, and the, and the site conditions. Mm. So the- we are building autonom- autonomy into our equipment. There's a, there's much, there's much further ways to go, I think, in that. Um, but it, that's in the field.

[00:11:05] Matt Rayson: If you think about what can... If you go to one of our factories, you will see autonomy in, in flow all of the time. Correct. We have autonomous vehicles all around our factories, actually, um, wherever you go in the world, so whether it be the Far East or, or here in the US. So, you know, we've, we've been working with autonomy.

[00:11:21] Matt Rayson: Autonomy in mining's been around for a long time now.

[00:11:23] Josh Lowrey: That's the cool stuff.

[00:11:24] Matt Rayson: Yeah.

[00:11:25] Josh Lowrey: You see the size of this equipment that's- Yeah, absolutely ... autonomously being operated, would blow- Yeah ... the average person's mind.

[00:11:29] Matt Rayson: Yeah. And the efficiency that the customer gains from that autonomy is mind-blowing as well, because you're taking the most direct route, the most efficient weights, the most efficient, um, fuel economy through that process.

[00:11:41] Matt Rayson: Um, does help the customer in terms of their total cost of ownership, so, and safety, right? Let's not forget that. Do,

[00:11:45] Josh Lowrey: did they send you through mining at all? Did you have to ever have a stint up

[00:11:48] Matt Rayson: there? I have not been through mining. Okay. So we can make the appeal now.

[00:11:52] Josh Lowrey: Someone's gonna hear this. I, again, I find, because I came from the manufacturing side of things, and I always tell people, y- Caterpillar, you, if you have any type of machine shop in the Midwest, you do work for Caterpillar- Yeah

[00:12:04] Josh Lowrey: uh, th- if you're any good, right? The, the scale of Caterpillar mining, oil and gas, et cetera- Yeah ... is just so big that they have to outsource certain parts and whatnot. Uh, but so you- if you've ever been to the mining show in Vegas- Yeah, every ... four years I think it is. Yeah. I could not believe the technology in mining.

[00:12:24] Josh Lowrey: Mm-hmm. I thought just big pieces of metal- Yeah ... beating up rock, explosions. Wrong.

[00:12:29] Matt Rayson: Yeah.

[00:12:30] Josh Lowrey: It's some of the most high-tech manufacturing, computer processing, uh, cab-less, um, what do they call those? Hea- heavy haulers.

[00:12:39] Matt Rayson: Yeah.

[00:12:40] Josh Lowrey: There's no cab.

[00:12:40] Matt Rayson: Yeah.

[00:12:40] Josh Lowrey: These things are being driven by... There's like a Tesla.

[00:12:42] Matt Rayson: Exactly. You, you, you can drive them from 200 miles away.

[00:12:45] Matt Rayson: I mean- Incredible ... you can drive them totally- it's totally au- autonomously. Um, and, and also we, you know, we're bringing AI into that now as well with, uh, the, the AI assistant in cab, so the operators are gonna be able to talk to an AI assistant and get information about, you know, the, the, the equipment condition, the parts availability, potentially order parts in the future directly from the cab.

[00:13:06] Matt Rayson: You know, all the things we like to do at home, all the convenience we have through l- things like Amazon-

[00:13:10] Josh Lowrey: Yes ...

[00:13:10] Matt Rayson: people are bringing that to our industry and say, "Hey, I want that experience." So, you know, for a 100-year-old company, that takes, you know, who, who are, you know, a hardcore equipment company- Sure.

[00:13:21] Matt Rayson: Yeah ... moving into that digital space, that autonomous space. You know, we've been around that for a long time, but we're just moving that forward really at speed now.

[00:13:28] Josh Lowrey: You know, I feel like you were at our conversation yesterday, because this is what we ta- we talked about Teslas first. Okay. And the second one was how the average person is so used to, "Hey, Alexa-"

[00:13:39] Matt Rayson: Yeah

[00:13:40] Josh Lowrey: order this or turn this up or turn this down. And then they come to work and their equipment is 15 years old.

[00:13:45] Matt Rayson: Yeah, yeah.

[00:13:46] Josh Lowrey: And they just accept it.

[00:13:48] Matt Rayson: Exactly.

[00:13:48] Josh Lowrey: Like, "Oh, this is what it is." I- Yeah. When in reality, like, no, no, no, these technologies should be... Y- if you're using them at home, there's some stuff that can be used here as well.

[00:13:56] Josh Lowrey: Mm-hmm. So kind of following up that que- or this line of thought is, how much... I mean, are there stats that you guys have? Like, how much downtime or maintenance or safety can really be achieved- Mm ... through this, uh, if, if the right data systems, IoT, you know, op- whatever it is, is... hardware's in place. I mean, are you guys seeing noticeable differences in those

[00:14:21] Matt Rayson: metrics?

[00:14:21] Matt Rayson: Yeah. Uh, I mean, if I just think about, uh, dynamic gas blending, for example, I mean, we, we connect our dyna- dynamic... DGB we call it, dynamic gas blending. We connect that equipment and we monitor the substitution rates. So how much more diesel are we displacing with gas? Ah. So we use this in our drilling operations, well service operations, and that demand came from the market.

[00:14:42] Matt Rayson: The, the customer wanted to improve their total cost of ownership. Diesel and fuel is one of the most expensive components of that, plus the logistics of bringing it onto site- Uh-huh ... is tough. So, uh, one of the ways we do, we, we connect our assets and, and that gives us information. We're saving... We estimate we save, um, over 100 million gallons of diesel per year just through our DGB.

[00:15:05] Matt Rayson: 100

[00:15:06] Josh Lowrey: million gallons?

[00:15:07] Matt Rayson: Yeah, just through our DGB operations. So when you talk about how do we quantify that, how does being connected enable us to quantify the impact of our technology, I think that's a really great example.

[00:15:18] Josh Lowrey: Well, I mean, there's, and there's also 10 ways you can break that 100 million down.

[00:15:23] Matt Rayson: Yeah.

[00:15:24] Josh Lowrey: You can put a dollar value to it.

[00:15:25] Matt Rayson: You can.

[00:15:26] Josh Lowrey: You can put a carbon footprint value to it. Yeah. You can do- As you mentioned, the safety of getting it there.

[00:15:32] Matt Rayson: Mm-hmm.

[00:15:32] Josh Lowrey: There's a hurt person that's not hurt anymore. The logistics.

[00:15:35] Matt Rayson: Yeah ... logistics. It's 10 to 20% in, uh, greenhouse gas emissions reduction just through that process as well.

[00:15:40] Josh Lowrey: Wow.

[00:15:41] Matt Rayson: So, you know, being able to give customers that information by digitizing our iron is really important because then it enables us to, to show the value of our products, the value of our, of our R&D- Right ... and, and the advancements we're making, both on the digital side, but, but as importantly on the hardware side.

[00:15:58] Josh Lowrey: So the average customer, are they asking you for this or are you telling them this?

[00:16:02] Matt Rayson: No, they're, they wanna know it. They-

[00:16:03] Josh Lowrey: Well, no, I... Okay, let me rephrase that question. Are they... Do they know this stuff's available? And they're saying, "Hey, we... Here's an idea we have." You're like, "No, no, no. Don't worry about it."

[00:16:15] Josh Lowrey: Yeah. "Got it right here."

[00:16:15] Matt Rayson: Yeah.

[00:16:16] Josh Lowrey: Is that... Does that question phrase differently what I'm-

[00:16:19] Matt Rayson: Yeah, I, I think, I mean, like I said earlier, we go out and we talk to our customers and say, "What's important to you?"

[00:16:24] Josh Lowrey: Okay.

[00:16:25] Matt Rayson: I mean, that's the first thing. That's what my team do, right? We're... I'm, I'm, I'm the, the product director for Cat Oil and Gas, and, um, a lot of my job is in, evolves around, you know, we have an NPI budget, new product introduction bro- budget every year, and we have to decide how we spend that money.

[00:16:40] Josh Lowrey: Folks, I gotta give you a quick highlight- ... to our man here. He is... We talked about acronyms offsite. We did. And he is just recognizing them immediately during the conversation. Like, "Oh, acronym. This audience isn't gonna know what these things are." So I just wanna commend you for... And by the way, I'm the audience.

[00:16:56] Josh Lowrey: I don't know what you're... And I hear this, I'm like, "Oh, geez- Yeah ... what does that mean exactly?" So...

[00:17:00] Matt Rayson: Well, th- this is funny. You're

[00:17:02] Josh Lowrey: crushing

[00:17:02] Matt Rayson: it. I'm going off- I appreciate it. I'm, I'm, I'm going off track a bit. We have an, we have an acronym dictionary at Cat.

[00:17:07] Josh Lowrey: In, within the company?

[00:17:08] Matt Rayson: Within the company. Just so people can speed up.

[00:17:09] Matt Rayson: You can go onto our website. Anybody new who comes in our company, you can see their, their eyes go a bit glazed because we do talk in acronyms, unfortunately. But there is an actual dictionary on our website that allow people to go in and find the

[00:17:20] Josh Lowrey: acronyms. I love that.

[00:17:21] Matt Rayson: The problem is some of the acronyms have the same letters, and you don't know which

[00:17:24] Josh Lowrey: one it is.

[00:17:25] Josh Lowrey: They're all over the place.

[00:17:25] Matt Rayson: Anyway.

[00:17:26] Josh Lowrey: No, no, that's a great piece of advice. Anyway, what was

[00:17:27] Matt Rayson: I saying? Um-

[00:17:28] Josh Lowrey: I, unless you gotta stay... I, this is ADD at its best here, buddy.

[00:17:31] Matt Rayson: We were talking about NPI and, new product introduction- There you go ... and the way that we go out and talk to our customers. Before we even spend a dollar, right?

[00:17:37] Matt Rayson: The first thing we go and ask our customers is, "What do you need from us?" So when you say, "Do the customers ask for it?" We listen to their requirements. We listen to their needs, what problems we need them to solve, and they say, "Hey, this stuff's expensive. It's expensive to buy, it's expensive to own and operate."

[00:17:50] Matt Rayson: Okay, well, how can we help you do that? "Well, fuel is really expensive." Okay, let's, let's find technologies, let's find ways to help you reduce that. So, you know, are they asking for it? Sometimes they don't know what they're asking for.

[00:18:01] Josh Lowrey: That's an important

[00:18:02] Matt Rayson: point. But there's an outcome they wanna achieve.

[00:18:04] Matt Rayson: Yeah. And then really that's through partnership with our dealers and, and the customer, and ourselves, we'll decide what we do to help them achieve that outcome. And they might not know the answer, but they know what they wanna achieve.

[00:18:14] Josh Lowrey: That makes sense. They, like, they can't put a finger on it, but, like, I, it's out there somewhere.

[00:18:19] Matt Rayson: Yeah. There's a problem they need to solve. Right. And, and we're the experts, and, and we

[00:18:23] Josh Lowrey: help them solve it. So you've been there long enough, there being Caterpillar long enough- Does it feel like these conversations when you first started versus today, are they more aggressive today from the customer? Are they more active?

[00:18:36] Josh Lowrey: Are there more of them, or has it always been like this?

[00:18:39] Matt Rayson: Um, I would say customers are getting more and more vocal about what they need from us- Okay ... uh, for sure. Um, I think the, the competitive landscape is harder these days. Sure. Um- That's a good point ... you know, there's, uh, for example, in the oil and gas industry, electrification, right?

[00:18:53] Matt Rayson: It's there now. It's, it's gonna be there in the future. So there's a lot more to think about in, in that space and so I think the landscape's getting more, it's getting more competitive, it's getting more complex. Uh, there's more, there's more entrants into the market, so we have to stay really focused on our customer requirements.

[00:19:09] Matt Rayson: And, and they have to st- same for them too, right? Their competitive landscape changes as well. So I think the information, I mean, I joined 25 years ago, the flow of information, I'm not as old to remember the times when we didn't have email, but we didn't have access to the internet like we do now. We didn't have access to video like- Right

[00:19:26] Matt Rayson: we do now. We don't have access to AI. I mean, AI and-

[00:19:30] Josh Lowrey: Sure,

[00:19:30] Matt Rayson: predictive ... you know, we're using a lot of that, as all companies are, right? We're using that more and more in our organizations to synthesize information, to get information faster. It's astonishing really what you can do. And somebody once told me, uh, 'cause there's this whole debate around is AI gonna replace jobs, and um, I think I was listening to a podcast and, and somebody said on that podcast, "You're n- you're not gonna be replaced by AI.

[00:19:56] Matt Rayson: You're gonna be replaced by somebody that can use AI."

[00:19:58] Josh Lowrey: Correct.

[00:19:59] Matt Rayson: And, um, that really resonated with me and I, and I think the same goes for us as, as we think about how we support our customers. I think we have to make sure we utilize all of those, those inputs and, and make sure we're designing the right thing for the customer that, that solves their problems for them.

[00:20:15] Josh Lowrey: I wholeheartedly agree with everything you've just said, and that's, it really comes down to, or the, the, you know, the breadth of the, or the beginning of that question was are they asking for it more and more? Um, the kind of the follow-up to that is you said Singapore, Great Britain-

[00:20:33] Matt Rayson: Mm-hmm ...

[00:20:34] Josh Lowrey: uh, Switzerland, the places you've worked with Caterpillar.

[00:20:36] Josh Lowrey: What does the US market feel like compared to these other markets with re- I mean, I feel like it's, uh, far more aggressive. Uh, a- and I mean that in the best possible sense- Yeah ... not in a negative connotation. But just that they are, they just move harder, faster, quicker, more demands- Yeah ... et cetera. Does it...

[00:20:56] Josh Lowrey: Am I correct in this?

[00:20:57] Matt Rayson: Um, yeah. I, I think directionally, yes. I mean, I have to be careful here. I don't wanna offend any nations. Um, uh, what I notice about the US- And when I, this really stood out to me in the marine business. I was, I was a s- a strategy director for marine, uh, a while ago and before I came into the oil and gas business, and it really stood out to me here, and it was all around, um, greenhouse gas emissions reduction, right?

[00:21:20] Matt Rayson: The, the marine industry is a heavy contributor for... I can't remember the numbers directly off the top of my head. I think 3% or 4% of global emissions comes from the marine industry. Um, you'd be surprised, um, how much, uh- It's giant ... maritime traffic there is, huge vessels, right? 80% of what we see around us here today came on water at some point.

[00:21:39] Matt Rayson: Right. Um, so the maritime industry is a heavy contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. And I saw a big difference between the US market and the European market in terms of the way that companies approach that. In Europe I felt like, like they would put greenhouse gas emissions reduction ahead of anything, even, even the economics.

[00:21:58] Josh Lowrey: Mm.

[00:21:59] Matt Rayson: In the US it's totally opposite. It's economics first, and, and therefore it is a bit more kind of aggressive in that sense because, yeah, it needs to make economical sense, then I'll do it. Yeah. Whereas in Europe at times I felt like it was no, it's the greenhouse ga- greenhouse gas emissions is more important than perhaps the economics- Yeah

[00:22:18] Matt Rayson: of doing something. So-

[00:22:19] Josh Lowrey: The reality is they're both important.

[00:22:20] Matt Rayson: They're both important. And, and the reality is, uh, I say this to my kids, the answer's somewhere in the middle, I think, and you can't go too far, too far one way or the other.

[00:22:30] Josh Lowrey: Right.

[00:22:30] Matt Rayson: You have to find that middle ground where, yeah, of course it makes economical sense because if you look at, you know, uh, wind turbines in the US, for example, I mean, a lot of those sites have gone, the bids that have gone out, they've, they've not been taken up because it doesn't make economical sense- Right

[00:22:45] Matt Rayson: to do it. Um, yet they've, they've gone and done that in Europe to a r- a great degree. So it's, it's really finding that middle ground between, yeah, the economics and the, the commitment that we all have and we should have to reducing GHG reductions.

[00:23:01] Josh Lowrey: You've seen me flipping through my pages.

[00:23:03] Matt Rayson: You ran out of questions?

[00:23:04] Josh Lowrey: Not at all. Not at all. Not at all. I, I really- You haven't

[00:23:07] Matt Rayson: asked me any that's on my sheet yet.

[00:23:09] Josh Lowrey: Have I

[00:23:09] Matt Rayson: not? No, don't worry.

[00:23:10] Josh Lowrey: Come on. I've- Kind of ...

[00:23:11] Matt Rayson: well, '

[00:23:12] Josh Lowrey: cause listen, kind of. No, no, I have lots of great questions. That's my concern is that the things that I care about... Again, I always view the... Like, I'm, I'm an oil and gas guy.

[00:23:24] Matt Rayson: Yeah.

[00:23:24] Josh Lowrey: Uh, I'm a manufacturing guy. I've, I've made money and I've lost money in oil and gas. Mm-hmm. So, like, for me, I view these podcasts as the things that I wanna know, and, you know, operators have different questions. Your dealers have different questions. Yep. So I, I try to really put myself in the position of the person listening, like, what do they want?

[00:23:45] Josh Lowrey: 'Cause again, it's, a commercial's a commercial. Yeah. If they want a commercial, they can go online and watch a commercial. But it's, I, I'm sitting here thinking, "All right, you clearly know your product. You know you enjoy the company. They're doing great." But really what I'm looking at this and I'm, I'm asking is, like, there's gotta be a thing that you want the audience to know.

[00:24:05] Josh Lowrey: There has to be a thing. Is it emissions? Is it technology? Is it our dealer network? Is it compression? Is it nat gas? I mean, because a company the size of Caterpillar with the... They have yet to send us somebody who's not totally awesome, by the way. But what is the thing?

[00:24:23] Matt Rayson: Yeah.

[00:24:24] Josh Lowrey: S- so if that doesn't set you up to pick your- I'm just, I'm highly jealous of your notes.

[00:24:30] Josh Lowrey: That's really what it's coming down to. I wish my notes

[00:24:32] Matt Rayson: taken- I felt like I was going back to school when I wrote these. My kids were looking at me this morning at the breakfast table going, "What you doing, Dad?" I'm like, "Well, you know, I'm just prepping."

[00:24:38] Josh Lowrey: Getting ready for the- Yeah ... the Josh SAT. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:24:40] Matt Rayson: Yeah. Yeah, I mean, look, I, I think Cat, um, you know, Joe Creed came in as Caterpillar's CEO, CEO, um, uh, last year and, you know, part of that process was to, to really review and refresh our strategy. And, and a big part of that strategy, and we've touched on it already, is, is really going out and solving our customers' problems.

[00:25:06] Matt Rayson: That's at the forefront of our mind. And, and y- we can talk about that in any direction you like, because customers have problems when it comes to emissions, when it comes to technology, when it comes to services, uh, when it comes to total cost of ownership. And what I want the audience to know is that, you know, whilst we are a 100-year company and we're very established in the oil and gas space, we are constantly trying to think of new ways to support our customers.

[00:25:31] Matt Rayson: Um, a recent example of that is our, our gas mechanical system, GMS we call it. A new a- another acronym. Uh, you know, we, if you look at the history of, of fracking where, you know, we started with diesel products, moved to this dynamic gas blending- Yep ... you know, right? And now, now today we're in a space where we're doing 100% mechanical drive, um, fracking.

[00:25:52] Matt Rayson: So we- what we're able to do now is create a f- a frack site which is 100% powered by natural gas. So we're using the stranded gas on site. It's much cheaper. Yes. It's logistically more streamlined for our customers. Um, it's str- it's logistically more streamlined versus e-frac. E-frac you still needed power.

[00:26:12] Josh Lowrey: Mm-hmm. You

[00:26:12] Matt Rayson: still needed a gen set on site if you didn't have access to the grid. So what we have now is a direct drive mechanical system with a transmission. We partner with our SPM, you know, Cat-owned company, SPM on, on the pump side, um, to create a whole, a whole mechanical system which is much simpler for the customers to operate.

[00:26:30] Matt Rayson: It increases the power density on site so there's less capital involved- Yeah ... in the process. And also on the fuel side, it's j- it's just way cheaper and, and less of a logistics headache for our customers. So it, that's just an example on top of the dynamic gas blending of ways in which we're just constantly trying to evolve and, and work with our customers to solve their problems.

[00:26:50] Josh Lowrey: You know, my entire f- first 10 years of one of my companies, and really 20 years of my family's business, was, you know, SPM is a... I always joke with you guys I wish every podcast could be about frac- Yeah ... and SPM, and the frac pump, and all that, 'cause that was the world that I played in for so long. Yeah.

[00:27:10] Josh Lowrey: And I, and I absolutely loved it.

[00:27:11] Matt Rayson: Yeah.

[00:27:12] Josh Lowrey: And, you know, when Caterpillar bought that division and it, you know, and I could say from the outside looking in, like, what do they want this for? You know, is that gonna work with your dealers? Is that g- And then all of a sudden you saw how they slowly put it together, you know, the engines, the transmissions, the pumps, the...

[00:27:30] Josh Lowrey: And, and now it's, like you just said, the entire setup.

[00:27:33] Matt Rayson: But it's, it's going back to what we said earlier. Customers want solutions. They don't want individual components. Right. So they want us to tie this together. A bi- a big part of what my team do is tying this stuff together. Grid tie is another example, you know, where we're connecting-

[00:27:46] Josh Lowrey: Grid tie?

[00:27:47] Matt Rayson: Grid tie, yeah, where we, we connect... We have a control system that connects a genset, it connects a battery, it connects the grid, and that system can tell, hey, hey, electricity's cheaper on the grid right now. Let's switch to that. Hey, it's cheaper to run a genset now. Wow. Let's run that. Let's store, let's store some of this excess energy in the battery.

[00:28:03] Matt Rayson: So, you know, we can, we can... We're starting to build out systems like that, that are not individual components. 'Cause if... You just get commoditized if you're an individual- Correct ... piece part. So, you know, we wanna provide a full solution to our customer. And, and then looking at the business models, do the customers wanna own and operate themselves, or do they want Cat to take more of a, a directive role in that- W- what's the answer to that?

[00:28:25] Matt Rayson: as a service? Um, and we can do anything. We can do anything these days. What- whatever the customer wants. Yeah, whatever the customer wants. And we work with our dealers, and sometimes they do wanna own the assets, sometimes they don't, and we can offer services if they don't. And, um, another interesting part of our business is, is carbon capture.

[00:28:42] Matt Rayson: It's, it's less spoken about, but we have a business, um, it was called Carbon Point Solutions, but we've rebranded it to Ca- Carbon Capture Solutions. And, um, you know, that's a, that's a newer edge technology. Yeah. We're still proving it out. We're trying to understand how and where we can apply that. But again, thinking about how do we reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the market, putting on a carbon capture- Right

[00:29:06] Matt Rayson: system on the end of an exhaust makes a lot of sense.

[00:29:08] Josh Lowrey: I lo- D, all of the above-

[00:29:10] Matt Rayson: Yeah ...

[00:29:10] Josh Lowrey: by the way.

[00:29:11] Matt Rayson: Yeah. So, you know, that's to some degree in its infancy. You know, we're testing out that tech- technology. We're working with customers to understand how we can apply that. And, and again, going back to what we said earlier, how we can apply it in a way that makes economical sense.

[00:29:25] Matt Rayson: Um, you know, what do we do with the carbon once we've captured it? Do we sequester it? Yeah. Do we use it for enhanced oil recovery? There's lots of different markets for carbon. Um, so it's really just about sitting down with the customer, understanding what they're trying to achieve, and then working back within our organizations to make sure that, okay, yeah, we can build it, yeah, we can service it, yeah, we can e- even provide it as a service to you if that's what you want, Mr.

[00:29:48] Matt Rayson: Customer, and then we'll work out what that means to us. So that's, that's how we're evolving as an organization.

[00:29:53] Josh Lowrey: So I've heard a lot of cool stuff, but there's one thing I wanna go back to. Mm. A- and if this is not your expertise, you don't have to- But the grid connect

[00:30:01] Matt Rayson: Yeah, grid tie ...

[00:30:02] Josh Lowrey: grid, what is it?

[00:30:03] Matt Rayson: Grid tie.

[00:30:03] Matt Rayson: We're developing- Grid tie ... grid tie. Yeah.

[00:30:04] Josh Lowrey: Grid tie, T-I-E.

[00:30:06] Matt Rayson: Yeah.

[00:30:06] Josh Lowrey: So tell me more on that if you can.

[00:30:10] Matt Rayson: Yeah. So we've, uh, we're developing on the R&D side, we're, we're develop- developing a, a, basically, I mean, layman's terms, control system that a- allows, is intelligent enough to know, um, you know, you've got a, something in the oil field, a drill for example, that needs power.

[00:30:26] Matt Rayson: And depending on what power is, is needed at what moment in time, the system can decide whether it takes energy from the grid, whether it takes energy from a genset, whether it takes energy from a battery potentially. Um, the most economical source of that power will be established by the system-

[00:30:43] Josh Lowrey: Really?

[00:30:43] Matt Rayson: and it automatically flips that around. So, um, it, again- You

[00:30:48] Josh Lowrey: mentioned that grid would be avail- or power, grid power ...

[00:30:50] Matt Rayson: assuming a grid's, grid's- Sure.

[00:30:51] Josh Lowrey: W- yeah, I, I totally understand ... grid's

[00:30:52] Matt Rayson: available, right? I mean, it is

[00:30:53] Josh Lowrey: an energy source But it, it can decide that, that quickly- Yeah ... like it's better to do it here than- Yeah

[00:30:57] Josh Lowrey: on this genset.

[00:30:58] Matt Rayson: Yeah. It's like at night, you plug your Tesla in at night, right? Because you get free- Sure ... electricity, right? And it's just, it's just making those decisions for you. Um, again, back to that autonomy.

[00:31:08] Josh Lowrey: Yeah.

[00:31:08] Matt Rayson: And, and if you think about it from a customer's perspective, they don't need to get involved.

[00:31:12] Matt Rayson: It's autonomous. Man And at the same time it saves them money, so. I

[00:31:15] Josh Lowrey: feel like that's a huge deal.

[00:31:16] Matt Rayson: Yeah. Yeah. It's, um- Interesting ... you know, it's in its infancy. It's something we're developing. We've got some test units out there in the field. We've been testing it. We've been looking at it for different customers.

[00:31:24] Matt Rayson: So it's, it's definitely something for the future. It's something that we're gonna continue to, that will evolve and it will get smarter and faster as time goes on.

[00:31:32] Josh Lowrey: Well, back to me being the greatest podcast host ever. You just said in the future, so one of the questions I had next, this is about g- compression, et cetera.

[00:31:41] Josh Lowrey: Yeah. But what does your next five or 10 years look like? 'Cause that's one of the... Again, I just feel like that's a thing you guys do well. So the audience wants to know, where's, what's this next five or 10 years look like? With compr- compression- Mm-hmm ... the grid ties, et cetera. It's like where do you see this stuff going?

[00:31:56] Matt Rayson: Yeah. I mean, in the next five years we need to make as much power as we possibly can, 'cause power demand is- Oh, that's a g- what a

[00:32:01] Josh Lowrey: great answer, by the

[00:32:03] Matt Rayson: way ... is, is out- outstripping, um, capacity at the moment. We're, we're working really hard, and we've, we've made significant investments. In fact, last week I was up in our Lafayette facility seeing the investment we've made there, nearly a billion dollars of investment in new factory, or addition to the factory we have there, um, to help build out our product.

[00:32:21] Matt Rayson: So yeah, getting more power to the market is critical for us. Um, but in terms of product development, I mean, we're continually looking at how we reduce emissions- Um, with, uh, this next year or so you're gonna start to hear about our G3600 Generation 3, uh, product, which is, uh, a methane oxidation catalyst we're adding to the G3600, the world's most-

[00:32:41] Josh Lowrey: Methane, folks, is methane to us Texans

[00:32:44] Matt Rayson: I'm sorry.

[00:32:44] Josh Lowrey: That's it.

[00:32:45] Matt Rayson: Should we talk about a- aluminium?

[00:32:48] Josh Lowrey: That's always one of the funniest words. I worked for a, a British company for my... right out of college, and they would always say aluminium. And first couple t- I'm like, "What are they talking about?" Yeah,

[00:32:57] Matt Rayson: yeah.

[00:32:58] Josh Lowrey: Sorry.

[00:32:59] Matt Rayson: Yeah, I can never say tomato. It doesn't sound right to me.

[00:33:02] Matt Rayson: It's-

[00:33:02] Josh Lowrey: I think aluminium is the better way to say it. Yeah. Aluminum.

[00:33:05] Matt Rayson: Yeah, that's

[00:33:05] Josh Lowrey: right. Aluminium.

[00:33:06] Matt Rayson: It's wrong, aluminum.

[00:33:08] Josh Lowrey: Sorry.

[00:33:08] Matt Rayson: Where were we? Um-

[00:33:09] Josh Lowrey: We were on methane ...

[00:33:10] Matt Rayson: methane, yeah. So, um, we are, we're bringing out new products. So, I mean, regardless, I, I think the emissions pressure has come off a little bit- Yeah

[00:33:19] Matt Rayson: to what it was a few years ago. It's gonna come back.

[00:33:21] Josh Lowrey: Sure.

[00:33:21] Matt Rayson: It's not gonna go away. No, it's not. It's still, it's, it's part of our value- And it

[00:33:24] Josh Lowrey: doesn't need to go away ... it should, it should stay ... like, we should hang onto these things. W- I mean, there's, these are good things coming from this ...

[00:33:28] Matt Rayson: yeah. So we're gonna continue to push on that.

[00:33:31] Matt Rayson: So I mean, that, that Gen 3 will be a 90% reduction on our, uh, of, uh, greenhouse gas emissions on, on- Let me, let me- ... on

[00:33:38] Josh Lowrey: our Gen

[00:33:38] Matt Rayson: 1 ...

[00:33:38] Josh Lowrey: just jump in here for just a second. One of the things that... So we have our other network of podcasts- Mm-hmm ... Oilfield 360. Mm-hmm. We do another one called Energy in Transition, or Energy Transition Podcast.

[00:33:48] Josh Lowrey: And six years ago we started that- Yeah ... E- EI- EIT podcast, and it felt like the world had to change right then. And there h- there needed to be a, an algae that could power everything.

[00:34:00] Matt Rayson: Right.

[00:34:01] Josh Lowrey: You know? And that was... And it had to happen.

[00:34:03] Matt Rayson: Yeah.

[00:34:04] Josh Lowrey: And then all of a sudden you realize that that's not what energy transition, number one, looks like, and we don't need a transition, we need energy addition.

[00:34:12] Josh Lowrey: Yeah. But we just need it done cleaner. Yeah. And so what you're... When you describe, for instance, the 100,000 fewer gallons of diesel, that is an energy transition. Uh, what the, what six years ago people would view as a-

[00:34:27] Matt Rayson: Exactly ...

[00:34:28] Josh Lowrey: like, that's a massive-

[00:34:29] Matt Rayson: Yeah ...

[00:34:29] Josh Lowrey: thing.

[00:34:30] Matt Rayson: And a 90% reduction on the G3600 from- Ex-

[00:34:33] Josh Lowrey: exactly

[00:34:33] Matt Rayson: Gen 1.

[00:34:34] Josh Lowrey: Yeah.

[00:34:34] Matt Rayson: It-

[00:34:34] Josh Lowrey: Exact- I'm thinking about 90%. There,

[00:34:35] Matt Rayson: there's so much that can be done with the current technology. It doesn't have to be a new thing.

[00:34:39] Josh Lowrey: Well, but it, I mean, it's just, it's a, it's the ingenuity of people to say- Yeah ... "Look, we still... People still wanna turn their lights on."

[00:34:47] Matt Rayson: Yeah.

[00:34:48] Josh Lowrey: You know? Like, they're gonna, they're gonna hit a switch and that light better come on.

[00:34:50] Matt Rayson: Energy is prosperity. I mean, we've all lived through-

[00:34:53] Josh Lowrey: Yeah ...

[00:34:53] Matt Rayson: sh- fortunately for us probably, where we live, short periods of, of not having power, and it's very difficult.

[00:34:59] Josh Lowrey: Correct.

[00:34:59] Matt Rayson: And you can link any economical, uh, economic growth and, and prosperity to, to the availability of power. It's absolutely-

[00:35:07] Josh Lowrey: Most importantly, do you think that your accent has just...

[00:35:11] Josh Lowrey: Do you think you'll be CEO one day because of this accent?

[00:35:13] Matt Rayson: No.

[00:35:14] Josh Lowrey: I don't know. I feel like it just, it just helps. I'm over saying methane and aluminum, and I just feel like I wish I had that accent

[00:35:23] Matt Rayson: Well, you know, you go to the UK and everyone wishes they had an American accent. So I guess

[00:35:27] Josh Lowrey: it goes both ways.

[00:35:27] Josh Lowrey: It's just so great. So but the way you're explaining it is just out... And I'm like, "This is, this is, this guy's speaking science." Um, so back to my notes and how great I am at this. Uh, what, what do I want the people to know? Uh, truly, I'm, I've been hammering you on your notes, but I wanna make sure that because of how I conduct myself with no British accent, that I don't miss the point.

[00:35:51] Josh Lowrey: But I feel like we've touched on the things that people need to know.

[00:35:53] Matt Rayson: Yeah, I mean, I, I'm so excited to be part of Cat right now. I, I think-

[00:35:58] Josh Lowrey: That's a cool thing to say ...

[00:35:59] Matt Rayson: I- Seriously ... gen- genuinely I think the, the refresh strategy that we've brought out, you know, we're, we're really focusing on, you know, im- commercial excellence is a really important part of what we do, and that's really connecting with our customers, understanding how we can support them.

[00:36:14] Matt Rayson: Um, uh, making sure that, you know, we are an authority and a leader in the technology space, and then transforming how we work, right? And tran- that's both internally and externally, making sure that, you know, we connect better with our customers, uh, we find ways of working together with our dealers and our customers, better ways to work together.

[00:36:33] Matt Rayson: Um, and that, that whole autonomy space and bringing that into the world, it's such an exciting space to be right now. Um, I think we're gonna be bringing out some really cool products. We're... Not only in the, on the kind of the bits that we see in the market, but also what happens inside our factories.

[00:36:48] Josh Lowrey: Yeah.

[00:36:48] Matt Rayson: And again, I was at a factory- That's another- ... last week, I mean- ... world

[00:36:50] Josh Lowrey: of excellence, quite

[00:36:51] Matt Rayson: honestly ... yeah, totally. And, and the, the advances and the gains and the efficiencies that we're seeing there. And we talk about, we talk about emissions, greenhouse gas emissions, um, in the field. Go to one of our factories and see what they do-

[00:37:04] Josh Lowrey: Absolutely

[00:37:04] Matt Rayson: in terms of recycling water, electricity, uh, material recycling. Super efficient. In fact, we've been doing that for, for actually a lot longer than what's been- I agree ... happening in the field. So it is just, you know, all of that based around kind of the values and behaviors that are promoted by our leadership.

[00:37:22] Matt Rayson: I mean, I... People say to me, "Why have you been in Cat? How have you been in Cat for 25 years?" And it's, well, well, I've never wanted to work anywhere else, because I've just been energized. I've had the... I've, I've been lucky enough to live and work in different parts of the world. I've been lucky enough to, uh, work in different industries for Cat on different brands.

[00:37:39] Matt Rayson: And everywhere I've been, it's just been an absolute pleasure. So I think if that's felt in-house, our customers are gonna feel that, too, and our dealers are as well. So I mean, look, we're never perfect.

[00:37:51] Josh Lowrey: Right.

[00:37:51] Matt Rayson: Nobody is. Um, we're gonna... We... But we're gonna... Every day I walk into the office and all we talk about is our customers and, and that for me is energizing.[00:38:00]

[00:38:00] Josh Lowrey: Caitlin. Caitlin's our producer. Would you say the same thing about Upright Digital? No doubt See? Okay. I feel like your answer is better than what she just said She's smart. This is how I hope everybody talks about their employer or their work. I mean, 'cause it, truly, it's... You have to go to work every single day.

[00:38:17] Matt Rayson: Yeah

[00:38:17] Josh Lowrey: Like, you've gotta... You need to like the people you work with, like the ideas, the be- you know, values and behaviors, et cetera. Like, what a great... Like, I am becoming more and more of a Caterpillar fan. Not... I didn't even set out to do that. Like, that wasn't the goal of this podcast. But you just, you hear the stuff, and, like, I'm...

[00:38:35] Josh Lowrey: And the more I hear, I'm like, "Man, they're doing it right."

[00:38:37] Matt Rayson: Yeah, yeah.

[00:38:38] Josh Lowrey: And they're dealers, so I'm pretty familiar with your Mustang Cat guys- Yep ... and Holt Cat. The Mustang Cat people are outstanding.

[00:38:46] Matt Rayson: They differentiate us.

[00:38:48] Josh Lowrey: They are, they are legitimate-

[00:38:49] Matt Rayson: They are a differentiator ...

[00:38:49] Josh Lowrey: superstars.

[00:38:50] Matt Rayson: Yeah. We would not be anywhere near as successful without those guys and, and the guys you mentioned are, are great, but remember, we have dealers all around the world.

[00:38:57] Matt Rayson: Yeah, you do. They do an outstanding job. They cover a lot of ground for us. They, they serve our customers every single day. We frustrate them at times.

[00:39:06] Josh Lowrey: Big

[00:39:06] Matt Rayson: company. And, and, you know, that, but we work through that with them and, and the partnership is just... Again, I've never worked in another company, so I- it's hard for me to, to compare, but I do know that when people come into Cat and they talk about their experiences outside of the organization, they're as- they're astonished by the culture that we have- Wow

[00:39:24] Matt Rayson: but they're also astonished about the relationship we have with our dealers. And, and that partnership is, is really the secret sauce.

[00:39:32] Josh Lowrey: You know, that's a really cool way to describe them. That, you know, they differentiate, differentiate you guys. Yeah. There's a lot of credibility I'm sure that came with them from a long time, so.

[00:39:40] Matt Rayson: Yeah.

[00:39:40] Josh Lowrey: And I remember that early transition. Like, there was, there was some, "Here comes Caterpillar Oil & Gas"- Mm-hmm ... and here's, for instance, Mustang Cat- Mm ... right, locally. It is... It was like, "Well, how's this gonna work?" And you, you figured it out.

[00:39:55] Matt Rayson: Yeah.

[00:39:55] Josh Lowrey: You figured it out.

[00:39:56] Matt Rayson: Yeah. There's really clear roles and responsibilities, and we have tough conversations, as we should.

[00:40:00] Josh Lowrey: As you should.

[00:40:00] Matt Rayson: And, uh- Any

[00:40:01] Josh Lowrey: good company would.

[00:40:01] Matt Rayson: Yeah. But it's, it... Again, the, a healthy culture allows you to have that. So we- we're able to, to sit with our dealers. We're able to work through issues. We're able to solve customer problems and, you know, we listen to their requirements. We support them as, as best we can, as they support us in the field, and it, it just works and, like I say, it, it really does differentiate us in the market.

[00:40:22] Josh Lowrey: Well, once again, I've done a phenomenal job. I've nailed these notes Monster made us. So-

[00:40:30] Matt Rayson: Good job.

[00:40:31] Josh Lowrey: Thank you. Aluminium. Um, isn't this great, coming down here? This is way better than a, a- This- ... an audio podcast ...

[00:40:39] Matt Rayson: this is way better than doing it at my desk, yeah.

[00:40:40] Josh Lowrey: Thank you for... W- by the way- No, th- ... thank you for coming down.

[00:40:42] Josh Lowrey: Of course. Um, your career is- I like it. I like it. Sounds like you're gonna be there for a long time.

[00:40:50] Matt Rayson: I hope so.

[00:40:50] Josh Lowrey: So what we need to do is have you back- Of course ... in about 12 months to see, hey, here's where we're... What, what... In fact, that's a great kind of end question. Let's

[00:40:57] Matt Rayson: do it. Yeah.

[00:40:57] Josh Lowrey: If I have you back OTC 2027- Mm-hmm

[00:41:01] Josh Lowrey: what will people have been talking about with you for the last 12 months?

[00:41:05] Matt Rayson: Well, they definitely would've been talking about how great our GMS system, gas mechanical system- Okay ... is, and, and, you know, what, what value that's bringing to them in the marketplace. Um, that's, you know, we're ramping up. We've, we've got over 50 of those units out in the field now, and by that time we'll be probably well over 200.

[00:41:24] Matt Rayson: So we're gonna have- That's awesome, actually ... a lo- a lot of that product out there- Yeah ... um, doing a lot of hours and, and really taking us forward in that space. We'll be talking about the G3600 and the, the Generation 3 of that, and we'll be talking more and more about, you know, all of this autonomy, system integration, grid tie.

[00:41:41] Matt Rayson: Um, we'll be, we'll be able to talk more about how AI is impacting what we do- Okay ... and, and how our customers experience services from Cat. And, and services isn't something that I really touched on that much, but, you know, fleet management, in-house fleet management, um, offering services out into the marketplace is something that we're gonna be building out more and more, you know, helping, having, working with our dealers on the execution side.

[00:42:07] Matt Rayson: But, you know, we've got customers with bigger fleets now. You know, there's been a lot of consolidation in the market, so being able to help our customers manage their fleet, um, is something that we're gonna be more and more focused on moving forward.

[00:42:17] Josh Lowrey: By the way, those questions were right here.

[00:42:19] Matt Rayson: They were.

[00:42:19] Josh Lowrey: The-

[00:42:21] Matt Rayson: Had to squeeze them in.

[00:42:21] Josh Lowrey: Yeah. Just little... I apparently ignored section six on my notes here. So-

[00:42:26] Matt Rayson: Well, I know for next time, just to-

[00:42:27] Josh Lowrey: Well- You know ... you know, it's funny, I wrote down some stuff that we are gonna have you back i, uh, in '27, OTC '27.

[00:42:34] Matt Rayson: Okay.

[00:42:35] Josh Lowrey: And we will give a... I've got a- I'll have this whole thing noted to be like, "Hey, here's what you said."

[00:42:40] Matt Rayson: Yeah. Let's see if it comes true.

[00:42:42] Josh Lowrey: D- yeah. I mean, these are all great thing. The G- the Gen Set 3, or the Gen 3 s-

[00:42:45] Matt Rayson: Gen- Generation 3 ...

[00:42:46] Josh Lowrey: that's a cool thing. The basic, the gas compression. I'm actually really interested. Yes. Yeah. 'Cause that was a... Gen 2 was a big deal.

[00:42:50] Matt Rayson: It was. Gen 3 is even

[00:42:51] Josh Lowrey: greater. That changed the whole industry.

[00:42:52] Matt Rayson: Yeah. Yeah.

[00:42:54] Josh Lowrey: So it'll be interesting to hear what that third generation looks like and what, how the market accepts it, takes it, builds it.

[00:43:00] Matt Rayson: Yeah. We're gonna be talking more about that later this year at the GPA conferences and stuff like that. Okay. So keep your ears open for that. But, uh, we're, there's units out there now.

[00:43:07] Matt Rayson: We're testing them. We're getting some early results from them. We're looking at the emissions coming from them, but, yes, it's looking good.

[00:43:13] Josh Lowrey: Well, Matt, this is when I wrap things up. What did you think of this podcast?

[00:43:18] Matt Rayson: I enjoyed it. It went fast, huh?

[00:43:20] Josh Lowrey: I mean, it's been about 40 minutes. Is it? Longer than you think.

[00:43:22] Josh Lowrey: 45 actually.

[00:43:22] Matt Rayson: Right.

[00:43:23] Josh Lowrey: Time flies when you're having fun. It

[00:43:24] Matt Rayson: does.

[00:43:25] Josh Lowrey: 20 years. You've been there 20 years. 25. Feels like yesterday. 25. 25. 25. Excuse me. So this is an invasion of the Brits this week. Yeah. Uh, King Charles is in town.

[00:43:34] Matt Rayson: He's here, yeah.

[00:43:35] Josh Lowrey: I think he did a great job the la- he spoke yesterday in front of Congress.

[00:43:38] Josh Lowrey: He's funny, right? I mean, I th- I wouldn't say he's funny, he, but he, he nailed his wit. Yeah, yeah. It was very specific.

[00:43:43] Matt Rayson: Yeah, witty I think is a better way to put

[00:43:44] Josh Lowrey: it. He just killed it. Yeah. He was crushing on the deal, and, you know, he, he spoke at the, the state dinner and just did an excellent job. So you are second only to King Charles-

[00:43:53] Josh Lowrey: as the Brit this week that's crushed it. So- Appreciate it ... thank you for... No, truly. Matt, Matt Rayson of, uh, director of product management. Well, how do they get ahold of you specifically? They check you out on LinkedIn?

[00:44:04] Matt Rayson: Yeah, I'm on LinkedIn. Yeah, you can contact me, and we can talk product all day long.

[00:44:08] Josh Lowrey: So we- some, some people like to give their email.

[00:44:10] Josh Lowrey: I'm like, "Don't give your email." Yeah. This thing's bigger than you think. I was

[00:44:12] Matt Rayson: wondering if you was asking my phone number.

[00:44:14] Josh Lowrey: No. Well, we had another buddy of ours that gave his sat phone number out one time, and I'm like, "What are you doing?"

[00:44:19] Matt Rayson: Okay.

[00:44:19] Josh Lowrey: Yeah. It's like $9 a minute. Like, we're not giving your sat phone number out.

[00:44:23] Josh Lowrey: So, uh, but yeah, check you out. It's, it's Rayson, R-A-Y-S-O-N, Matt Rayson. Right. With, uh, Oil And- Caterpillar Oil and Gas. Mm-hmm. Matt, thank you for your time. Audience, thank you. This, uh, this podcast is growing once again. Caterpillar, you guys are just... They always listen to my... They're like, "Josh, could you please?"

[00:44:38] Josh Lowrey: I'm like, "No, I can't. I'm gonna stick to the, stick to the program, Caterpillar." Your marketing and communications department is-

[00:44:44] Matt Rayson: They're hot ...

[00:44:44] Josh Lowrey: they're outstanding. Yeah. They know their stuff.

[00:44:46] Matt Rayson: They do.

[00:44:47] Josh Lowrey: Uh, we enjoy working with you guys. Thanks for the whole partnership with, you know, our whole Upright Digital and then Caterpillar.

[00:44:53] Josh Lowrey: So if you wanna check anything out, we mentioned this at the beginning of the podcast, go to Caterpillar Oil and Gas, and the way that they index all of their podcast is truly as you would, what you would expect out of Caterpillar. So Matt, thank you for your time, sir.

[00:45:05] Matt Rayson: Thanks for having me. Great speaking to

[00:45:06] Josh Lowrey: you.

[00:45:06] Josh Lowrey: Good luck to you.

[00:45:07] Matt Rayson: See ya.

[00:45:07] Josh Lowrey: Yep.