Start-up aims to digitalise genset management

Oncaire LLC, a Florida-based start-up led by two experienced generator set engineers/sales managers, has created a data-driven platform using AI and image recognition to help OEMs and other genset owners manage and service their equipment.

The company, based in Hollywood, Florida, was co-founded last year by Óscar Nuñez and Massimo Brotto, who each have decades of experience in the power market.

Óscar Nuñez, co-founder of Oncaire LLC.

The starting point is a smartphone photograph of a generator’s nameplate, recognizing the model, rated power, serial number and build date, and creating a unique digital record in the cloud; “Any subsequent fault, query or scheduled service is logged against that record, generating a fully traceable history without additional paperwork”, said Oncaire.

The company has trained an AI engine on manuals, wiring diagrams and factory procedures and it will guide operators through diagnostics in their own language.

“Because every interaction is stored, the knowledge base grows organically: common symptoms are flagged, solutions are refined and edge-case failures surface for engineering review”, said Oncaire,

“The result is a single source of truth that can be sliced by model series, climate zone or run-time profile, giving designers a statistically sound view of how equipment performs outside the test bench.”

Platform adapts to type of user

The company said the AI engine also provides “contextualised information” adapted to the profile and expertise of different types of user, such as field technician, professional, general user, expert or novice.

Massimo Brotto, co-founder of Oncaire LLC.

The generic, public version of the platform has been trained on publicly available knowledge, supplemented by the founders’ own knowledge.

“When we work with a specific company”, Massimo Brotto told International Rental News, “we add its proprietary manuals, wiring diagrams and other materials so the model is highly accurate for that brand.

“Proprietary content stays siloed, with no information leakage between clients. Our team helps each customer structure its documentation so it can be used safely and effectively by the model.”

OnCaire can connect to a generator through SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) or BMS (Building Management Systems) systems, via API or the serial communication protocol MODBUS, and it can also link point-to-point using Bluetooth or Wi-Fi modules. The company said these options allow for real-time data capture, including fault codes and sensor readings.

Smartphone image of Oncaire’s genset monitoring platform. (Image: Oncaire)

“OEMs are our primary target”, said Brotto, “but the platform is equally relevant for rental companies, facility managers and individual genset owners, as outlined on our website”.

Pilot projects underway

The technology is still in the pilot stage, said Oncaire; “the early results point to a different way of thinking about product life-cycle management—one in which every unit becomes a live data node feeding continuous improvement.”

OnCaire said it was taking a measured route to market, comprising pilot programmes with European and Latin American OEMs limited to a few hundred licences over six months.

The commercial model is a monthly per-unit fee, with optional modules for human call-out support, telemetry ingestion or branded consumer apps. The platform is white-labelled, so end-users see only the colours and contact details specified by the customer.

Oncaire said the headline benefit is not just reduced help-desk traffic but better product decisions; “Correlating alarm codes with ambient conditions, fuel quality or load profile makes it easier to spot weak components or over-ambitious service intervals. Design changes can then be validated against real-world duty cycles instead of assumptions.”

It said service teams, meanwhile, see fewer site visits; “With the AI assistant handling first-line questions—for instance, cold-start routines or AVR (automatic voltage regulator) settings—technicians are reserved for tasks that genuinely require hands-on expertise.

Images can be captured using the Oncaire generator set platform. (Image: Oncaire)

“Early pilots report a double-digit reduction in mean time-to-diagnose and improved first-time-fix rates, metrics that translate directly into warranty cost savings and higher customer satisfaction.”

Delivered as a SaaS package

The software is delivered as a SaaS package on isolated cloud instances – meaning separated between different users - with end-to-end encryption and API links for ERP and fleet-management systems.

Oncaire said the technology will help companies digitize the power business; “Diesel gensets may remain mechanical machines for the foreseeable future, but the ecosystem supporting them is becoming undeniably digital.

“By turning each product into a sensor for its own improvement, platforms like OnCaire promise faster design cycles, leaner service operations and more resilient supply chains.”

The long-term payoff for OEMs, said Oncaire, “could be a fleet that practically writes its own next-generation specification.”