Caterpillar 2013 Annual Report Download - page 50

CATERPILLAR INC. 2013 YEAR IN REVIEW
48
RESOURCE INDUSTRIES
Transforming
One Great Brand
into Another
Unit Rig has been a pioneer in electric drive trucks for more than
50 years. After Caterpillar’s acquisition of Bucyrus in 2011, the Unit
RigTM truck product line became part of the Caterpillar family. Almost
immediately, both Caterpillar and Unit Rig engineering teams began
working to integrate Cat components into the trucks. The goal was to
ensure that our customers would have one dependable source for all
their parts and that both Caterpillar and Cat dealers could maximize
their return on investment from using proven components – all while
meeting the performance expectations of our customers.
In just three months, our engineering teams installed a Cat engine in the
existing Unit RigTM MT4400. The initial truck has now clocked more than
6,000 hours in the fi eld without any major issues, giving dealers confi dence
in the quality of the design and manufacturing of the project. Following
this success, we undertook the next step by adding proven Cat electric
drive system and Cat® electronics to the Unit Rig MT4400 with the end
result of the new truck becoming the Cat® MT4400D AC Mining Truck.
This new Cat® truck was successfully developed and tested in just
over six months.
Next on the drawing board was a brand new 320 ton Cat truck. In less
than nine months, engineering teams designed and built the prototype
for the Cat® MT5300D AC Mining Truck. The 320 ton (290 tonne) truck is
based on designs from the Unit Rig MT5500 and MT6300 trucks, as well
as the drive system and engine from the Cat® 795F AC Mining Truck. By
early 2013, the Unit Rig MT4400D AC and Unit Rig MT5300D AC were
offi cially branded as Cat trucks, and are now known as the Cat MT
family in the large mining truck product line.
Meanwhile, in the fi eld, a Cat dealer received the fi rst pilot Cat MT4400D
truck for a customer site. For this fi rst fi eld truck, we set aggressive
goals – clock 600 hours of truck operation at or above 85 percent avail-
ability with downtime at less than 3 percent during the fi rst month of
operation. The Cat dealership supported this endeavor by having their
technicians undergo training and take part in the truck’s assembly. The
truck clocked 605 hours and achieved an availability of 95.5 percent in its
fi rst month of operation. The downtime was negligible and the customer’s
feedback has been very positive, saying the integration of Cat and Unit
Rig components has proven to be a great success.
Like the Cat MT4400D AC, the Cat MT5300D AC is also demonstrating
success. The fi rst pilot Cat MT5300D AC was built two months ahead of
schedule in order for a key mining customer to showcase the truck at
their annual meeting. Excellent collaboration with the dealership and
the Caterpillar engineering teams made that possible. Performance
results also have been strong. In its fi rst 31 days, the Cat MT5300D AC
clocked over 609 hours and operated with 95.5 percent availability.
By leveraging our proven Cat components, maximizing research and
technology dollars and, most importantly, staying connected to our
customers, the entire extended Caterpillar family is benefi ting from the
success of the transformed Unit Rig trucks.
The Unit Rig to Cat Truck Journey
• Historically, some Unit Rig trucks have set records in annual
operating hours, clocking over 8,136 working hours during the
fi rst year of operation.
• Unit Rig trucks have a signifi cant presence in Australia, China,
India, Mongolia, Africa and Russia.
• Today’s Cat MT family of mining trucks leverage the engineering
and technological experience from thousands of Unit Rigs trucks
in service.
• The Cat MT family of large mining trucks currently has two models
in production – the Cat MT4400D AC, which is in the 240 ton
(218 tonne) size class, and the Cat MT5300D AC, which is in the
320 ton (290 tonne) size class.