Gulf Construction Online - Cat brings out its best for industry

Quarrying

A Cat loader works with the 775G off-highway truck.

Cat brings out its best for industry

Caterpillar proved once again the diversity and efficiency of its fleet when it demonstrated its line-up for the construction and mining and quarrying industries at the EMEA press event in Malaga, Spain.

01 June 2014

Caterpillar demonstrated the power packed within its formidable line-up of robust machines that enable them to take on any challenges that quarrying and mining or construction sites throw up, during its EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) press event last month at its Malaga Demonstration and Learning Centre, located on the Costa del Sol in Spain.

As part of the delegation coordinated by Caterpillar’s authorised Saudi dealer Zahid Tractor and Heavy Machinery Company, Gulf Construction witnessed the prowess of Caterpillar’s vast fleet of workhorses during a demonstration that lasted three hours. In the line-up were the company’s latest and popular dozers, giant articulated trucks, backhoe loaders, compact track and multi-terrain loaders, excavators, material handlers, motorgraders, off-highway trucks, road reclaimers, skid-steer loaders, wheel dozers, etc and a range of attachments.

The event was flagged off by a Cat water tank. The company now offers bare chassis configurations of several Cat off-highway and mining trucks for the increasingly important water truck market with a maximum tank size of 30,000 gallons. These can also be leveraged for a variety of other final machines, including tow tractors, and fuel and lube trucks. The bare chassis arrangements are available for the 770G, 772G, 773G, 775G, 777G, 785D, and 793F models.

Cat operators demonstrate the efficiency of their excavators.

Next came the 824H medium wheel dozer. Representing a long-standing commitment to quality and performance, this rugged, powerful machine is designed and built for tough applications. Then on the slope appeared two machines designed for the mining industry. The first was Caterpillar’s 374D excavator fitted with a ripper and following it was the company’s largest track-type tractor, the 850 hp D11T demonstrating its ripping power.

Driving in one by one were the huge off-highway trucks: the 770G, 772, 775G and top-of-the-range 777G, with a 91-tonne carrying capacity and a digital tonnage indicator. Developed specifically for mining, quarry and construction applications, these giants keep material moving at high volume to lower cost-per tonne.

In the background, the 374D had just finished its ripping job. A 770G was then called in to transport the load. Caterpillar operators demonstrated how the positioning of the machines can help improve efficiency on site. Here, they showed the top loading system.

Furthermore, to load trucks, Caterpillar offers the large wheel loaders ranging from the 986H to the 993K and 994H. The latter two have huge bucket capacities of 23.7 cu m to 36 cu m filling up large trucks in less time, thus saving on money. And if one loader is not enough, Cat operators demonstrated a method where two loaders fill up a single truck in a single session with each loader positioning itself perpendicular to the truck on both sides.

Cat scrapers ... in the line-up.

Next in, racing from top of the hill, was a line-up of the medium loader range. Smaller, of course, compared to its brothers, these are nevertheless sturdy and fast moving. Demonstrated at the site were the 950, 966H, 950K, 966K and 980K. To showcase their capabilities, two three-axle articulated trucks – 740B and 730C – were brought in and loaded.

The articulated trucks also did a bit of manoeuvring driving on highly uneven ground, dug up for the purpose. The true “on-the-go” Automatic Traction Control (ATC) automatically modulates the correct level of inter-axle and cross-axle differential lock engagement which improves cycle times and productivity. Also demonstrated was the offloading abilities of these trucks.

The 950 K then demonstrated a change of attachment – removing its bucket and getting it back on in no time without the operator having to leave his cab and even without external assistance.

Having showcased the prowess of the large D11T, Cat highly experienced operators this time drove in three mid-sized track-type dozers: the D6, D7E and the D8T. The D7E is a diesel-electric hybrid dozer designed to burn less fuel and significantly reduce owning and operating costs. The Cat D8T dozer has a long history of best-in-class versatility, productivity and resale value. Thanks to its versatility across a wide range of tasks, customers choose D8T dozers for everything from dozing, ripping, scraper work and land clearing to rough finish grading.

A Cat water tank ... flags off the event.

Two motor graders – 140K and 14M – were also part of the line-up. Cat’s M Series motor graders have become the industry standard in operational efficiency and overall productivity. From building roads to maintaining them, these motor graders are designed to get more work done in less time.

Next entered two 627H motor scrapers. A quick demonstration of push loading the scrapers with a D9T tractor was performed.

Also demonstrated later in the day was the recently launched Cat 320D L Series 2 hydraulic excavator built especially for the Saudi market (see Contractors).

The Malaga Demonstration and Learning Centre, covering 106 hectares, is one of Caterpillar’s three major demo centres around the world meant to cater to the EMEA and CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States) regions. The company now has one nearing completion in Panama with another centre soon to be developed in the Asia Pacific region.