Following its $8.8 billion acquisition of Bucyrus International – completed in early July – Caterpillar through its newly extended Caterpillar Global Mining division, will be on Stand 0216 during AIMEX. The acquisition also sees Bucyrus products coming under the Caterpillar brand name – which is how they will be presented at AIMEX. “It became clear it would be in the best long-term interests of our business to have a single brand for our mining customers, and that brand will be Caterpillar,” said Caterpillar Group President Steve Wunning at the time the acquisition was finalised. As a result of the acquisition, Caterpillar – already the world’s largest manufacturer of earthmoving equipment – now offers a complete equipment package, covering surface and underground, hard rock and soft rock.Its surface mining equipment range now includes walking draglines, electric rope shovels, hydraulic shovels, off-highway trucks, rotary and hydraulic track drills, and highwall mining systems. Underground equipment includes products for room and pillar, longwall and hard rock mining applications as well as complete belt system solutions.
Caterpillar Mining personnel will be on hand during AIMEX to discuss the company’s expanded product line, as well as service and customer support options.
The Bucyrus acquisition, combined with Caterpillar’s aggressive product development and capacity expansion plans, positions the company to offer a broad range of surface and underground mining products and solutions to customers, Wunning said.
He said several other Caterpillar divisions would provide critical support to its mining business, including the Large Power Systems Division, Advanced Components & Systems Division, Remanufacturing & Components Division, Parts Distribution & Logistics Division and Global Purchasing Division.
“In addition, it became clear that the capabilities of the Cat dealer network with mining customers meant that all products should be sold and serviced by Cat dealers,” Wunning said. “This is consistent with our long-held distribution strategy of strong, entrepreneurial, independent dealers. Since Bucyrus predominantly employed a direct model to sell and support products, we’re beginning the process to transition distribution and support to Cat dealers. We plan to sell the Bucyrus distribution business to Caterpillar dealers that support mining customers around the world. While discussions with dealers are just beginning, we estimate the value of the Bucyrus distribution business to be substantial.
“Our dealers are very excited about the Bucyrus acquisition and are ready to move forward with the distribution business. Cat dealers have a proven track record in helping customers realize the highest productivity and lowest owning and operating costs, and many mining customers have told us how important the dealers are to their success,” he said.
Equipment on display will cover key elements of the Caterpillar Mining product range – with full details to be revealed the day that AIMEX 2011 opens.