Increased demand from the mining sector is leading Caterpillar to use some of its R&D testing capacity to cope with customer orders.

On site at the R&D facility at the Technical Development Centre in Peoria, Illinois, IM learned the company has recently been using the flexibility of its R&D lines to carry out end-of-line customer testing to help ease some of the factory backlog.

The company is a leader in R&D, spending some 4% of sales and revenue on product development.

The facility in Peoria mostly carries out new product and continuous improvement testing for powertrains, hydraulics and engines as part of the company’s global R&D remit. It carries out a wide range of testing, from full engine system evaluation to individual component troubleshooting.