Ready, Set… Assemble!

Few organizations in the world can boast such well-established, successful relationships as those that exist between Caterpillar and its dealers, who continually look for ways to work together more efficiently and effectively to benefit customers. A 2012 initiative between Caterpillar and Cat^® dealers to improve the assembly time of the Cat^® 793F Large Mining Truck is a great example of how this collaboration benefits customers.

The massive truck is more than 18 feet tall, 44 feet long, weighs upwards of 270,000 pounds and has a payload of 250 tons. The assembly of this workhorse is a massive undertaking. Historically, assembly took many weeks with multiple technicians, depending upon the truck's configuration. This process tied up the skilled technicians at the dealership and kept them from addressing other customer needs.

A global core team of 15 individuals, with an additional 60 people representing 13 different dealerships and seven different Caterpillar business units, collaborated to improve the process.

"As the team started to get into the real details of the problem, it became apparent very quickly that the challenge had many dimensions, the solution had to be global and sustainable, and the project would require an extraordinary degree of communication and collaboration amongst multiple divisions and dealers," explained Cameron Ferguson, dealer capability manager. "With an issue as complex as assembling large product consistently around the world, involving hundreds of people, thousands of parts, several languages and local customization, this project showed that with the right tools and commitment, a flexible but consistent solution can be achieved and exceed customer expectations."

The team used the rigor of 6 Sigma methodology and the discipline of the Caterpillar Production System (CPS) to identify areas of opportunity and define sustainable solutions. The overall goals were to best match the labor force to tasks, reduce cycle time, reduce total labor hours, deliver the standard work in a sustainable way and improve safety by identifying the right specialty and shop tools for the tasks.

The results have been remarkable. Using the new processes and tools, the base assembly time has been reduced by an average of 40 percent. In addition to the faster assembly, the quality levels of the machines have been significantly improved, due to the focus on standard processes and tools, which are being replicated for other large mining trucks. This global collaboration leads to a better product delivered faster and more cost effectively to customers.

Darren Tasker, chief operating officer of WesTrac, one of the pilot dealers heavily involved in the project noted, "WesTrac has been focused on driving continuous improvement throughout its entire organization, including the large mining truck 'order to delivery' cycle. Through the collaboration of both Caterpillar and WesTrac, the project quickly gathered momentum with immediate benefits."

These benefits included elimination of waste, reduced defects/rework and predictable cycle times and man hours required to perform the assembly of the machines.

"There is no doubt that without the expertise provided by Caterpillar, WesTrac would not have realized this level of benefits, which also will benefit other Cat dealers," added Tasker.