10,000 strong!

[SRB]

From Caterpillar:

10,000 STRONG!

In 1963, we built the first Cat® rigid-frame off-highway truck in Decatur, Illinois. We kept improving them, validating their performance and delivering them. Customers liked what they saw and put them to work. In 2009, we produced our 50,000th off-highway truck. In 2010, the celebration continued with another milestone, a big one: our 10,000th large mining truck. That’s 10,000 trucks with a rated payload of 150 tons or more. All built since 1984. All built in Decatur. All built by Caterpillar.

And all of them built to help our customers mine safely, mine more and mine right.

The first of 10,000. In 1984, J.R. Simplot Co. bought something the world had never seen before: a 785 Cat mining truck. It may have been the first of 10,000 large mining trucks, but it was far from an experiment. Maybe that’s why it still hauls phosphate in Wyoming’s Smokey Canyon Mine today.

It just keeps working. Predictably, affordably, productively. It’s definitely one of the reasons our customers keep coming back. Including J.R. Simplot, also the owner of one of our first 785D trucks.

The newest of 10,000. BHP Billiton Iron Ore has purchased the 10,000th large mining truck to emerge from the Caterpillar off-highway truck facility in Decatur, Illinois, a 793F. BHP Billiton also bought the 1,000th and 2,000th trucks to come down the 793 line.

The 793F, the fifth generation of the line, has a payload capacity of 250 tons and can be loaded by large wheel loaders, excavators and rope shovels. A versatile mining platform, it is available with high-altitude, extra-quiet and/or retarding packages. But just as important, the dependable 793F helps our customers achieve their cost-per-ton targets. Always ready to load and go, this truck—in operation in mines around the world—averages 7,500 hours of operation per year.

The biggest of 10,000. The biggest mechanical-drive truck there is, the Cat 797F with a payload capacity of 400 tons, can haul anything that can be mined.

It is powered by a high-displacement Cat C175-20 engine. That’s 20 cylinders in a single, massive engine block. Its brakes are just as impressive: forced oil-cooled discs that are continuously cooled by a water-to-oil heat exchanger for exceptional, non-fading braking and retarding performance. Yet, as big as it is, the 797F shares the same goals as the rest of the Cat truck family: the most competitive safety, productivity, serviceability, comfort and cost-per-ton in its class.

The next 10,000. We offer our customers a broad range of trucks designed for every application—uphill, downhill, extreme and unique conditions—using mechanical or electric drive. Our success comes from the dedication and support of our employees and dealers and the confidence of our customers.

Thank you for making us the world leader in large mining trucks.

Click on the Link for Video and more info:

http://www.cat.com/mining

SB

[nick lamb]

You just can't beat Cat.
Say no more.