Caterpillar Uses Airfloat to to Remove Assembly Line Bottlenecks
CASE STUDY
THE SITUATION
Caterpillar wanted to increase productivity at its Decatur, Illinois 797 Mining Truck assembly line, which relied on a single-rail assembly line. The assembly line routinely produced production bottlenecks, as the trucks were hard to move off the rail. However, the system had successful elements that Caterpillar wanted to retain. Due to the nature of the assembly line, all equipment had to be flush to the ground to interface with existing rail lines.
THE SOLUTION
Seamless Integration
Pit mounted turntables turned the line from a single rail to a multi-rail system.
Low Maintenance
Air Caster Turntables were used to minimize wear and potential downtime.
Heavy Duty
The custom-designed air caster turntables were manufactured to easily rotate 200,000 lbs.
The Result
Our multi-rail assembly line led to substantial productivity increases. By being able to move the 797 Mining Truck around bottlenecks using the Air Caster Turntables, Caterpillar was able to work around trucks that required more time than allotted for, increasing output.
