Launching the new Cat machines with a show
The Official Opening of the Caterpillar Distribution Centre at Yatala went ahead last Friday (20th May). The 80 plus customers that attended the invite only event were treated to a tour of the new facility. They also watched a demonstration featuring several new machines, some of which were shown for the first time in Australia that exhibited the connected site.
SITECH played a huge part in the careful planning of the project including mapping and generating an electronic, constructible model prior to any planning and fleet selection.
First SITECH flew a senseFly eBee over the proposed site, and from here were able to create a 3 dimensional plan showing all roads, buildings and services to an accuracy of 50mm. The SITECH Data services team took this data and designed the roads, drain and spoil areas, as well as planning the positioning of the stand where all the customers watched the demonstration from.
Work on creating the site got underway a couple of weeks prior to the event, with the SITECH team and the operators for the Cat machines working over several days to get the design mapped out and the Cat logo dug out by an Excavator. Another fly-over by a UAV captured the construction site in full swing as you can see below.
Hastings Deering Product Manager General Construction Industries, Shane Lennon said “We saw 85 customers attend the event, from medium sized contractors to large national accounts, and to date the feedback has been very positive, exceeding their expectations in many cases.”
The Caterpillar Distribution Centre is a $130 million dollar investment, big enough to store two jumbo jets, and the equivalent of 14 football fields at 56,000m2 has been cited as a vote of confidence in the Construction market after the mining industry slump a few years ago.
The centre, which has a capacity to hold up to 22,000 parts, employs 150 people responsible for shipping everything from a small rubber washer to an 18 tonne engine. The main destination for the parts will be throughout the Hastings Deering Cat dealership throughout Australia, PNG and Pacific Islands.
