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Reduce Downtime with On-Site Hose Assembly
The New Hope Group’s Bengalla coal mine saves valuable time and money with a fully equipped on-site hose shop. Housed in a standard shipping container, the shop can turn out quality hoses in as little as 15 minutes. It’s a prime example of how Cat® Hose Solutions provide the support you need — when and where you need it.
Estimated read time: 3 minutes
Setting Up a One-stop On-Site Hose Shop
At the single-cut open-pit Bengalla coal mine, New Hope Group runs a 24-hour operation, 364 days per year. Reliability Analyst Anton Nichol says the pace can be tough to maintain.
The site’s remote location in the upper Hunter Valley of New South Wales complicates matters. Something as simple as a blown hose has the potential to take a machine down for hours because there are no nearby OEMs and suppliers. “When you’re dealing with stuff in the pit, you don’t want a three-hour wait time,” Nichol says.
The solution: The company’s Cat® dealer, Westrac, transported a complete hose shop and storage unit out to the site. The full set of tooling built into a standard shipping container — supplied and staffed by Cat-trained hose technicians — cuts hose repair time to a minimum.
“The beauty of what we have here is that we can get that hose made in 15 minutes,” Nichol explains. “By the time the guys get from the pit, the hose is ready to go, so we’re looking at minimal downtime.”
On-site Technicians & Inventory Management
When an order comes in from the field, technicians working in the Cat Hose Container assemble the hose, then stage it in the storage container for the maintenance crew.
Computer-controlled inventory management ensures that the hose technicians always have the supplies they need. “Whenever stock gets low, it’ll automatically get reordered. We get trucks to the gate twice a day,” Nichol says.
Dealer technicians are on-site during the day shift, and Bengalla site crews take over in the off hours. Westrac trained the Bengalla technicians, Nichol says, ”so they can step in during night shifts or during the weekend and make a hose.”
The on-site container solution works across the entire Bengalla fleet, he adds. “Cat provides a variety of hoses that suit every application. You can standardize hoses across all your equipment for a mixed fleet.”
For a look inside, check out this Cat Hose Container walk-around video.
'A great idea for any remote site.'
“This hose solution is paramount for us to get our equipment back up and running,” Nichol says. “Westrac and Caterpillar have got all the support systems in place, and they’ll cater to our needs.”
The hose container is "a great idea for any remote site," he says. “Solutions like this provide us with great cost savings, great reliability, all the things we look for for continuous improvement."
Watch this short video to learn more about how the Bengalla mine site cuts hose repair time with the hose container.
Contact your local dealer to see how Cat Hose Solutions can help your operation save downtime and money whenever — and whenever — top production is on the line.
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