60 Years in the Seat of a Cat® Dozer

If it’s 8 am on a work day and you’re looking for Henry Schinske, chances are he’s in the seat of a Cat® dozer. That’s where he’s been nearly every day for the past 60 years—pushing dirt, clearing land, prepping sites. Now, at age 80, some say it’s time to cut back. But he’s still running the show at Henry’s Custom Dozer Service, a Michigan-based company he founded more than five decades ago.

The centerpiece of Schinske’s fleet is a 35-year-old Cat dozer. It’s logged more than 53,000 operating hours and the engine has been rebuilt three times. Four other high-hour Cat dozers round out the fleet. All are performing well.

“I’d put my dozers up against a machine that’s just two years old and you wouldn’t know the difference,” says Schinske. “I ran my oldest one this morning. These machines are dependable and run well.”

Schinske credits the longevity of his Cat fleet to quality design, good operating skills and regular maintenance. He takes pride in the way he cares for his equipment and always stays on top of maintenance issues. If problems surface, he gets them fixed right away.

Schinske, like the old Cat dozers he operates, doesn’t seem to know the meaning of quit.

“People ask me when I’m going to quit and I tell them I can’t because my doctor tells me to keep doing what I’m doing,” he laughs. “I can still work 10 hours a day and feel like I’ve accomplished something at the end of it.”

Good health, satisfying work and a long life. That’s what it’s all about for Henry Schinske.