Holt Cat Opens Turbo Rebuild Center

For the oil and gas industry, productivity and uptime mean everything. So when the market started to ramp back up in early 2017, one Cat® dealer saw an emerging gap in the market for rebuilding components and engines, especially turbochargers.

“As a company, we had been in the turbo rebuild business in the past,” said Adam Haby, product support sales manager at Holt Cat. “The last couple of years when demand was extremely high, we couldn’t support customers with existing options. We already had people in place with the experience, so we started up a Turbo Rebuild Center.”

The Turbo Rebuild Center within the Engine Rebuild Facility at Holt Cat services turbos and engines for fracking and gas compression customers across Texas. Fracking had been Holt’s primary customer for rebuilt turbos, but as gas compression engines come of age, the need for parts and rebuilds is only going to increase.

“It is the perfect storm,” Haby said. “We have a huge number of engines becoming mature and needing these types of parts all coming to us at the same time. That nationwide shortage of parts really hurt us at first, but it created the opportunity for us to offer additional resources.”

Turbos are a vital component in an engine, allowing for a higher air/fuel ratio that ultimately boosts power output, efficiency and production. According to Haby, most turbo wear comes down to neglecting preventative maintenance. From not replacing the air filter as scheduled to overextending oil change intervals, straying from service schedules could wear down turbos and other components more quickly. But whatever the reason for the wear, Holt’s Turbo Rebuild Center is here to fix it.

“It’s pretty rare that we get a turbo we can’t rebuild,” said Victor Bidwell, lead technician for power systems at the Turbo Rebuild Center. “Now that we’ve got the hang of the rebalancing machine, our reuse is pretty high. We do a lot of visual inspections before starting repairs, so we know what we’re looking for.”

From a corporate level, Caterpillar assisted Holt in the development of the Turbo Rebuild Center, educating staff on Cat rebuild standards and other procedures. When a customer brings in a turbo, it is inspected, rebuilt to specifications and then put back to work, making money for Holt’s customers.

“The cost savings is substantial when you’re comparing a new turbo to an internally rebuilt turbo,” Haby said. “A Cat Reman turbo is a great option, too, but the rebuild center gives us the opportunity to control costs even more.”

While Holt has the ability to sell rebuilt turbos over the counter if the need arises, Bidwell recommends bringing in the entire engine for a more streamlined replacement process — ultimately saving the customer on downtime and repair costs.

“The best option for customers in this business is being back out on the site. That’s where they make their living,” Haby said. “It’s all about doing what we can to get them back to what they do. That’s why we offer internally rebuilt turbos, Cat Reman and new options to our customers.”

Compared to third-party suppliers, Holt Cat believes it can offer better value to its customers, through comprehensive dealer support, including parts warranties and Customer Support Agreements (CSAs). CSAs are a growing trend in the oil and gas industry, shifting preventative maintenance responsibilities to the dealer instead of in-house crews. And according to Haby and Bidwell, the added bonus of working closely with a Cat dealer and using genuine Cat parts is that the customer has the entirety of the global Cat dealer network behind them.

“The Caterpillar parts warranty is transferrable between any Cat dealer. And as a dealer, we work with our neighboring dealers to take care of any issues for customers,” Haby said. “We stand behind what we produce, and I can’t say that for all of the third-party manufacturers.”

To learn more about the Holt Cat Turbo Rebuild Center, visit www.holtcat.com.