Why LRDD chooses Cat machines
“One of the primary reasons that we choose Cat machines—it’s not necessarily up front cost because, at times, they do cost more than the competitors—but it’s the lower cost of ownership over the life of the machine,” W. Dustin Boatwright says.
With crews running 60 to 75 hours per week, operators need to be comfortable in the cabs of the Cat machines, and they are, according to North District Foreman Donnie Pobst.
“All the operators really enjoy our new Cat equipment,” adds Pobst. “The comfort is a huge thing for all the operators. If you want to have a happy operator and you’re going work him 60-75 hours a week, you want that person to be comfortable.
“The advances that Cat machines have made in sound protection, general comfort, audio, all the other cab conveniences, keep the operators happy and that means you’re going to hit your production targets,” Pobst says. “You’re going get the hours in to complete all your jobs.”
“At the end of the day, Cat machines have proven their value and have basically earned our business because the cost of ownership and productivity that we receive from them is the best value for our district.”
High machine uptime, strong resale value
W. Dustin Boatwright says LRDD achieves 98% availability with their Cat machines.
“We found in utilizing Little River’s fleet that it makes the most sense for us to run these machines out for roughly four to five years around 8,000 hours and then there’s still a good enough secondary market that we can move the machines and buy new again,” W. Dustin Boatwright says.
“What that’s done for our business is drastically reduce the amount of downtime that we have. We are providing a service to our landowners, less downtime means more work done on the ground. The better we are at our job the more productive our landowners are, certainly in the agriculture sector. Cat equipment enables LRDD to provide optimal production. We trust the machines will run and not need to be worked on during the ownership period.”
LRDD machines achieve high resale values
“The strong resale value is attributed to the name on the machines - Cat,” says W. Dustin Boatwright. “Beyond that, the credit goes to our two foremen who keep immaculate records of everything that goes on with our machines. From the moment it hits the ground on the first day, we have a record every single day that machine operates. Inspections, what parts we put on it, what oil has been changed, etc. We track everything and when we get ready to sell, we share that information with the buyer and they know that number one, they’re buying a Cat machine, but number two they know for certain that we took care of it.”
William D. Boatwright reports that with new excavators replacing the draglines, employee safety is hands down much better than it was.
“Safety is paramount here at LRDD,” says William D. Boatwright. “We haven’t had a workers' compensation accident in 20 years. All the new machines are equipped with ROPS to better protect our operators.”
“And comfort is a big deal with these new excavators,” he says. “We actually have a guy with almost 40 years’ experience who’s in his mid-70s and still able to operate for us. He’s a terrific operator and with the new level of comfort and safety on the machine, he is able to keep going. Now if this was a dragline, there’s no way.”
Dealer support
Support staff from Caterpillar and Fabick Cat provides technical assistance with any issues that LRDD may have.
“Caterpillar support is always just a phone call away,” William Boatwright says. “If we have a problem, we call the service manager or one of our salesmen and the problem is taken care of. But we have very few problems.”
“Fabick Cat has been terrific,” adds W. Dustin Boatwright. “Fabick Cat is actually one of the commercial developments located in our district, which proves they believe in the flood control protection and drainage LRDD provides. In turn, they have proved to LRDD they can provide the equipment and services that we need to maintain our system at an optimal level.”