Caterpillar: “Our skid steer loaders are competitive in their positioning”

Caterpillar aims to encash in on the rising demand of skid steer loaders based on rising demand from urban construction. Amit Bansal, Industry Sales Manager, Building Construction Products, Caterpillar India Pvt. Ltd. spoke to P.P. Basistha on the company’s skid steer loaders offerings and the allied competitive features.

What are the varied range of skid steer loaders being promoted by you in India.
We have a wide range of skid steer loaders that we sell globally. However, in India we sell only 216B3 which is our entry level model. This is mainly because India is still in a nascent stage as far SSL is concerned and this category (600 kg rated operating capacity) is the most popular choice and makes up for the majority of the SSL sold in India.

Our 216B3 is a machine with 635Kg rated operating capacity. It is fitted with BSIII compliant Caterpillar Engine. The machine comes with Pilot operated joystick levers as standard and host of features that makes it efficient and safe.

Are the loaders manufactured at Indian facility or you import them?
The model being sold currently is made in our India facility that is located in Thiruvallur, Tamil Nadu.

What are the competitive attributes of the skid steer loaders in terms of their compactness and manoeuvrability that makes them suitable to work at constricted job sites of high rise buildings. This is especially when the loaders are working at the basement of the building projects?
A very important feature of the machine is its compactness and manoeuvrability. This is because the machine eg. Cat& 216B3 is only about 5 ft wide and 10.5ft in length. It turns by skidding and can rotate within its own envelope. It requires only 1/8th of the space to make a turn compared to a back-hoe loader. Many of the high rise building have a height restriction of 2.5 m on especially basement, lower and upper basement used for car parking. This machine overall height is a shade less than 2 m which makes it an ideal choice. Also this machine can handle the ramps between these basement floors very comfortably carrying material as it is a hydrostatic machine and all the wheels get the power and hence the traction.

Though forklifts are also widely used in high rise building construction they have limitations. Skid Steer Loaders scores over them in certain areas. SSL can work in both proper flat surface and also uneven soil surface in the site. SSL with pallet fork attachment can also be moved at an angle on the go while moving up and down the ramp to maintain the balance.

What are the varied attachments you provide with your skid steer loaders,that makes them suitable to work for high rise building construction projects?
We have a wide array of 20 plus attachments that can be fitted on to our SSL. But in general buckets, sweeper/brooms and pallet fork attachments find use in a high rise building construction. Buckets are predominantly used for shifting materials like sand, gravel, cement bags, earth and debris. They are also used for some levelling and filling jobs. Sweepers can be used in cleaning the site at each floor once the job is done. Pallet forks are very handy in moving palletised loads like bricks, scaffolding, pipes etc.

How are your skid steer loaders positioned towards delivering higher productivity?
CAT 216B3 is fitted with pilot operated joystick levers which allows for a fatigue free operation for the operator. The machine is also fitted with a load sensing Piston pump which varies the flow according to the demands. The machine is fitted with foot throttle that can be used to adjust the Engine RPM according to the demand. It has a higher load lifting capacity. All these make the machine highly productive.

Temperature is the biggest enemy for a hydraulic machine and a major reason for the downtime. The machine has a patented cooling package design that keeps the hydraulic temperature at a lower level. The Hydraulic tank also has a unique bubble shape design to allow heat dissipation and remove cavitation that prolongs life of hydraulic components. Access to daily Service points and regular maintenance area is easy which ensures the machine is maintained in better condition.

Caterpillar India to leverage components business
Caterpillar India which produces transmissions at its Hosur manufacturing facility near Bengaluru for its captive usage in wheel loaders and backhoe loaders also does commercialized sales of the components to other OEMs.

Speaking to NBM&CW,M. Raj Kalyanarajan, Factory Manager, Caterpillar India Private limited said, "Currently, 90% of transmissions produced at our Hosur plant are exported to North America, Europe and South America, whereas 10% of our products are retained for our captive usage. Based on growing requirements of OEMs for components as per their own standards in India, we see opportunity in India as well."

He mentioned, "Our R&D wing in India has ability to develop products based on OEM requirements. Furthermore, our cost structure is setup in such a way so as to make the components price-competitive for backhoe loaders, and tele-handler manufacturers."