Working Cat® Magic with Sand
September 6, 2019
Recently, Vigue Relleno Sanitario, a loyal Cat® customer from Monterrey, Mexico, visited Peoria to learn more about Caterpillar operations. Vigue is a waste management company that manages several landfills in their city. Not long ago, Vigue acquired a sand landfill, and wanted to learn some best practices about this specialty application.
Fun fact: We actually know a lot about sand!
First stop: The Mapleton Foundry!
The Mapleton Foundry, located in Mapleton IL, is one of the largest foundries in the United States. It is the facility that produces castings for the machine’s heartbeat – the engine! The facility melts 300-400 tons of iron each day to produce finished castings ranging from 15lb liners to 22,000lb cylinder blocks. Producing a cast requires large amounts of sand – about 160,000 tons a year. The sand shaken off the completed castings is collected and taken to a sand landfill near the foundry.
Since we’ve been operating a sand landfill for about 30 years, the team at Vigue came to find out more about how it works. This experience was a behind-the-scenes look at our operations that most people don’t get to see, but if a customer can learn from us, even if it’s not about our products, we are happy to do what we can to help them succeed!
Why Cat Machines?
Vigue chooses Cat machines to get the job done efficiently. Both the Mapleton Facility and Vigue depend on their equipment for success... downtime isn’t an option.
Omar Sanchez, director of Vigue, says, “we depend a lot on our machines to get the job done. That’s why we use Cat equipment because they are reliable, and the services offered through the dealer are outstanding.”
Engaging Our People, Customer and Dealer.
The Vigue team counts on their trusted Cat Dealer, Madisa, for expertise. Together they work efficiently to get the job done. “I’ve worked with many machines, but when we work with our dealer and Cat machines it’s a partnership that works,” says Omar.
Putting the Blame on the Operator?
When asked to describe Cat machines in one word, David Garate, director of operations at Vigue, says excellence. In fact, when something goes wrong, they are so confident in the equipment that if something goes wrong, they look to other explanations. “When we have the support and reliability from equipment like Cat, we have no option but to blame the operator first!”
After the tour of the Foundry, the group went to building SS in East Peoria, IL to see how their machines are built. They have a fleet of about 45 Cat machines including 826K WH, 950L, 262D, 320GC and 415.
We love when customers come to visit! We are proud of the teams around the world working hard to build our amazing products. And, where we have the chance to show one of our loyal customers how the magic happens – even if that magic happens to be a whole lot of sand – we welcome the opportunity!
