Caterpillar Inc. has plans to expand an operation that remanufactures drivetrain components, final drives, transmissions, torque convertors, steering clutches, and other critical components for large off-highway trucks and other mining equipment. It will be a $50-million project for the plant in West Fargo, N.D., and includes a 225,000-square-foot addition to house high-tech machining, metal-additive processes, and a metallurgical lab, to increase the plants capacity.
Caterpillar has remanufacturing operations for mining equipment components in West Fargo, Singapore, and Shrewsbury, England. The plants rebuild and recondition “end-of-life” components to "same-as-when-new" condition, which reduces waste and conserves raw materials to produce new parts, and helps to lower lifecycle costs for Caterpillar customers.
"This expansion will increase our capability to provide unmatched customer support to the mining industry," stated Caterpillar vice president Greg Folley, who is responsible for the corporation’s Remanufacturing & Components division. "Remanufacturing is an attractive, growing and sustainable industry … (and) we can now provide our mining customers drivetrain products with an unprecedented combination of availability, cost savings and support."
Along with the new equipment to be installed, the project will also increase the North Dakota plant’s production of new and remanufactured parts and advanced wear coatings.
Construction will begin this month, and the new operations will be on-line in June 2012.
Caterpillar said the project would lead to the hiring roughly 250 additional workers over a three-year period, bringing total employment to approximately 550 in West Fargo.
"Our facility in West Fargo has been producing remanufactured components for the past 40 years, and now we're looking forward to the next chapter in our history," stated the plant’s manager Dan Walerius.
