caterpillar brand will dominate aust hire business

one of the tops 20 shareholders in COA is... elph pty ltd's owner mr dale elphinstone who is also on the board of qld gas co

with ace pty ltd (kerry stokes /seven network)and westrac now doing cat business in wa,nsw and also out of the nhr stores re the $25m deal just announced it should be of no surprise to anyone finding the caterpillar brand name possibly a household name in years to come resulting in increase sales rev for parties concerned


Caterpillar Elphinstone Pty Ltd

Caterpillar Elphinstone takes on the heavyweights

One Tasmanian company is taking the world by storm, and they say Commonwealth Government assistance for their innovation helps make it all possible.

Commodity based industries such as mining are under constant pressure to cut costs. This extends to all parts of the supply chain and Tasmanian mine equipment specialists Caterpillar Elphinstone Pty Ltd is amongst the world leaders in producing technologies to assist miners achieve these goals.

Caterpillar Elphinstone designs and manufactures rugged high quality loaders and haulage units for the underground hard rock mining industry.

In 1975 Dale Elphinstone set up as a sole trader to modify equipment for Tasmania’s mining industry and by 1985 he was manufacturing loaders and trucks. The company has grown to be a global force with current turnover of around $100 million and a workforce of 420 manufacturing equipment predominantly for the Australian, North and South American and South African markets.

Close customer relationships enabled the company to identify that being able to make equipment capable of withstanding rugged application, making it less costly to maintain and more productive, was a strong advantage. To boost its innovative capacity the company has developed linkages with both the CSIRO and the Cooperative Research Centre for Mining Technology and Equipment.

The company has used Commonwealth Government assistance through a dollar for dollar $1.6 million R&D Start Grant to help develop its state of the art AD55 Articulated Underground Truck which the company believes is a major industry breakthrough that will help it to become the world leader in the supply of mobile underground equipment.

Caterpillar Elphinstone’s Product Development Manager, Warren Young, explains. "The AD55 represents a substantial leap forward in terms of its load carrying capacity and productivity in underground haulage. It is the biggest underground mining haul truck in its class and the prototype indicates it’s clearly outperforming its competitors.

There are trucks with larger tonnage capacity but they can only work in selective environments. This truck is capable of being used within the confines of tunnels that traditionally can only accommodate trucks with a 40 – 50 tonne profile."

In addition to its greater haulage capacity the AD55 offers lower fuel consumption per unit of payload and comes with the most advanced electronics monitoring system yet seen on an underground vehicle. Warren Young says the company is also developing an underground automation project and the electronics included within the AD55 will create a platform allowing the truck to operate fully autonomously (that is as a driverless vehicle).

Caterpillar Elphinstone has a long history in developing innovative products and regularly accesses assistance from the Commonwealth Government for its research and development using both the R&D Tax Concession and the competitive grants.

Mr Young says that the company has a very strong record of seeing its R&D go through to successful commercialisation and believes this has been a point of emphasis in their success in applying for grants.

"We regard the Commonwealth assistance as vital. We believe in reinvesting and rolling over our R&D funding into the next project which means we always have a number of R&D projects on the go at any one time. The assistance, whether it’s the Tax Concession or the Start grants or previous programs has helped us to be able to continue with our R&D irrespective of downturns in the industry. When there’s a downturn often the first thing that gets cut in some companies is the R&D. This assistance has helped us to ride out those troughs and maintain our R&D which is where we believe one of our competitive advantages lies."

With the vehicle already attracting forward orders Caterpillar Elphinstone believes the AD55 could be worth up to A$30m in export sales in its first five years on the market and already the company’s 60 strong research and development team has turned its attention to a new 30 tonne truck with even greater focus on the export market.