Underground Construction - September 2020 - 42

BUSINESS LATEST INDUSTRY NEWS
vide the highest uptime in the industry, offer unique
customer solutions and ensure the best value at any
stage in a machine's lifecycle.
Massachusetts-based Tyler Equipment's commitment to those areas contributed to its outstanding
performance last year. Its general-purpose equipment retail market share grew by 37 percent and its
road machinery equipment market share grew by 25
percent for products served in its territory.
Uptime Dealer of the Year was awarded to Housby
Heavy Equipment, based in Des Moines, Iowa, for
best demonstrating Volvo's commitment to being the
No. 1 uptime provider in the construction industry. An
example of Housby's success in keeping customers
up and running is its fully stocked parts department,
which led to 98-percent parts availability in 2019. Another is outfitting nine Mack trucks to use as service
trucks to help improve customer uptime.

T.D. Williamson
tdwilliamson.com

T.D. Williamson launched a redesigned website that
makes it easier and faster for users to find pipeline
performance solutions, reach experts and gain
information about achieving the highest standards
of pipeline maintenance and operation.
TDW customers will be able to quickly locate
products and services to meet their pipeline.
They will also
The new site is organized into three main
sections: solutions, resources and company
information.
Within the Solutions area, users will find all the
details about TDW products and services to help
them make the best decision for their pipeline pigging, intervention and isolation, and integrity needs.
Resources provides quick access to case studies,
white papers and other materials that keep visitors
on the leading edge of industry best practices.
The simple-to-navigate site with enhanced
mobile capabilities represents a digital launch into
the future, while also paying homage to the past. A
microsite, www.tdwilliamson100.com, celebrates
the first century of the company's work to create

SEPTEMBER 2020 | UCONonline.com

safer, more reliable pipelines for onshore and
offshore applications, including advanced isolation
and repair, integrated pigging and integrity assessment solutions.

Caterpillar
cat.com
Caterpillar Inc. has acquired select assets and
hired employees from Marble Robot Inc., a San
Francisco-based, robot and autonomy technology
solutions company.
The strategic acquisition demonstrates Caterpillar's commitment to the next generation of job-site
solutions. Building on its leadership in autonomous
mining, the company plans to leverage the deep
expertise of Marble Robot to bring scalable solutions to meet the changing needs of construction,
quarry, industrial and waste industries.
Specifically, Caterpillar intends to leverage
the team's fully integrated on-board autonomy
technology - including perception, localization
and planning - to continue delivering smart, safe,
more productive and cost-effective solutions to
customers.
"In many ways, this completes a full circle for
me.," said Kevin Peterson, former Marble CEO, now
Caterpillar technologist. "I had the privilege of working with Caterpillar early in my career at Carnegie
Mellon, where they sponsored the development of
the first generation of self-driving vehicle software.
"Now, with the acquisition of the Marble team,
together we will drive the next generation of autonomy solutions for Caterpillar customers."

Prinoth
prinoth.com

MacAllister Machinery is the newest partner
in Prinoth's dealer network. Headquartered in
Indianapolis and with locations throughout Indiana,
MacAllister will provide vehicle rental, sales, parts
and service for the PRINOTH PANTHER tracked
carriers in the state.
First opening in 1945, the third-generation,
family owned MacAllister Machinery has provided
an ever-expanding line of superior quality products,
relevant services, and advanced technologies to an
ever-expanding clientele and variety of customers.
MacAllister offers the entire PANTHER line-up

from its retail sales departments, including standard
configurations and customized turnkey solutions
for new and unique applications.
The dealer also rents Panther T12s and T14Rs,
with plans to add additional models in 2020.
PRINOTH, part of HTI Group, is one of the
world's leading manufacturers of tracked vehicles.
Whether mud, gravel or snow, these utility vehicles
are reliable tools for extreme use in extreme
environments. Because they exert very low pressure
on the ground, they go places where wheeled
vehicles sink.

Felling Trailers
felling.com

Continuing to position itself at the forefront of innovation, Felling Trailers, a Central Minnesota trailer
manufacturer, acquired a 2-Cell Gantry Robot with
Fanuc R-100iC Robotic Arms.
Used to weld the trailer to "frame-level" - hitch
to tail, including cross members, frame rails,
headboard and tailboard - the new Gantry Robot
reduces lead times by increasing production
capabilities and efficiencies. Overall, the frame-level
weld process is completed about 30-percent faster
than when done manually.
The Gantry Robot's operations team consists
of the weld trainer and fixture designer, who work
together to layout the fixtures needed for trailer
builds and the programming. In addition, the
production operator places trailer components into
the fixture and verifies tolerances before the robot
starts its work.
While the robot is welding the frame, the operator monitors the process and stages the next fixture
to run through the gantry robot program. Once the
frame-level weld is complete, the trailer returns to
the weld team for adding on axles, tie-downs, and
other customer-specific options.
To date, the 2-Cell Gantry Robot has completed
150 units from two of Felling's most popular models.
Along with adding more model lines to the Gantry
Robot's database, Felling will continuously add trailer
components, such as beavertails, to maximize its
productivity, based on product demand. *

http://www.cat.com http://www.felling.com http://www.tdwilliamson.com http://www.prinoth.com http://www.tdwilliamson100.com http://www.UCONonline.com

Underground Construction - September 2020

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