The Bluefield Coal Show is a unique, family friendly show where miners come expecting to see familiar faces and catch up with the coal mining community. For this reason, Caterpillar is pleased to have its regional Cat® Dealers leading the exhibit, which takes place September 16-18 in Bluefield, W.Va.
Keith Harrison, Marketing Supervisor for Carter Machinery, is leading the effort on behalf of several key coal mining dealers. Carter supports coal producers in all of Virginia and part of West Virginia. “Our display is centered on our strong commitment to this industry and the value a Cat Dealer brings to its customers,” Harrison says. “Despite challenging times in the Appalachian coal industry, we continue to invest in the underground sector of our business.
“As Cat Dealers, we can do quite a bit to help customers lower their costs,” he adds. “By displaying examples of our equipment rebuild capabilities, we hope to show Bluefield attendees the quality and skill that we bring to our craft.”
While the Caterpillar exhibit will be dominated by rebuilt machines and service displays, it will also include models of Cat equipment, CWW conveyor products, and video presentations of the Cat product line and dealer capabilities. The two rebuilt machines in the exhibit will be a coal hauler and a scoop.
Carter Machinery has fully rebuilt a number of Cat underground machines recently in their 140,000-sq-ft facility in Princeton, W.Va. Rebuild projects include two longwall systems, a trio of CM210 Continuous Miners, four coal haulers and two scoops. Carter also operates a 58,000-sq-ft Reconditioning Center in Salem, Va., where many mining machine components are rebuilt.
“Rebuilding equipment is a large part of our business as customers see the value in holding on to assets and getting the most out of their design lives,” says Kevin Barnhouse, Vice President and General Manager of Whayne-Walker Underground Mining, which supports customers in all of Kentucky and parts of West Virginia, Ohio and Indiana. “Cat products are designed to be rebuilt, and we fully expect you to come to us two, three, even four times to rebuild a machine.”
We have engaged in a very successful underground mining machine rebuild program with our customers—rebuilding scoops, shield haulers, continuous miners, feeder breakers and longwall gearboxes. We take great pride in the quality of work coming out of our rebuild facilities in Belle, W. Va. and Corbin, Ky., and we encourage visits to those locations. But rebuilds are only one example of the tools we have to help our customers. Come to our exhibit—outdoors near the registration tent—to see how we can help.”
Shawn Martin is Caterpillar’s Eastern Region Sales Manager: “The Bluefield coal show is a super environment for connecting with miners and talking shop in a low-key environment. At the same time, it’s an important opportunity for us to showcase what we can do, how well we do it, and where we can help customers with products or services that they’ve never considered before―like financial services, remanufactured parts and service agreements.”
The coal industry is vital to Caterpillar; we’re invested in it both on the surface and underground, and our commitment to it is deep and steadfast. We continue to develop and invest in new products specifically for the underground coal market, and we’ll continue to introduce new technologies and services to our customers for the long term. In the meantime, we look forward to the chance to see and speak with all our regional customers at the show.”
For more information about Cat mining products, go to: mining.cat.com