Fast forward: sleek styling, remote controls and computerization are likely trends for the heavy equipment of the future

Recycling Today, Nov, 2001 by Tom Muller

Caterpillar Inc., Peoria, Ill., with its NPI (new product introduction) process, is looking out for your future. We are looking 15 to 25 years into the future and trying to determine what it will be like out there in the various businesses that our equipment is used in.

Once we have a vision of what that industry will be like, we try to determine just what kind of a machine it will take to accomplish the job in that industry 20 to 25 years in the future. We then take that vision of that machine and fold it back to today in three to six year increments. These increments depend on how often we are going to update these machines. The smaller machines may be updated every three years, while the larger ones may be updated every six years. As we fold this vision of the machine back to today, we determine if there is technology available to accomplish this vision of the machine. If it is, we put it on the next update. If it is not available, then we have to invent it. That is the job of our research people at our technical center in Mossville, Ill.

THE FUTURE: A CERTAIN DESTINATION

Why should you be concerned and interested in the future? Because you're going to spend the rest of your life there. When you are planning for the future, just remember one thing, the future usually arrives before we are ready for it.

Now, let's take a little trip into the future. Many of us are being towed into the 21st century, and we're screaming and clawing, trying to hold our way back. All of us have a natural tendency to resist change. We don't really want to look too far into the future. It's scary out there! We won't know what to do. But really, there isn't anything that we cannot do.

One of the mottos we go by at Caterpillar is this: Those who say it can't be done should step aside for those who are doing it. There are plenty of people around who say, "You can't do that; we tried that years ago and it didn't work." Or, "What we have is good enough." But we have to continually improve these products. If we don't, someone will come along, reverse engineer them, make some improvements and pass us by. Continuous improvement is the only way to keep your customers satisfied.

Some of the concepts and machines Caterpillar develops you'll definitely see in production. Some of them you might see for sale. Some of them you definitely won't see. But nevertheless, we're trying to get you to think about them "outside the box." We're going to examine some general trends that we see going on in your area, in your country, in the world and in our industry. We'll examine what we are going to be doing about these trends and how these trends will influence the design of the future machines. We're going to show you where we are, where we are going, and where we are going from there. Remember one thing--change is the only constant.

We have to change. I'll guarantee you one thing, if you are running your businesses ten years from today exactly the same way you are running it today, you're going to be out of business. Technology is changing so fast, that if we don't change, we will be lost in our competitors' dust.

DRASTIC CHANGE

In taking a look at prototype models, try not to laugh: Remember, we can do anything. Equipment doesn't have to look like it does today. It's not going to look like it does today.

This is a high-speed excavator. When excavators travel, you want the distance between the rear sprocket and the front idler to be short so that it is more maneuverable and easier to turn. When you get to where you want to work, you want that distance to be long, so that the machine is more stable. You'll notice that from the travel position, the high idler goes down into the roller frame and the front idler telescopes out giving you a long undercarriage. Notice the operating station is up inside the boom, right where they have the best view of the bucket. They go up and down with the boom. Not only do they go up and down, so does the counterweight. So basically you are just raising the full bucket and the counterweight is helping. Today it doesn't. It helps to hold you on the ground, but it doesn't help to get you out of the hole.

And then there is the future machine 999 wheel loader. It kind of looks like a mad bumble bee. Notice anything different about this loader? The front tires are bigger than the back ones.

We design the front final drives, differentials and axles to take all the high loading forces and low gear torque. All the work and force it takes to load the bucket goes into the bucket, up the lift arms, down through the front frame into the front axle, differential, final drive and out to the ground through the tire. That's how we design the gears in the axle. They have to take all of this high loading and torque. Then we put the same size final drive and differential on the rear. What does the rear end do? All it does is haul around the engine; it doesn't do much work at all. So you can put a different size axle on the rear. This will save some money, because axles are one of the most expensive arrangements on the loader.