Despite the growing success of its asphalt pave range, Caterpillar is still determined to showcase the benefits of its patented units. A recent trial day of its AP400 paver, with well-known contractor Asphaltech, has again showed the promise of Caterpillar equipment.
According to GlobalData, Caterpillar is the largest construction equipment manufacturer in the world (by revenue). Despite its placement at the top, the company is always looking for ways to give back to its customers and apply customer feedback.
As part of this push, Caterpillar recently sought to display the capabilities of one of its latest paving machinery models in a real-life setting, enabling operators to get their hands on what the future has in store.
The demonstration day, in Thomastown, Victoria, gave Caterpillar and the wider William Adams (Caterpillar’s dealer in Melbourne) team the opportunity to showcase their latest machinery offerings to Asphaltech, a company that traditionally uses alternative equipment.
Dean Alley, Territory Manager, Paving Products – Caterpillar, says the day was a “perfect” opportunity to showcase all that the company’s asphalt compaction machinery has to offer.
“It’s a chance for us to showcase the AP400, as well as our wider asphalt compaction machinery portfolio,” he says. “William Adams has put on a great show. There’s also been great levels of engagement from the team at Asphaltech, who’ve generously allowed us to demo some of our equipment on one of their sites.”
Caterpillar’s AP400 wheel-type asphalt paver provides greater flexibility, visibility and mobility over its competitors in this weight class, with front wheel assist and more making the 13.6 tonne option highly suitable to the Australian market.
The machine is also equipped with the very popular front mount screed SE47 FM, allowing our customers to lay high-quality mats up to 2.5 to 4.7 metres wide with Caterpillar’s consistent and reliable paving performance.
Zayne Watson, Metro Melbourne Sales Manager for William Adams says the demo day was the first of its kind for the company, and was highly successful.
“It’s the first time that we’ve put a brand-new machine into live, hot asphalt and enabled our customers to experience and operate the machine and see what kind of mat it lays in the asphalt,” he says.
“The AP400 is a new machine that was built from the ground up to fit a specific niche in the marketplace, between certain machinery sizes and classes that a lot of our customers have been asking for worldwide. It provides the customer with versatility, having the ability to do everything from driveways, commercial parking lots, residential roads and even up to the larger national road works. It’s a very flexible machine,” he says.
The AP400 is ideal for small to mid-sized applications, such as city streets, country roads and car parks.
John Anderson, Global Sales Consultant – Caterpillar says the compact size, simple operation and increased flexibility of the AP400 means the machine is suitable for contractors of all sizes.
“It’s a really nice fit because of the mobility and the manoeuvrability,” he says. “It’s a little bit smaller than the machines we’ve built in the past, making it easier to transport. It’s also got better ground clearance, if you’re coming up to kerbs you can get in tighter when you’re doing commercial work.
“That ability to get into tighter spots, while still being able to carry out that 2.5 to 4.7 metre work, means the AP400 fits a really nice spot in our line-up. It’s a nice size class that has been missing in the industry for a while.”
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Customer feedback
Darren Clark, Supervisor – Asphaltech was impressed with the machine and its capabilities.
He says a few features stood out above the rest, but overall, the machine is an impressive package.
“The other operators have loved it too. We’ve found it quick and easy to learn. There’s been barely any adjustment required. It’s a straightforward setup,” he says.
“The automatic levels are easy to use with the automatic screeds, along with the digital screens and controls on top, making it nice and easy to work and use,” he says
Vasily Leota, Paver Operator – Asphaltech says thanks to the unit’s simplistic design, all that was required was a brief rundown before he could take the machine “for a spin”.
“The controls are a lot easier to operate and overall, it’s pretty straightforward, especially when we’re getting help with training,” he says. “It’s only taken about five minutes, but after that you can pretty much pick it up straight away. It’s very easy to learn.
“It’s also a lot quieter and very comfortable. If we get a chance, hopefully in the future, which I believe is the plan, we’ll be going back to Caterpillar.”
Alley says the positive feedback received from the crews who participated in the demonstration day provides even greater confidence that the AP400 is firmly placed as a “best in class” option.
“Most of what we’ve been hearing is that they love the machine,” Alley says. “They love how simple it is, and they’ve been able to pick it up really fast. We’ve also heard how intuitive the controls are, they’ve been able to start laying down the material relatively quickly, which they’ve all been really impressed with.”
The quietness of the machine is as apparent as the high level of visibility provided by the AP400’s operator platform, thanks to features such as eco-mode and Automatic Engine Speed Control.
“They’ve also been impressed with the noise level of the machine. It’s extremely quiet, so the crew can talk to each other while laying down the material,” Alley says.
“The operators also pointed out how good the visibility is, allowing them to have sight lines around the entire machine.
“We’re really happy with how the demo has gone. We just really want to thank Williams Adams, as well as Asphaltech for giving us the time to do a demo with the AP400.”
This article was originally published in the March edition of our magazine. To read the magazine, click here.
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