IntelliFinishing Partnership with Caterpillar Continues to Deliver Results

For Caterpillar, the painting process traditionally created a bottleneck in their manufacturing process.  The variety and complexity of parts resulted in a wide range of finishing times that often slowed the entire production operation.

About a decade ago, Caterpillar, looking to streamline this process, partnered with IntelliFinishing to develop and install lean finishing systems at seven manufacturing locations.  After nearly 10 years of operation, these efficient finishing systems are still delivering consistent and reliable performance, offering unparalleled flexibility to adjust finishing needs as they evolve.

Caterpillar – Little Rock, Arkansas 

Nearly eight years ago, two finishing systems were installed at the Caterpillar location in Little Rock, Arkansas.  The first was a liquid finishing system boasting a 10,000 lb. loading capacity and a smaller powder system for parts up to 800 lbs. This achievement in lean manufacturing was featured in Modern Metals magazine.

Originally designed and installed to process the Little Rock location’s line of products for large graders, when Caterpillar began producing extremely large wheel dozers at the facility as well, modifications to the system’s load and unload lift area were required to accommodate the massive 8,000 lb. body chassis. Another amendment to the finishing systems included the addition of two deadhead spur tracks along the process line.  These simple spur lines tremendously increased the adaptability and efficiency of the finishing systems by enabling parts that process faster or need to be expedited to bypass other parts in the finishing process.  Furthermore, these spurs also act as carrier maintenance bays, ensuring production is not affected by maintenance activities.

Over the years, while these and other adjustments have been made to the finishing systems in Little Rock, some things have remained constant.  First of all, the collaborative partnership between Caterpillar and IntelliFinishing which has facilitated smooth and productive alterations and upgrades to their systems.  And secondly, both finishing systems have consistently performed at high levels without issue and are still going strong!

IntelliFinishing Complete Finishing Solutions 

IntelliFinishing is the industry leader in flexible finishing system solutions.  Featuring an innovative modular conveyor design and smart control technology, IntelliFinishing systems enable individual carriers and loadbars to move at their own speed and direction, unaffected by changes to other processes and conveyor activity elsewhere in the system..  This incredible flexibility greatly enhances finishing line efficiency as each process area can act independently to optimize both quality and throughput.

From conception and initial design, through installation and commissioning, IntelliFinishing combines the best finishing processes and components available to provide complete turnkey finishing solutions.  With systems implemented across numerous industries, including agriculture, aerospace, automotive, defense, custom coaters, and construction, IntelliFinishing has the expertise to deliver customized, automated solutions that will change the way you think about paint lines.

Click here to learn more about IntelliFinishing and our innovative finishing solutions!