It has this year added four new production lines for machines that include the huge 992G wheel loader, an 800hp machine with a bucket capacity of 12.3 cubic metres. To serve these production lines it has had installed 16 new underslung double girder cranes with spans in the region of 14m (45ft).

Having been perfectly happy for many years with the cranes installed some 30 years ago on other production lines, Caterpillar knew that it wanted only more of the same. Therefore it contacted the companies whose names were stamped on its existing cranes. These were P&H hoists and Cleveland Tramrail cranes. Morris Material Handling (formerly P&H) and Cleveland Tramrail Chicago were invited to bid against each other for the new work.

“They have had such good service from this equipment they wanted to duplicate it,” says Dave Barrett of Morris Material Handling. For Morris this was no problem. The P&H Hevi-Lift hoist, he says, is “very close to what we made in the 1970s” except for a few updates in the gears.

Both Morris and Cleveland Tramrail Chicago bid on the basis of using P&H Hoists and Cleveland Tramrail components such as running gear and carriers. Morris could have supplied all the components itself, since it also makes underhung crane kits, but Caterpillar was clear that it wanted to same as it had had before.

Cleveland Tramrail Chicago won the tender, which Barrett presumes is because there was a higher Cleveland content in the project. Morris did not lose out too badly, however, since it had a major role as a subcontractor and Barrett concedes: “I think it was the most cost-effective way for Cat to purchase the equipment.”

The name Cleveland Tramrail is most closely associated with track monorail and underhung crane systems. Cleveland Tramrail patented track revolutionised the industry with its special raised tread, hardened track design. These rails allow underhung carriers to operate on one single straight, curved or inclined track, or underhung cranes operating on two or more straight track runways. Cleveland Tramrail was acquired in 2002 by Gorbel. Cleveland Tramrail Chicago, however, remains an independent crane builder, owned by George Pavlik, that is a franchised distributor for Gorbel and Cleveland Tramrail, as well as Columbus McKinnon and Caldwell.

The Caterpillar contract could be portrayed as an unusual partnership of competitors. But P&H and Cleveland Tramrail Chicago only compete occasionally as crane builders, and Barrett does not regard the two companies as head to head competitors. Often, third party general contractors will use Cleveland Tramrail components with P&H hoists, Barrett says.

Pavlik says it is not unusual for his company to use P&H hoists on its cranes. “We use their product sometimes,” he says.

On this project, however, instead of P&H simply shipping a consignment of hoists to Cleveland Tramrail Chicago, it made more sense for the main contractor to send its components to the subcontractor. “We subbed the hoists and trolley frames to them,” says Pavlik, adding that it was more convenient for him to ship smaller components to Morris than for them to ship large hoists to him.

Cleveland Tramrail Chicago shipped its trolley components carriers to Morris’s facility in Waukesha, Wisconsin. Here Morris connected them to its own trolley frames and added radio remote controls, back-up pendants, horns and Smartorque variable frequency drives for the hoisting motions. (VF drives were not specified for long and cross travel of the crane.)

Then the whole trolleys were shipped to Caterpillar in Aurora, where Cleveland Tramrail Chicago installed them.

“The Cleveland stuff is pretty much a kit than can be bolted together. It’s a nice piece of kit,” Barrett says.

In total, Morris supplied:

• Eleven 5-ton Hevi-Lift hoists

• Ten 15-ton, one 20-ton and one 25-ton deck mounted Hevi-Lift hoists mounted to P&H trolleys for mounting onto double girder cranes

• Two sets of two 15-ton tandem Hevi-Lift hoists with separate controls for future use with P&H trolleys, for mounting onto double girder cranes.

Pavlik says that Cleveland Tramrail Chicago started on site in July. The trolley units were shipped from Waukesha in stages over the summer, with the final couple of units coming this month.