Caterpillar, Navistar plan venture to custom-build heavy trucks

Caterpillar Inc. and Navistar International Corp. agreed to jointly produce a new line of heavy-duty Caterpillar trucks made to order for customers in fields from earth moving to mining and road-building.

The so-called vocational trucks will be "purpose-built to complement Caterpillar's existing product line," George Taylor, general manager of the company's on-highway department, said in a statement. They will be built at Navistar's plant in Garland, Texas, and sold through Caterpillar's North American dealers.

The 50-50 joint venture will also develop and assemble commercial trucks outside of North America and India, initially targeting markets such as Australia, Brazil, China, Russia, South Africa and Turkey, a Caterpillar spokeswoman, Kate Kenny, said in a telephone interview.

The accord brings together Caterpillar, the world's largest maker of bulldozers and earth-moving equipment, with Navistar, the world's fourth-largest truckmaker, as the recession damps demand for construction and other heavy-duty vehicles.

"We believe this clearly is an opportunity where the whole is greater than the sum of the parts," Dee Kapur, president of the Navistar Truck Group, said in the statement.

The companies said the new vocational trucks will be unveiled in late 2010 and move into full production in early 2011. Commercial trucks built under the joint venture will be sold under both the Caterpillar and International brands as early as the third quarter.

The transaction is subject to various regulatory approvals and other closing conditions, the companies said.

Caterpillar, based in Peoria, fell 84 cents, or 2.6 percent, to $31.31 at 6:40 p.m. after the close of regular trading on the New York Stock Exchange. The company has said it may post a first-quarter loss, its first in 16 years.

Navistar gained $1.18, or 3.8 percent, to $31.93. The shares of the Warrenville-based company have risen 49 percent this year. Navistar was the largest supplier of blast- resistant vehicles to the U.S. military under a $22.4 billion program to equip troops in Iraq.

http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=284597

Sector Snap: Heavy machinery makers decline

Stocks of heavy machinery manufacturers tumbled Monday as crane maker Manitowoc Co. retracted its full-year guidance and the broader market fell on fresh challenges for General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC.

Manitowoc also predicted first-quarter earnings per share from continuing operations would be at least 50 percent below current Wall Street estimates. The company cited continued decline in demand for its cranes.

The Manitowoc, Wis.-based company also said it would sell its ice machine business for $160 millions. Baird analyst Robert F. McCarthy had expected the unit to fetch $200 million.

Manitowoc also warned that because of the lower-than-expected sale price, there is an increased chance the company could violate certain debt agreements during the second half of the year.

Manitowoc shares plunged $1.49, or 32.3 percent, to $3.12 in midday trading. The stock has ranged from $2.34 to $45.47 over the past year.

Meanwhile, Credit Suisse analyst Jamie Cook lowered his 2009 and 2010 estimates on Deere & Co. on his "more cautious view of farm equipment demand globally." The analyst cited South America and Eastern Europe as regions where "the global financial crisis continues to restrict access to credit for farmers."

Deere shares fell $2.73, or 7.8 percent, to $32.34. The stock has traded in a 52-week range of $24.51 to $94.89.

Meanwhile the White House rejected turnaround plans from General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC, sending the broader market lower.

Shares of mining equipment maker Bucyrus International Inc. declined $1.36, or 8.3 percent, to $14.95. Joy Global Inc. gave up $2.25, or 9.6 percent, to $21.20 and Caterpillar Inc. slid $2.86, or 9.4 percent, to $27.49.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5helBMGvHhdB4qzWOqOHowWUUKQWQD978F8N00

The campus is alive with the sound of heavy machinery

Although finals are over at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, the campus is anything but quiet.

It's alive with the beeps, clanks and chugs of heavy machinery involved in more than $75 million in construction.

A giant hole has been dug for the largest building project, a $53.1 million science and engineering building, said Dave Schnabel, director of facilities. At 160,000 square feet, it will be one of the largest buildings on campus. It's scheduled to open in August 2008.

The renovation of Dwire Hall, partially inspired by a concrete chunk that crashed down in a hallway, is 30 percent complete, Schnabel said.

Nearly everything -- walls, windows, ventilation and wiring -- is being replaced. The $10 million project is scheduled for completion in August 2007.

For passers-by who've wondered about the towering white walls near the campus apartments, they mark the beginning of the $12 million student recreation center.

It's being built for energy efficiency, Schnabel said. Concrete poured into Styrofoam-like blocks will make it one of the campus's most efficient structures. It's 10 percent complete and paid for by student fees.

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4191/is_20061220/ai_n17112543?tag=content;col1

Vibro-acoustic fine-tuning for heavy machinery

Optimising heavy machinery in terms of vibration control and acoustics is a particularly difficult technical challenge.

Optimising heavy machinery in terms of vibration control and acoustics is a particularly difficult technical challenge.

To achieve the greatest possible degree of comfort for construction machinery or agricultural machinery workplaces and to meet the strict legal requirements and standards of comfort in terms of acoustics and machine vibrations, heavy machinery must undergo comprehensive fine-tuning.

Viewing the entire system as a whole is the basis of this optimisation process.

Freudenberg's Technical Development Centre has an outstanding international reputation in this field and has the technical equipment needed to fine tune these machines in this special way.

The transmission paths for vibrations and structure borne noise in heavy machinery such as combine harvesters or wheel loaders are highly complex.

The sources of vibration in the vehicle itself and the actual excitation caused by moving tools are many and varied.

Noise pollution and vibrations can distract the driver or the operator and thereby reduce the quality of their work.

This explains why vibration control and acoustics are one of the most important features which set high-quality heavy machinery apart from the rest.

Both of these factors are influenced by the vibro-acoustic fine-tuning of the entire system.

With a range of elastomer bearings, hydro mounts as well as passive, adaptive and active absorbers, Freudenberg has the right technological component for every application.

In order to reduce the sound pressure level in the driver's cab to well below the legal limit values and to decrease the vibrations to the comfort levels required by the customer, the entire vehicle has to be taken into account.

This procedure includes: experimental vehicle analysis; modelling and optimisation using computer-based simulation tools; and implementation of changes using specific product designs.

These steps include the selection of the bearing concept, followed by the selection of specially adapted unit and cab bearings, pneumatic springs, shock absorbers and hydro mounts.

These are then supplemented by acoustic measures such as double insulation, acoustic improvements to the machine structures, use of absorbent materials and the reduction of structure borne noise bridges.

In co-operation with the Technical Development Centre, Freudenberg offers the entire portfolio of services from the system development with an in-depth knowledge of the entire system right up to the ability to supply top-quality components anywhere in the world.
http://www.engineeringtalk.com/news/sri/sri103.html

Secret Machines - Welcome To The Machines

Brandon Curtis is always keeping busy. In between gearing up Secret Machines for another European tour and indeed convening with the other two members of his band to put ideas in place for their next record, he is in Indiana producing South Africans BLK JKS (pronounced Black Jacks).

There has been little let-up since the release of the band’s third, self-titled album in January, an album that has marked a sort of rebirth for the Dallas-born, New York-based trio.

Because, of course, this was the first without Brandon’s brother Benjamin, their erstwhile guitarist who had defined their shuddering alt-prog since their 2004 debut Now Here Is Nowhere. Benjamin left to pursue a more imaginative pop avenue with School Of Seven Bells (who, all being well, we speak to next issue), leaving a sizable hole that Brandon plugged with old Dallas cohort Phil Karnats, a very different presence. That, in a nutshell, is why Secret Machines have all the hallmarks of an entirely new band. The eponymous title of the new album alone marks the redefining process.

You could even say being in a band was, for Brandon, injected with a new passion he hadn’t experienced since his early days of playing with friends in Dallas.

“It was a kind of back to basics approach,” he says, “more related to where I was when I first started playing music, and I was thinking about the same kind of feeling I was feeling when I first started writing songs. A point of origin sort of thing…”

The new album is a passionate display of heavy, loud rock with deft touches of Curtis’s familiarly leftfield song structure, and is not as prog-rock as most people would have them. The new songs were actually born when Ben was still around in 2007.

“I guess I thought I was writing what I thought would be new music, and then when Benjamin said he was leaving I started playing the stuff with Josh and we decided to continue.

“The music was starting this way with or without Benjamin, although I think it would have travelled over a different path with him. I think whenever you involve someone else it affects the journey. Once Benjamin or Phil became involved it would have taken on a different life.”

Obviously, the familiar Secret Machines sound has been transformed, as has the dynamic within the group, completed by drummer Josh Garza.

“They share a lot [Ben and Phil] in that they’re both very passionate musicians and very meticulous, but they’re very different as guitarists. When I hear them play I hear their personalities.

“I’m really excited about a whole new perspective on the situation, it’s kind of empowering, but I was heading in this direction anyway.”

It’s fair to say then, that this album is a combination of Curtis’s natural creative development since 2006’s Ten Silver Drops and the direction that Karnats’ inevitable influence turned his original vision.

Brandon had been listening to a variety of music while he was putting together Secret Machines, including Boris and other similarly brutal fare. This influence Brandon refers to as “so dark and heavy but so beautiful; having this melancholy but aggressive feeling. An aggressive sadness.” This sums up the Secret Machines album perfectly. A robust misery. An angry depression. A combative dejection. And so forth.

Benjamin’s departure aside, this album has been an upheaval for Secret Machines in other ways. Reinventing themselves as a ‘new band’ apparently jarred with Warner Brothers (or to be more specific, Reprise) and the label promptly decided Secret Machines were no longer the artist they thought they had.

“We presented this record to Warner Brothers,” says Curtis, “and we had different opinions on how the record would be recorded and presented. Even when we were starting to make this record we had a different philosophical approach to the circumstances – who should produce it and stuff like that. For Josh and I, we felt it was important to stay as producers and the people calling the shots in the studio. We were willing to collaborate but didn’t want to give up total control.

“Warner Brothers disagreed but let us do it anyway. Then we turned in the record and they felt it wasn’t the record we should have made for us in our time right now. They wanted to sell millions of records but we wanted to make a record that was in our hearts. At the end of the day they were very generous to us and very fair, and gave us the rights to the record back.”

It was World’s Fair / Cooperative Music who eventually released the album… “I’m very happy to have a new situation and I’m not missing [Warner Brothers].”

Secret Machines’ history is an illustrious one. Not least because they count David Bowie amongst their fans (he wonders into their gigs when they play in New York), as well as Jason Pierce and Kevin Shields. Then there is that rare feat of appealing to both an indie fraternity as well as those into metal – all their fans reaching typically fanatical and meticulous levels of adoration. There is also a fantastically theatrical live show with lights, lasers and other extravagant visuals.

“It’s really expensive to travel with it,” says Curtis, “so I’m not sure we’re gonna be able to do it or not [on the European tour]. We will always pay attention to the atmosphere when we play, whether or not we have expensive production. I wish it were cheaper.”

As work intensifies for Secret Machines on the follow up to what we can tentatively say was a ‘watershed’ record, Brandon Curtis is in a position to assess his own band’s future with that injection of the spirit of youth, as well as admire his brother’s marvellous new band.

“I am really enjoying seeing the fruits of his labour,” he says. “School Of Seven Bells has been a passion for him for such a long time. He’s cared about it so much and I’m really proud and excited for him. It’s his work coming to light in just his way. I’m enjoying his success by contact.”
http://www.tourdates.co.uk/LondonTourdates/issue-040/2009/02/13/1396-Secret-Machines-Welcome-To-The-Machines

ARI(R) Appoints John Storz to Manager of Heavy Truck and Equipment Remarketing

MT. LAUREL, NJ - ARI - Automotive Resources International, a leading global fleet solutions provider specializing in complex car and truck fleets, has appointed John Storz to manager heavy truck and equipment remarketing.

In his new position, Storz will handle used trucks and equipment, which involves overseeing two programs that he developed and implemented: ARITruckDirect.com, which offers used trucks and equipment to a global market, and ARIBuyDirect.com, where clients can consign both trucks and cars for ARI to purchase and receive payment within 48 hours.

"John's level of experience and expertise is not easily matched in this industry. He knows the vehicles, has developed the outlets and understands the technology. This appointment acknowledges the advancements that he's already brought to our company and the vision John has for furthering ARI's strategic direction," said Director of Vehicle Remarketing Bob Graham.

Throughout his twenty years in the remarketing industry, Storz has been responsible for a variety of functions, including developing and directing retail and wholesale truck remarketing departments, conducting appraisals, purchasing trucks and trailers to develop profitable used truck inventories, recommending proper specifications as part of the new vehicle order process and expanding customer bases through aggressive prospecting.

About ARI

ARI, a subsidiary of Holman Enterprises based in Mt. Laurel, N.J., is an industry leader and the largest privately-held fleet leasing and management company in the world. As a single-source fleet management leader, ARI customizes innovative solutions that streamline fleet operations, help lower the cost of fleet ownership and create long-term value for customers.

Today, with a workforce numbering more than 1,200 and offices throughout the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico and Europe, the company manages more than 2,000 outsourced fleets (over 650,000 autos and trucks) in North America and, combined with its strategic partners, more than 2.0 million fleet vehicles globally.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28982101/

What is Heavy Machinery and what are the merits of Heavy Machinery?

Heavy machine or heavy machinery is referred to a complex machine doing a number of simple machine operations at the same time. The need for usage of heavy machinery arises from the fact that complex and complicated activities such as laying of roads, tilling and sowing seeds equidistantly spread over a vast area of agricultural fields ready for the commencement of agricultural operations can neither be performed with the help of simple machines, nor the labor force is capable of doing the complex and heavy activities at a relatively faster pace. Heavy machinery, or heavy equipment, meets the requirement of completing complex jobs at a relatively quicker pace of time, and in the bargain saving considerable amount of overheads.

Have you ever watched a giant-sized machine being used at the roadside to lay roads? or a heavy machine being put to use to create a gravel and sand mixture to build roads? These and similar of equipment are jointly referred to heavy equipment required to carry out heavy jobs of specific nature.

The need for usage of heavy equipment machinery arises from the fact that global competition among the different types of activities is on the rise due to technological innovations, and in such a competitive world, any firm aspiring to survive and grow in the competitive market space is to innovate new products, and mostly reduce the overhead costs. For example, the activity of laying roads a stretch of say 500 meters can be completed by the heavy equipment operator (or) heavy machinery operator and a couple of helpers in less than 12 hours maximum. If the heavy machine were not there, about 50 to 60 employees might have to be employed for digging the hole, clearing the debris and all other such related works to complete the mission of laying a new road for the local street.

Heavy equipment or heavy machinery needs the services of heavy equipment operator or heavy machinery operator, who is capable of operating the machine and complete the multi-tasks assigned to some of the custom-built heavy equipment.

The market for heavy equipment is vibrant with lots of competition among the heavy machinery traders to offer heavy equipment sales or heavy machinery sales either as new products, or used heavy equipment or second-hand equipment, in the market to prospective customers.
http://www.msokorea.com/trucks-suvs/0,6600,400690,00.html