New Cat machines the right choice for D Wardle

Company praises performance of Cat 980K wheel loaders and invests in new Cat 374D excavator

EARTHMOVING and quarrying specialists D Wardle have completed the purchase of a new Cat 374D excavator, adding to its growing fleet of Caterpillar equipment from Finning, which was also recently bolstered by the delivery of two Cat 980K wheel loaders.

Replacing their existing Cat 374D, which was approaching three years old, the new Cat 374D is set to continue working on overburden shot rock in a quarry application, while, the two new Cat 980K’s are working side by side in a harsh quarry rehandling application where they are burning 5% less fuel than the Cat 980H units they replaced, whilst increasing overall productivity by 5%.

Commenting on the Cat 980K’s and the new Cat 374D, managing director Scott Wardle said: ‘When we were looking to purchase two new wheel loaders, we went through a head-to-head competitor test with our operators, putting equipment from three manufacturers through their paces.

‘Whilst all the units tested had their merits, the new joystick control on the Cat 980K’s combined with the power and fuel efficiency delivered by the units, made them the right choice for the application.

‘Equally, when we came to replace the Cat 374D at almost 9,800 operating hours, the capability and reliability of the old unit over its life, backed up by the analysis of hard data from the on-board telematics made like-for-like replacement the obvious choice. By working with Finning, we were able to agree a good trade-in price for the old unit, which made the decision even simpler.’

Both the Cat 374D and the Cat 980K wheel loaders are supported by a three-year Finsight monitoring package, providing valuable performance data to the D Wardle team.

Commenting on the D Wardle fleet, Finning sales representative Graham Holmes said: ‘D Wardle have a diverse and growing fleet of Caterpillar equipment from Finning, which now includes a new Cat 374D, two Cat 980K’s, a Cat D9T, Cat D8T, Cat 950H, Cat 312D and Cat 428E.

‘As with any industry leader, D Wardle focus on getting the best-performing equipment for the varying applications in which they work. By making demonstration units available to them, we were able to demonstrate the high performance of Caterpillar equipment versus the competition, letting the Cat 980K wheel loaders in particular prove themselves.’