Expanding the gateway to the Outback

With over 70 years operation in Northern Territory, Hastings Deering has signified its commitment to the territory with a major investment in its Darwin Business Centre.

Over the coming months, the Darwin Facility will see renovations commence that will enhance the customer experience, improve the capacity of parts storage and ensure faster, more efficient service.

Ian Wieck, Parts Manager – Northern Territory Hastings Deering, stated that they are proud to be a part of the Darwin and surrounding communities and these renovations would improve capabilities for customers.

“A substantial amount of planning has been undertaken to execute the changes in a safe manner that imposes the least disruption possible to servicing our customers,” he states. “These changes are an important step towards improving our capability and mission to be “Your Advantage” in the mining and construction sectors.”

The renovations will include;
1. Traffic flow management
2. The introduction of signage to improve safety and simplify movement around the facility.
3. The construction of a purpose-built hose facility
4. Warehouse redevelopment; improved design and layout
5. Expansion of the Reception and Parts Service areas.

“When customers come to visit our facility there will soon be an expanded internal parts service area that takes you out of the Darwin climate and often extreme weather, and access to amenities for customer comfort.”

“We will also be including a suite of interactive tools and features that will provide further advantages to help customers get the most out of their Cat equipment.”

The current Darwin hose shop assembles over 150 hoses per week, manufacturing all hoses across the Cat product line. The trained technicians will be moved into a purpose-built Hose shop that will increase the capacity for storage and streamline the processes.

“The planned purpose-build Hose Shop is going to significantly increase the velocity to which our team can service the growing demand in the region, “Mr. Wieck said. “Improving the processes and contamination controls in place will help improve the speed we can service our customers and help to minimize downtime for our customers.”

Servicing an area greater than 600 thousand square kilometres, the Darwin warehouse processes over 5,000 order lines per week and has a capacity to store over 20,000 part-line items.

Increasing the storage facilities will allow for more parts holding to support the growing Caterpillar customers across the region and ensure faster, more efficient dispatch.

“The coming months are an exciting time as we embark to implement these upgrades, we will be communicating with our customers throughout the process and are open to feedback throughout the project as we partner with customer to build a better future.”