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| Clark Massey assembles a Caterpillar G3500 engine in Holt's new Longview, Texas, U.S.A. engine rebuild and repair facility. |
HOLT Power Systems Targets a 48-hour Turnaround at its New Engine Rebuild and Repair Facility in Longview, Texas, U.S.A.
HOLT CAT’s© Power System Division has opened a new engine rebuild and repair facility in Longview, Texas, U.S.A. The 52,500 sq.ft. (4877 m2) building is dedicated to rebuilding diesel and natural gas engines that are used in petroleum, electrical power generation, industrial and earth-moving applications. A complete machine shop supports the engine rebuild operation, helping to improve turnaround time.
“We separated our Longview machine business and our HOLT Power Systems Business to better service our customers,” said Bert Fulgium, northern region service manager for HOLT CAT. “We still have the other facility across town. There we had a little over 13,000 sq.ft. [1207 m2] of operating space. At the new engine rebuild and repair facility we have over 42,000 sq.ft. [3901 m2] of operating space, along with a dedicated parts department which is about 9000 sq.ft. [836 m2].”
“The entire Longview facility is operating within Lean Manufacturing guidelines,” said Roger Vessell, marketing manager for HOLT Power Systems, “which is an overall methodology that seeks to minimize the resources needed for production. Emphasis is on elimination activities that inflate costs, lead times and inventory requirements. The lean manufacturing guidelines place more focus on the use of planned maintenance, quality improvement programs and a flexible workforce.”
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| Ross Hunt reb uilding a Caterpillar G3606 engine. The new facility is laid out in three lines. One line is dedicated to Caterpillar 3600 products and 6.25 bore products. The second line is for Caterpillar 3500 products and the third line is dedicated to Caterpillar 3400 and smaller. |
HOLT Power Systems is a division of Holt CAT, the authorized dealer for Caterpillar machines and engines in 118 counties in Texas. Established in 1933, HOLT sells, rents and provides parts and service for the full line of Caterpillar machines and engines for petroleum, construction, mining, industrial and agricultural applications.
HOLT CAT has more than 20 locations throughout South, Central, North and East Texas, including four engine rebuild facilities.
“We have two rebuild facilities in the north of our territory and two in the south,” said Robert Stratton, vice president, general manager for Holt Power Systems. “Two of the rebuild facilities, Longview and San Antonio [Texas], have complete machine shop capabilities.”
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| Augustin Fajardo and Sam Bixby preparing an engine for the paint booth. |
“In our old Longview facility we were working six and seven days a week, two shifts, to meet our customer demand,” said Fulguim. “The new facility is designed for the same product mix, if you will, and will turn double the engine rebuilds per year working one shift per day.”
Machine shop capabilities have improved with the move to the new facility. New, higher-capacity machining tools have expanded Holt’s capabilities to perform machining on all engine sizes.
“We made significant investments in tooling to be able to machine blocks and cranks in-house,” said Meeks. “We are in control of 99% of the job now. Prior to this new facility, we had to outsource some blocks, cranks and heads. A 3500 block, for example, used to take two to three weeks just to get back from our vendor. With a 3500 now, we can refurbish the block in half a day, never leaving our shop. We now have complete block capability in our machine shop — line bore, block refurbishment, it’s all done in-house.”
HOLT Power Systems offers an engine exchange program. This program is offered throughout Holt’s entire territory but the inventory is located at its Longview and Corpus Christi, Texas, locations.
“We own a fleet of engines that we utilize in our customer exchange program,” said Meeks. “We bring in their core and they take our exchange. We carry everything from 3300s to 3612s in our exchange fleet. The specific quantity of a certain engine will fluctuate with demand, but we have roughly 50 complete engines in our exchange fleet. At times we will have more 3300 or 3500 size products and only have one 3612, for example. We have had that system in place for many years to specifically support the gas compression customer who has an unscheduled event. We can remove their engine off the skid, install the exchange engine and have them back online manages inventory per location. It deals with minimum and maximum quantities. If a part falls below a certain number, it will automatically order more to ensure we maintain a minimum quantity to ensure we are able to meet customer demand.”
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| (Left) Prime product following a CPS Rapid Improvement Workshop. (Right) Brandie Runions programming the computerized fuel test bench. |
HOLT CAT celebrated its 75th anniversary in 2008. The company has experienced considerable growth throughout the years leading up to its Septuagesiquintennial and is anticipating continued success in the future.
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| HOLT’s G3612 exchange engine on the 3600 dyno. The Longview facility has three engine dy-namometers, built in sequence with each line. |
“We built this facility as an investment in the long term,” said Stratton. “This is not a new business to us. We have four engine-rebuild facilities — Longview, Corpus Christi, Irving and San Antonio. Our owners have grown up in the gas engine business and understand it and are willing to invest in it.
“The Barnett Shale is in the heart of our territory, as is the Haynesville shale. For years to come, there is going to be compression needs in this area. Customers demand fast turnaround time. Anyone can turn an engine quickly when the market is slow. We’ve set up our procedures to support that turnaround regardless of the market conditions. In busy times and slow times, our goal is to turn an engine in as little as 48 hours.”
REPRINTED FROM AUGUST-SEPTEMBER 2009 COMPRESSORTechTwo Copyright Diesel & Gas Turbine Publications Printed in U.S.A.