At its recent groundbreaking ceremony, Milton CAT announced construction schedule details for its new facility in Batavia, NY, which will eventually replace the company’s Rochester and Buffalo operations. The Batavia facility, located at 4610 East Saile Dr., is expected to be substantially completed by Sept. 15, 2007, according to Brad Farrin, corporate facilities manager.
The Batavia facility will be 103,000 sq. ft. on 60 acres as compared with a combined 77,000 sq. ft. on a combined 7 acres for the existing Rochester and Buffalo locations. The larger facility will enable the company to increase equipment inventory levels and to offer a better selection of machines, work tools and power system products as well as a larger parts inventory.
Its proximity to the highway will make it easy for large tractor-trailer units to get in and out. In addition, the Batavia operation “will provide the company with the opportunity to increase our specialization serving all of our markets,” said Chris Milton, president.
According to Milton CAT Vice President of Parts Operations Alan Perry, the company will be stocking approximately 22,000 line items at the Batavia facility, “which will meet the vast majority of the over-the-counter orders we receive.
“For those parts not on the shelf at the Batavia facility, we will be able to fill 95 percent of customer orders the next morning via our corporate parts inventories and overnight company parts shuttle system. The remaining 5 percent we will fill utilizing Caterpillar’s extensive parts distribution system with the majority of the orders filled the next day,” Perry explained.
Chris Milton added that “Batavia will mean working in a modern, purpose-built facility for our employees. Our staff will enjoy the latest improvements in technology and systems. There will be clean, well-ventilated, well-lit service bays with the most advanced tooling equipment for our service personnel, and the most efficient warehouse operations for our parts personnel and machine prep crews.”
The new facility will have 24 truck/EPG repair bays with standard 5-ton coverage and up to 25-ton coverage in some bays and 20 standard earthmoving/AG bays with standard 20-ton crane coverage.
Equipment lines that will be available at Batavia include Caterpillar earthmoving equipment and power system products, Challenger tractors and farming equipment, Metso-Nordberg mobile crushers and screeners, Erin Systems screeners and Genie aerial lifts. CEG Staff
