Caterpillar partners with Luck Stone
Caterpillar announced a collaboration with Luck Stone, the nation’s largest family-owned and operated producer of crushed stone, sand and gravel, to deploy Caterpillar’s autonomous solution to Luck Stone’s Bull Run Plant in Chantilly, Virginia.
This will be Caterpillar’s first autonomous deployment in the aggregates industry and will expand the company’s autonomous truck fleet to include the 100-ton-class Cat 777.
“We’re excited to get in the dirt and work alongside Luck Stone’s innovative team, so we can learn how to scale our already proven mining solution for another industry,” said Denise Johnson, group president of resource industries at Caterpillar.
Looking to accelerate autonomous solutions beyond mining, Caterpillar will implement its existing Cat MineStar Command for Hauling system at the Bull Run quarry, on a fleet of 777G trucks.
“Luck Stone and Caterpillar’s partnership has been grounded in shared values for many years,” said Charlie Luck, president and CEO of Luck Companies.
This collaboration will allow Caterpillar to gain what it called greater insights on quarry operations to tailor the next generation of autonomous solutions specific to quarry and aggregate applications.
“Together we believe that safety, innovation and a commitment to people are critical, not only to propelling important projects like this, but to ensuring our focus on the future and all of the exciting possibilities technology affords our industry,” said Luck.
This project supports the acceleration of autonomous technology for operations with fewer mobile assets to allow a step change in safety and productivity, as currently experienced at large mining operations, said Caterpillar.
“Our collaboration will provide opportunities for associates to learn and grow, improve safety and result in production efficiencies,” said Luck.
The current autonomy solutions will be implemented in 2024; its fleet of autonomous haul trucks now number more than 560 trucks, all without a single zero lost-time injury, said the company.
