Caterpillar's First Work Truck Takes Ergonomics to Task

Photo by Tudor Van Hampton for ENR GETTING IT DONE: Caterpillar still has some work to do on its first heavy-duty truck, but the CT660 is a solid start and a quick study on and off the road.

Photo By Tudor Van Hampton for ENR The CT660 interior features a simple instrument layout and a quiet cab. Cat says it has muffled noise by 3 decibels, or about 50%, compared to other work trucks.

 

Video by Tudor Van Hampton Caterpillar CT660: We review Cat's first work truck Related Links: Caterpillar Targets Top of Work-Truck Segment

Traditional truckers may lament that their rigs feel more and more like cars, but a new heavy-duty rig, the Caterpillar CT660, makes no apologies about the comfort.

Available as a set-forward-axle Class 8 truck, the CT660 is Cat's "most intensely researched product," says George Taylor, director of the Peoria, Ill.-based company's on-highway group. ENR recently had the chance to test drive one at an event Cat hosted in Edwards, Ill.

In 2007, when Cat decided to offer a truck, it conducted focus groups and interviewed thousands of clients. One response was overwhelming: Trucks should appeal to drivers in a time of shrinking work pools and increasing risk. The answer? Make it easy to drive.

Although the CT660 has room for improvement, we think Cat has succeeded and set its product apart from the competition. Today, Navistar builds it in Garland, Texas, based on its WorkStar chassis and MaxxForce engine lines. However, it incorporates Cat's unique styling and features.

On the outside, everything from the windshield forward resembles the backside of a Cat wheel loader. The sloping hood provides excellent visibility.

You won't find flimsy plastic around the vehicle. The steel bumper is a three-piece construction, as is the grille surround, allowing faster and cheaper replacement if damaged. The composite fenders are sturdy. The cab is aluminum alloy, and the hood is Metton, a fiberglass alternative. The side mirrors, which include power control and turn signals, pop away if obstructions hit them. Piano-style hinges run the length of the doors.

Inside, the truck's cockpit-style layout, round gauges, leather-wrapped steering wheel and supportive seating reminded us of a Ford Super Duty, which is no accident, says Gary Blood, product manager.

"Some people grouse about how, over the last 10 years, pickup trucks have gotten more car-like interiors, but I really don't hear them complaining about the nice environment that they get," he explains. "If we are headed on a path to take the same direction in the Class-8 vocational truck business, I'll be the first one to stand up and say, 'Yup, that's they way we'd like to take it because that's what our customers are really interested in.'"

Safety-Related Jury Verdict in Nevada Lacked Common Sense

istockphoto Precedents in most states establish that OSHA standards apply to third parties at construction sites. Related Links: Nevada Toughens Safety Laws In Response to Work Fatalities

Personal injury case juries are known for their generosity toward injured individuals, but a current case where I'm an expert witness for the plaintiff shows that juries can be unpredictable.

The case involves a hotel that was getting a heating and cooling system upgrade in Las Vegas. Because the case is under appeal, I can't reveal the name of the case or the parties. I can tell you enough about it to show you how far off course this Nevada state court jury strayed in ruling against the injured person suing a general contractor for damages.

During the work in 2004, the contractor placed temporary refrigeration pipes on the ground out in back of the hotel. The contractor also built a walking surface, a ramp and handrails over the pipes.

One day the owner of the restaurant in the hotel went out back to get a sack of salt from his car. Holding the sack on his shoulder, he made his way back to the restaurant but lost his balance on the ramp. The restaurant owner grabbed a handrail but it flexed, then broke and he fell. Regaining his feet but feeling wobbly, the owner then grabbed another handrail and it flexed, broke and he fell again. Since then he's struggled with numerous injuries, operations and severe migraine headaches.

The issue is whether employers must comply with Occupational Safety and Health Administration standards only for their employees, or do standards of care apply to those who find themselves in the same workspace? My experience shows that most states agree that OSHA standards do apply.

For example, a Nebraska state court ruled in Orduna v. Total Const. Services Inc. in 2006 that while OSHA regulations are written to protect employees, "an unsafe practice for an employee applies equally well to a person who legitimately finds himself in the same space as an employee." OSHA standards, the court added, are relevant to injured non-employees.

In New Mexico in 2008, OSHA cited three employers with staff present when the front section of a backhoe broke loose at a Dept. of Energy project at White Sands. The backhoe section crushed a safety inspector standing alongside. OSHA cited employers of the three staff members for failing to provide a competent person who could recognize and fix the hazard.

Lack of Association

Attorneys for the employers who witnessed the accident argued that the employers weren't liable because their staff members were not associated with the employer of the backhoe operator. But OSHA showed that a hazard had been created and that the area of the hazard was accessible not only to the employees of the cited employer but to workers of other employers engaged in the common undertaking. The U.S. secretary of labor wrote a brief supporting OSHA citations.

There are even instances where state courts have ruled in favor of injured parties who were not part of the construction project. For example, an Indiana homeowner who rode his bicycle through an open excavation on a golf course pathway was able to recover damages from an irrigation contractor. The excavation had been protected only with yellow tape, and the bike rider's injuries were severe.

Back in Nevada, I made a report for the restaurant owner and cited OSHA's 200-pound requirement for handrail structural integrity.

The contractor's attorney argued that OSHA standards apply only to employees of the contractor, and that they have no jurisdiction to the restaurant owner who just happened to be in the same area. Interestingly, he also argued that the contractor didn't need to construct a handrail because the plywood walking/working surface was less than two feet from the surface of the asphalt behind the restaurant.

Here is where I see the miscarriage of justice. During the trial, I testified that it didn't matter what the code was. If a handrail was built, it must be strong enough to support someone leaning on it. I'd built temporary handrails all over the country, but I'd never seen one as bad as this one. The jury had other ideas. It decided that since there was no code violation, the contractor was not accountable.

All of which reminds me of what a judge once said to a young attorney arguing vehemently for justice. "Young man," the judge said, "this has nothing to do with justice; this court is about the law."

China Offers To Build $2-Billion Iranian Rail Link

Related Links: The Ten Most Noteworthy Rail Projects: Overview and Related Stories

Project: Tehran-Khosravi Rail Link

Cost: $2 billion

Construction period: Unknown

China, which wants to create more robust rail corridors across Asia, is offering to build a $2-billion freight rail line in Iran. If continuous railway corridors were in place and, standard-gauge track installed from end to end, containerized freight could travel from China to Europe much more rapidly by rail than it does by ship, the Chinese claim.

In September 2010, Liu Zhijun, China's railway minister, and Hamid Behbahani, Iran’s minister of roads and transportation, signed an agreement that calls for building a 569-kilometer rail line from Tehran west to Khosravi on the Iraqi border.

Starting in Iran's capital city at an elevation of 1,200 meters, the line will ascend through the Zagros Mountains, with stops at Arak (1,718 m) and Hamedan (1,759 m) before descending to Kermanshah (1,350 m) and the border town of Khosravi (390 m). This route will offer a more efficient option than trucking for products being exported to Iraq, such as agricultural products, cement, steel and batteries.

The line also will offer passenger service to many of the 5,000 Shi'ite Iranians who make pilgrimages daily to the Iraq holy cities of Najaf and Karbala.

According to a May article in the Middle East Economic Digest, Iran's Roads and Transportation Ministry has invited contractors to submit bids for the new line.

In the long term, the route holds the promise of connecting with Baghdad and even Syria as part of a Middle Eastern corridor.

Iran and Iraq have never had a rail link. However, Iraq and Syria revived their freight rail link in 2009, and Jordan is currently soliciting bids to build a rail line that will connect the port of Aqaba to Baghdad.

"China is committed to building a railway network in western Iran and Turkey and Central Asia," says Niklas Swanstrom, executive director of the Central Asia-Caucasus Institute and Silk Road Studies Program at Johns Hopkins University. "For China, this is a long term project to link the Middle East to China in a financially constructive way."

COST REPORT: Concerns About U.S. Economy Deflate Industry Confidence

Slide Show iStockphoto.com This bleak view of the markets' immediate future is reflected in the most recent ENR Construction Industry Confidence Index survey. Related Links: COST REPORT: View Complete Report with Data and Analysis Slim Margins and Uncertainty Making Inflation Dangerous Flat, One-Year Pacts Highlight Collective Bargaining in 2011 Workers' Comp Rates Start to Climb Construction Equipment Prices Inch Back Up

Given that the construction industry is a trailing economic indicator, industry executives are keenly aware of the state of the American economy. With recent news full of gloom, from consistently high unemployment rates to gridlock in Washington over raising the debt ceiling, industry confidence in the economy has taken a nosedive, reducing optimism that the construction market will recover any time soon.

This bleak view of the markets' immediate future is reflected in the most recent ENR Construction Industry Confidence Index survey. For the third quarter of 2011, the CICI plummeted to 37 on a scale of 100, down nine points from 46 in the last quarter and down 14 points from the first quarter, when the rating stood at 51, an indicator of a stable market. This slide brings the CICI far below 50, indicating the belief that the market still is in recession. The 664 executives of large construction and design firms responding to the survey believe the market still has a way to go before recovery takes hold.

The CICI measures executive sentiment regarding the current market as well as their projections for where it will be in the next three to six months and over a 12- to 18-month period. The index is based on responses to surveys sent to more than 3,000 U.S. firms on ENR's lists of the leading contractors, subcontractors and design firms. The survey was conducted from Aug. 29 to Sept. 12.

The CICI also measures executive sentiment about the overall U.S. economy as a leading indicator of future construction markets. In the first-quarter survey, respondents were confident enough that the U.S. economy was on the right track to give it a 71 rating on a scale of 100, a strong vote of confidence. By the second quarter's survey, that rating had dropped to 53, indicating a belief that the economy was stable but not growing. In this quarter's survey, the rating now stands at 38, showing that respondents now believe the economy will get worse before it gets better.

This pessimism is reflected in the responses about prospects in the construction market as a whole. This quarter, 52% of all respondents say the market continues to decline, up from 38% in last quarter's survey and 32% in the fourth quarter of 2010. Only 9% believe the market currently is improving.

The pessimism extends to the period from three to six months from now, as only 13% of respondents believe the market will improve by the beginning of 2012. This compares to the 42% who believe it will still be in decline. Respondents were more confident of a market rebound in 2012, with 36% saying the market will improve in 12 to 18 months, while only 13% expect it to continue to decline.

CFMA Index Unchanged

The CICI outlook stands in contrast to the about-to-be released results of the latest CONFINDEX survey from the Construction Financial Management Association, Princeton, N.J. CFMA polls 200 chief financial officers from general contractors, subcontractors and heavy and civil contractors. A CONFINDEX rating of 100 on a scale of 200 indicates a stable market, with higher ratings showing an expectation of market growth.

"Our CONFINDEX was unchanged at 111 from the second quarter," says Stuart Binstock, CEO of CFMA. However, the CONFINDEX stood at 131 in the first quarter of 2011.

The CONFINDEX is broken down into four indices. The index measuring current business conditions dropped to 114 from 126. The index on financial conditions covering credit availability rose to 107 from 96, and the index measuring current market conditions rose to 105 from 96. CFMA's CFO participants rated the overall business outlook at 117, down from 126 in the second quarter and 141 in the first quarter.

Opening of Harbin-Dalian High-Speed-Rail Line Postponed

Slide Show ENR Art Dept. Harbin-Dalian Rail Line Will Boost Traffic in China's Northeast. Related Links: The Ten Most Noteworthy Rail Projects: Overview and Related Stories

Project: Harbin-Dalian High Speed Railway

Cost: $14.4 billion

Construction period: 2007-11

China’s high-speed-rail building program is a bold commitment to increase passenger-carrying capacity on major routes while simultaneously freeing up other lines for additional freight service.

One of the routes that is nearing completion is the 904-kilometer line linking the major port of Dalian with Harbin, the commercial hub of northeast China.

The project was split into three separate construction contracts. China Railway Group Ltd. built the southernmost section, spanning 377 km from Dalian to Shenyang. China State Construction Engineering Corp. built the central section, from Shenyang to Siping, and China Communications Construction Co. Ltd. built the northern section, from Siping to Harbin. Track work was completed in December 2010. The China Railway Electrification Bureau Group installed the power supply system and signal transmission systems, completing its work in June 2011.

Service was expected to begin in early 2012, but test operations on the line have been postponed due to quality problems, including excessive roadbed settlement near Dalian City. Further, the quality problems are in part allegedly due to corruption. Du Houzhi, the railway’s general manager, was fired in June and is currently under investigation, according to a report by China News Service.

According to the Ministry of Railways, the line is expected to carry 37 million passengers a year by 2020 and 51 million a year by 2030.

Once the high-speed line goes into service, most passenger service will shift to the new line, relieving pressure on the existing Harbin-Dalian railway, the busiest in the region, which transports coal, oil, agricultural products and lumber. According to a report in Xinhua, the existing line will be able to transport an additional 50 million to 60 million tonnes of cargo once the new high-speed line is operating.

ENR's People on the Move: AECOM, Taub & Associates

Paul Eng-Wong has been named a principal of Watertown, Mass.-based engineer Vanasse Hangen Brustlin Inc. following the firm's Sept. 6 acquisition of Eng-Wong, Taub & Associates, a New York City transportation planner of which he is president and co-founder. Martin Taub, the acquired firm's other co-founder and executive vice president, also joins VHB as a principal. Eng-Wong, Taub & Associates has 40 employees.

Johnson, Miraman & Thompson Inc., a Sparks, Md., engineer-architect, has named Sharon J. Bland as vice president. She was president, CEO and founder of Clear Solution Management Group, a Washington, D.C., management consultant, and formerly vice president of construction-management firm McKissack & McKissack. Bland is based in the Washington office of JMT, which ranks at No. 96 on ENR's list of the Top 500 Design Firms, with $110.8 million in 2010 revenue.

 

WHITAKER  

Jim L. Whitaker has joined Dallas-based architect-engineer HKS Inc. as senior vice president and principal to lead its federal and design-build practices. He had been the Washington, D.C.-based vice president and national director of the federal group for Skanska USA Building. Whitaker, now based in Dallas, is a board member of the Design-Build Institute of America. HKS ranks at No. 64 on ENR's list of the Top 500 Design Firms, with $190.5 million in 2010 revenue.

Gary Wohl has joined Harris & Associates, a Concord, Calif., professional-services firm, as chief financial officer. Formerly CFO at DPR Construction, he now also will lead Harris' risk-management and information-technology departments. The firm ranks at No. 38 on ENR's list of the Top 100 Construction Management-for-Fee firms.

Waterways Council Inc., the Washington, D.C.-based advocacy group for ports and inland waterways, has elected Mike Toohey as president and CEO. He is formerly the vice president of government affairs for Ashland Inc. and also served as assistant U.S. Transportation Secretary from 1992 to 1993. Toohey replaces Cornel Martin, who left the council in June.

Skanska USA, New York City, has named John Coster and Lee Kirby as vice presidents to support its mission-critical work. Coster, formerly chief operating officer and co-founder of Renomics Corp., a technology startup, leads Skanska's enterprise solutions division. Kirby, who now leads its consulting services group, was president of Lee Technologies International Services .

The Boston Society of Civil Engineers, a section of the American Society of Civil Engineers, has hired Anthony M. Puntin as its executive director. He retains his role with The Louis Berger Group as civil and transportation engineering manager in northern New England. The Boston section—the oldest U.S. engineering society, founded in 1848—has 3,400 members.

Marshall Davert has joined AECOM Technology Corp., Los Angeles, as executive vice president for its water businesses in the Americas. Now based in Dallas, he was president of MWH Asia-Pacific, based in Sydney, Australia.

Volvo CE President Lays Out North American Expansion

Courtesy Volvo CE "We want to have the flexibility to scale according to customer demand," Olney says.

Pat Olney, chief executive and president of Volvo Construction Equipment, is currently overseeing a $100-million investment in the heavy-equipment maker's North American operations. This push includes a $30-million expansion of the Sweden-based conglomerate's Shippensburg, Pa., facility, which will serve as the North American business and manufacturing hub. Olney, a Canadian by birth, is based at Volvo CE's offices in Brussels. His Sept. 22 interview with ENR at Volvo CE's Shippensburg facility has been condensed and edited.

ENR: What is the time line for the expansion of the Shippensburg facility?

Olney: The initial investment in the demo center and training center is happening over the next 16 months. Consolidation of the [Asheville, N.C.] sales office is timed for late next year. Then, over a series of three to four years—step by step, phase by phase—we bring the products here, finishing around the end of 2014, early 2015.

With the expansion of the Shippensburg facility and the introduction of new equipment models, are you looking toward longer-term growth?

Well, I'd say it this way: We're always going to size our operations to what customer demand is at that point in time, but like in all the other markets, we want to have the flexibility to scale according to customer demand. I don't know what the three-, four- or five-year future of this market is. There are some scenarios where it could get quite busy again, and there are scenarios where it [could] bump along.

Like many global equipment makers, Volvo CE has seen its North American market diminish relative to other global markets in recent years. Do you expect this to change?

I think it has the potential to do that, and that is because infrastructure is so underfunded in this country that there is a lot of work to be done. We know that. We know there is a tremendous amount of work that can be done on roads and bridges, for example. Infrastructure, I think, is linked to economic competitiveness, so the key question there is based on the government's ability to find financing solutions, not only for infrastructure but for the whole budget.

In what construction sectors are you seeing the most growth?

Basically, it's heavy construction. But if we're talking globally—and I'm not necessarily an expert on submarkets—but it's heavy construction, mining-related and commodities-related activities. Some markets we've seen infrastructure investment driving quite a bit. Of course, housing is not driving. Looking at our segments of growth in this country, [investment] is not driving a lot of light construction work. So it's heavy construction, mining work, oil and gas.

Volvo CE recently has seen growth in its operations in China. How much of that can be attributed to your acquisition of China-based heavy-equipment maker SDLG?