company’s U.S. operations in Salt Lake City, is familiar with the company’s entertainment applications. “One of the primary reasons we use Caterpillar is for the proven reliability of the components,” says Beeley. “We looked at a lot of gear boxes and Caterpillar had what we were looking for overall.”

Some drive systems Doppelmayr buys from Caterpillar are rated from 30 hp to larger drives rated up to 800 hp, according to Beeley. He adds that, in addition to a range of power capabilities, it was also important for Doppelmayr to use a gear reduction drive that was compact and capable of meeting the right speeds.

“Unlike some planetary drives that might have duty cycles of 1,000 hours per year, our drives are designed to run 24/7, so they are very reliable,” says Mike Winters, an OEM Solutions application engineer familiar with Doppelmayr projects. “Reliability is critical to meet the industry standards Doppelmayr encounters, so using our drives in their products is a good match.”

Winters explains that Caterpillar drives have proprietary heat-treating and other unique manufacturing techniques to ensure Caterpillar components are reliable and durable in many types of applications and environments. “With all the experience we have with drives on Cat equipment, we just know what works and what doesn’t work,” he says. Before recommending any drive system, Winters and other engineers at Caterpillar studied Doppelmayr’s operational factors such as gear stresses, speeds, and torque, which indicated the appropriate drives for the application.

The Caterpillar OEM Solutions Group modifies some of the drives for Doppelmayr because of the vertical orientation used in ropeway applications. Normally, the drives are oriented horizontally on Cat tractors. But when applied to ski lifts, the drives are mounted vertically, which necessitates drilling new holes to allow for proper ventilation of air from inside the gear box.

Beeley adds that Caterpillar’s worldwide dealer service network is also one of the reasons why engineers at Doppelmayr decided to work with Caterpillar. Like Caterpillar, Doppelmayr has offices and customers all over the world. The manufacturer of lifts and people movers has subsidiaries, branches, and agents in over thirty countries of the world and to date has built more than 13,000 ropeways and people-moving devices on five continents.

“Caterpillar’s service network is very important to Doppelmayr,” says Beeley. “In the unlikely event we might need to replace a part, Caterpillar has technicians and a service network that can respond quickly from just about anywhere.”

The Caterpillar OEM Solutions Group has sales responsibility for systems and components including electronics and controls, power trains, undercarriages and machine systems, hydraulic systems, and drive systems to manufacturers throughout the world.