Looking through equipment listings, and I often see Lane 1 Order, or Lane 2, or even Lane 3. What does this mean?
Does Cat still do that? They refer to the options installed on the machine at the factory. As I recall Lane 1 had few or no options. An example might include a cheap operator seat, control handles with no extra buttons, no air conditioning, no radio or music player and so on. Lane 2 might have a better seat, air conditioning, manual pattern control changer, multi-function control handles, auxiliary hydraulics and a thumb. Lane 3 might have Total Tool Control, premium seat, climate control air conditioning and so on. Lane 1 machines were typically in the past used for rental machines while Lane 3 machines were custom orders. Lane 2 machines where I was generally were for general sales. Someone that was closer to the factory might be able to explain it better.
When at Peoria last June, I never heard that term. Like most manufacturing now, every machine is built per the order spec. At least on the bigger machines they are not built until ordered. That included dealer orders for their inventories.
Those terms were not for general use. I learned of them through the sales department at the local Cat dealer. They may not even use them anymore. I do know that at least for Cat not all machines are on an as ordered basis. In the past, availability was restricted on several machine models and if the dealer wanted one they took what they got. Judging by the local dealer, you can go down to their lot and find several configurations of most models ready for sale. I'll ask one of my contacts to be sure.
the last time I was involved with ordering new Cat equipment (larger models anyway) Lane choices were still available.
To clarify- when a listing is on Machinery Trader, a dealer's website, or similar and it is a CAT dealer's listing- they almost always show that. At least on the mini-ex's I've been scrolling through. Current listings of '15/'16 builds. And thanks for the info guys. Neat to learn.
I realize this is an old thread, but I had the same question and came across this academic paper titled, “Restructuring the Backhoe Loader Product Line at Caterpillar: A New Lane Strategy” which explains not only the lanes, but why Cat switched over: https://citeseer.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary;jsessionid=30F5D42FA061FC75F9EE8F683E213198?doi=10.1.1.723.7612&rank=1&q=lane strategy&osm=&ossid= Short answer (p28): Concurrent with this new price list, now featuring 124 configurations, Caterpillar introduced a 3-lane strategy for order fulfillment: • Lane 1, the fastest lane, projected that orders on the four designated “most popular” fully configured machines would be satisfied within a few days. • Lane 2 projected that orders on the remaining 120 choices, broken into the Loader, Comfort and Convenience, and Excavation packages, would be satisfied within a few weeks. • Lane 3 projected any a-la-carte machine would be satisfied within a few months, as previously. Ric
that's an interesting read.
Welcome to the Forums RM!
It took a little bit to decipher how to read the paper. There is a PDF icon below and to the right side of the title at the top of the page. Click on that to open the article. I worked for the dealer during the time that operation was implemented. Lane 1 machines generally ended up in rental fleets and orders were placed for them at the start of the fiscal year. Lane 2 machines only had a few ordered for stock at the start of the fiscal year and lane 3 machines were left out unless large institutional customers like municipalities, utility companies and large contractors who ordered multiple machines at a time, put in orders prior to production run. I did not find a date of the report and can only guess it was done sometime around 2014 and wonder how if and how the system is currently working. Supply and delivery times on nearly everything are still out months or more on many types and models.