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Four mates follow eerily similar paths

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What are the odds? Your best mates from school all end up at the same university, graduate with the same degree, work for the same international company and all in the same town?

That’s the story at Caterpillar in Burnie, north-west Tasmania, where four maritime engineering graduates have secured engineering positions – and all within 18 months.

Tyler Krause, Josh Polley, Josh McCarthy and Jack Ball completed their Bachelor of Engineering (Marine and Offshore Engineering) degrees between the years 2012-2017.

Mr Krause was the first to be employed at Caterpillar. From a family of fisherman, he grew up watching his father build his own boat and considered himself “handy with the tools”, so studying engineering at AMC seemed a natural fit.

His final-year thesis focused on Finite Element Analysis (FEA) and the effect of pressure on bulk carrier cargo loads. When a job was advertised that required FEA skills, Mr Krause was quick to apply. The job was advertised through a recruitment company, so he didn’t initially know who the employer was.

“I was even more keen when I found out it was with Caterpillar and I’d be working on research and design of global significance,” Mr Krause said.

Maritime and mining are very similar industries. Whether you’re out to sea or underground, the conditions can be harsh and downtime on equipment is costly because of the often isolated locations and extreme conditions.

“My degree has set me up well. My engineering knowledge and analysis skills have been put to use on machines, not boats. They’re the same skills, just differing applications.”

Caterpillar’s Centre of Excellence for Underground Hard Rock Vehicles is based in Burnie (population under 20,000) and it is here that research, development and testing on new designs and systems for Caterpillar’s global fleet of underground mining dump trucks and loaders occurs. The manufacturing plant is in Rayong, Thailand.

The engineering design team is currently working on the next generation of automation systems. As advancements are made they are tested and validated at the purpose-built proving ground and offsite testing facility, just a few kilometres from the main office.

“Automation is a rapidly changing part of the business. Designing and testing products to be better is incredibly exciting to be involved in,” Mr Krause said.

To have a say in taking new automation products from an initial idea to performance, through testing and validation, and then see a whole new system develop and function is very rewarding.”

Less than three months after Mr Krause began at Caterpillar, Josh Polley was employed in the systems team. Caterpillar employs approximately 90 engineers at Burnie, with Tyler Krause, Josh McCarthy and Jack Ball working in the technology team.

“We might be working on cooling design or engine implementation and power train systems, so there’s lots of variety. The AMC experience has allowed me to enter the workplace directly at an engineer level. That ‘piece of paper’ has been really crucial,” Mr Polley said.

Mr Ball and Mr McCarthy are the most recent AMC graduates to join Caterpillar’s engineering team. They both started at Caterpillar on the same day in November 2017.

“Caterpillar is at the forefront of engineering design, so the work is challenging. AMC set me up well for research and testing with hands-on practical opportunities, such as the AMC pasta bridge challenge, along with use of the model test basin and towing tank," Mr Ball said.

The AMC experience gave me a skillset that was transferable to use in the underground mining industry.”

Prior to enrolling in his maritime engineering degree, Mr McCarthy had considered a trade.

“I was always hands-on. AMC has provided a gateway to where I am now. It was worth those extra hard yards to now have completed a full engineering degree,” he said.

Caterpillar Burnie Human Resources Manager Brett Smith said while recruitment of alumni from AMC hadn’t been a deliberate strategy, the students graduated with a solid foundation in the basics of engineering.

“Our engineering applications are quite specific to the business, so if our starting design engineers have a good education base then we can build their skills and develop engineering teams and specialists in hydraulics, electrical, mechanical and structural design to meet our requirements,” Mr Smith said.

(Photo): Maritime engineering graduates Joshua McCarthy, Tyler Krause, Joshua Polley and Jack Ball have have all secured jobs at underground mining organisation Caterpillar (GRANT WELLS).

Published on: 17 Jan 2019