The automation and robotics solutions provider announced the deal yesterday, the same day as it held its annual meeting in Dunedin.
In a statement, the NZX-listed company said its expertise in that space derived from its Robofuel product which successfully automated the traditional diesel refuelling process of mining vehicles.
Under the collaboration, Scott would apply that proprietary technology to enable solutions in electrified applications. While the company said the value of the deal was commercially sensitive, the long-term opportunity was ‘‘significant’’.
Scott Technology chief executive John Kippenberger said the company was proud to work with a global leader such as Caterpillar.
“At Scott we are passionate about pursuing a long-term sustainable future together with our customers and wider stakeholders. We are delighted to support Caterpillar’s efforts to provide its customers with solutions that help them meet their sustainability goals,” Mr Kippenberger said.
Electric mining vehicles would require more recharging interactions than traditional diesel vehicles required refuelling, therefore the need to automate this process was critical to ensuring safety and efficiency.
“Our world-leading vision sensing and detection system combined with our robotic technology allows the charging process to be completed in a fraction of the time and without manual intervention, eliminating human risk and labour costs while maximising fleet utilisation. The collaborative efforts will result in a safer and more efficient solution,” he said.
Caterpillar vice-president Brian Weller said the system was a ‘‘building block’’ in the company’s electrification and automation portfolio to provide safer and more efficient solutions to its mining customers.
Last month, Scott announced its results for the year ended August 31, which showed an 8% increase in revenue to $222million and a 14% increase in ebitda to $24m.
Net profit after tax was up 51% at $12.7m and reported net profit after tax was $0.1m as it captured $12.6m of non-cash write-offs from the discontinued United States-based Robotworx operation.
In his address to the annual meeting, Mr Kippenberger said Scott’s 2025 strategy continued to provide momentum and guide the business focus on its core sectors of meat, materials handling and logistics and mining. Growth in both revenue and margin, most notably through those core sectors, demonstrated the maturing focus of its strategy.
He acknowledged Scott’s teams around the world for their hard work and commitment in
a year which had seen global markets continue to experience unprecedented disruption through inflation, supply chain pressures and ongoing pandemic challenges. The team had once again demonstrated resilience and focus to drive a positive business and safety performance.
Scott was seeing good engagement from its customer base across all parts of the business, with some recent large orders, giving a record level of forward work which boded well for the coming year.
