Report:- Visit to Finning UK (Caterpillar)
Members and guests of the LAE and our friends at Keighley Association of Engineers were invited to visit the Leeds premises of Finning UK (Caterpillar) on 2nd June 2026 and our roving reporter John Aldersley has once again excelled himself with an excellent illustrated report on the visit. Here Is John’s report on the visit…..
Many thanks to Gilly, Lindsay and Michael for a really good visit, what a friendly, welcoming company. Thank you to the LAE members and Keighley Association for joining us. This visit was organised by LAE member Neil Cobbold who used to work for Finning UK, so a big thank you for that Neil.
Once we had reversed parked (well, most of us) we met up in the board/meeting room for a short induction led by Gilly, while drinking very good coffee, tea and executive biscuits !
Click here for the company history:- The Entire History of Caterpillar Inc.
Gilly ran a company video. The one above, we didn’t watch due to time restraints. Andrew commented that the company was formed around the great depression (a bit like opening a pub during Covid). The workers were put on short time, while most lost jobs, afterwards they were all back on full hours; this attitude seems to have carried on until the present day.
Gilly mentioned the dreaded term ‘AI’ but not in a negative way. Below is a video from Cat that Gilly sent via an email after the visit.
“The Link to the CEO of Caterpillar, Joe Creed, speaking at the CES Conference in America in January this year about the role of AI and machines is:- Joe Creed on the role of AI in machines
If you skip to around the 13-minute mark and watch through to the end you’ll be impressed by what’s coming next in the Caterpillar world.”
We looked into the business and found out that Caterpillar is spending huge amounts on R&D and we discussed whether ‘Electric’ was the way forward. It appears not long term, but they do make electric vehicles .
Remanufacturing (as well as new sales) is the ultimate in recycling and should we say “sustainability” with many industries only allowing certain vehicles on site, emissions been a main issue.
We found out that all machines are fitted with ‘telemetrics’. Meaning preventive maintenance can be done before a failure takes place and this highlights how technology is used. Finning monitors all their machines and can advise their customers before a very costly repair is needed. Down time at British Steel for instance is thousands of pounds per hour.
Fluid analysis is important, especially when you know how much engines and transmissions cost. The video below gives you an insight to this technology.
Click here to see the video:- Fluid Analysis
I didn’t take a picture of the machine shop but I noted how clean the shop floor was. It was really impressive, The vertical Rottler CNC boring machine is something I haven’t seen before. They appear to be the ‘go to machine’ for large engine refurbishment. A library photo is below. Note the unconventional machine table as the machine head moves rather than the table, like a CNC router.
There was a very nice long bed manual centre lathe, again spotless, with large 4 jaw chuck on the bed, possibly 24 inch (approx. 610mm). We then donned out PPE and had a tour of the site. The weather was good to us as we went from one department to another. Please bear in mind that your roving reporter is far from an expert. I did serve my apprenticeship at International Harvesters at Bradford, but struggled to identify most of what I took photos of.
Below we have another engine. I believe it is a marine engine. The turbo housing looks like it’s liquid cooled.
We got to see the transmission testing rig and very impressive it was.
I asked about apprenticeships at Leeds. They have seven apprentices. We asked about the length of the apprenticeship and we were pleased to hear it is four years, and more impressive, they have their own programme and training school, with direct training from Caterpillar, again brilliant.
Below is a short clip of Amanda talking about her experience:- Amanda Apprentice Comments
Another large engine ! Note the 24 inch soft cocco platform brush
If you can spot the propshaft on the right centre…. Next the dynamometer. Caterpillar guarantee all Finning UK remanufactured units, giving them the same guarantee as new OEM units. That tells us that quality is second to none in Leeds, very impressive.
Next a nice clean bench showing pistons, rods and injectors, if I am not mistaken.
Next we have a gearbox, possibly epicyclic, ignorance is bliss.
The parts washer has been used to clean the gear parts in the basket.
Is the next photo a six cylinder crankshaft ?
The camshafts:-
Then we had the inlet and exhaust cylinder heads ?
A rather large flywheel…
The block…
How’s that for a stand ?
Finning Leeds Component Rebuild Centre | Machine Rebuilds
Now I bet the borer is a big one, to line bore the bearing bores.
Here is what I would call the chassis but I think it’s called something else ?
As you can see the wheels are rather large….
A cab below…
Possibly the old engine ?
I’m not sure what this engine is out of or used for, but with 4 turbos, what a piece of engineering !
We headed outside and at this point I realised the place was a lot bigger that you see from the roadside . Plenty of machines of varying sizes were awaiting attention.
A closer view of a machine….
This is the back of the same machine. The photo doesn’t do the size justice, but there is a big fork truck behind.
Some dump truck the capacity must be many tonnes…
Something more familiar to some…
A big shed connected to the spray shop, to clean the equipment prior to paint. I don’t fancy masking that up to spray paint, but we all recognise the colour and relate to the brand, so a very important part of the finished item.
That concludes my photos and comments. It’s far from conclusive, just a snippet of what we saw. I hope it has given you some insight. I certainly found it very interesting, on our doorstep, employing in some cases family members and very inspiring.
Please look at the company website for more information:-Finning UK (Caterpillar) Company Website
J. Aldersley – June 2026
.