News & Blog Podcast Testimonial Video December 5, 2025

WesTrac’s on-site hose solution sets Glencore up for the future

At one of Glencore’s largest mining operations in New South Wales, a state-of-the-art hose manufacturing facility has been constructed on site. The unique solution is the largest of its kind in the world and creates hoses on demand for the entire Bulga Coal fleet - saving money and reducing downtime.

For more than 40 years, Cat^® machines have been carrying loads of material around the Bulga Coal complex, one of Glencore’s primary mining operations in New South Wales.

Maximising machine productivity and reducing downtime has been key to this operation, which can produce more than six million tonnes of coal per year.

With most mining machines operating continuously, wear and tear is inevitable, which is why having quick access to essential parts is vital for modern mining companies.

This is why Bulga Coal decided to invest in one of the largest on-site hose solutions in Australia, delivered by WesTrac and Caterpillar^®, to keep their machines running 24/7.

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“It’s pretty unique,” says Bulga Coal Planning Superintendent Joshua Deaves.

“I’ve been at many sites over my career and at best, it’s a man working out of a van or a 20-foot container or a small pokey place out of the way.”

“Ours is pretty state-of-the-art – it’s quite large inside and we needed that due to the size of our site.”

At Bulga Coal, three 40-foot containers have been converted and combined to create a huge on-site hose manufacturing facility, capable of producing customised hose assemblies on demand.

The dedicated hose assembly workshop is fitted out with work benches and storage cabinets, as well as air-conditioning and data connectivity.

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WesTrac · Digging Deeper with WesTrac: Episode 12 – On-site hose solution sets Glencore up for the future

This unique solution also includes a Cat Hose Assembly Pressure Test Unit attached to the side, providing an isolated space designed for safe and effective testing of hoses and couplings, ensuring full integrity before being fitted into machines.

Manning the facility are three WesTrac technicians, who make sure the right parts are ready and available as soon as they are needed.

“They can go out there and address a breakdown [or] the supervisors can go up to the container and say, ‘I need a hose manufactured’ and that can happen straight away,” Joshua explains.

“Prior [to this solution], it would be a phone call – someone would come into site from Singleton, make the hose or potentially, even go back and make more fittings if it’s a specialised hose.”

“There’s definitely a time saving and obviously having the assets go back to work quicker is a big benefit for us.”

But the benefits of this custom on-site hose solution go further than just saving time.

Gallery: Inside

“It ticks two big boxes – it ticks a cost box, and it ticks an availability box,” Joshua says.

“The ability to control your own destiny with hoses and have them there ready when you need them is big.”

“The other thing, when you store hoses… there’s only certain shelf life and you can erode into that shelf life before you fit them onto the machine.”

“It does reduce wastage, it does help improve on-time delivery and reduces our inventory levels by using the hose facility.”

A majority of the machines operating across the Bulga site are from Caterpillar, which is why a dedicated Cat hose solution is the perfect fit for Bulga Coal’s fleet.

But the hoses and couplings manufactured by the on-site team can be tailored to any machine make or model.

“I feel like Caterpillar has really done a wonderful job in that space,” says WesTrac Business Development Manager Rob Leiss.

“We’ve really expanded on our offering and variety of couplings, adapters, hose assemblies and bulk hose to be able to cater for those different models.”

“Regardless of whether it’s a Cat assembly or non-Cat assembly, we can provide the solution necessary for the customer to get that machine going safely at a lower cost.”

“At the end of the day, our goal is to be a one-stop shop.”

This isn’t the first unique hose solution that WesTrac and Caterpillar have delivered in Australia.

Gallery: Outside

A similar on-site solution was installed for New Hope Group’s Bengalla Mining Company in New South Wales, providing quick access to custom-made hoses.

Importantly, the workshop reduced turnaround time of machines from three hours to just 15 minutes – a vital reduction in downtime for a mining company and a benefit Bulga Coal is set to realise.

“Mine sites are one of those fast-paced, very demanding industries,” Rob explains.

“If they have a machine down and need a solution then and there, they’ll do anything possible to get that piece of equipment running again.”

“Every solution that we deliver is pretty much bespoke to the customer needs and it’s important to listen to that feedback and to improve every time you do one of these solutions.”

“WesTrac’s ultimate goal is to take the customer on that journey, strengthen the relationship, provide a cost effective, safe solution and we feel like we’ve delivered that at Bulga Coal.”

Unique hose solutions like Bulga Coal’s on-site workshop are designed for the long term and demand is expected to continue growing.

“Listening to the customer’s needs and understanding their pain points with their current suppliers are key.” says Caterpillar Senior Aftermarket Solution Representative Michael Tancin.

“WesTrac has done an exceptional job in developing and managing the solution for the customer, with first discussions four years ago to now executing a solution and having a production storage facility on site.”