VOL. 08 | ISSUE 1 | Spring 2025
The Work Beneath
Underground Parts Store Signals
New Era for Henderson
It may not have a glowing sign or a row of shopping carts, but in the vast tunnels of Henderson’s underground mine, it is still unmistakably a store. And for the employees at Henderson, this 3,600-square-foot depot is the latest in a series of very visible changes meant to revitalize Freeport’s molybdenum operations.
Henderson is not the first mine in the company’s portfolio to incorporate a vendor-operated Caterpillar parts store. In fact, of the sites determined to need one so far, it is the last. In part, that decision was made because of the logistics surrounding its more unique circumstances, with Henderson being Freeport’s only active underground operation in North America.
However, the primary driving force behind the timing of the project as last in the queue was a major upgrade of the site’s haul truck fleet, which is switching from the aging Sandvik Supra to the newer CAT AD63.
“The real conversation about fleet transition began in 2018,” said Eileen Sullivan, Technical Superintendent–Henderson. “Only five of the older trucks are in service globally, and it is becoming harder to source parts. It was a big decision, but sometimes those are needed to make even bigger plans.”
But with those big decisions and big plans also came the need for big changes.
Partners in Progress
Sullivan explained that this switch in manufacturer didn’t just pose challenges for haulage – where accommodations were needed not only for everything from driver training to crusher modifications – but also for maintenance. Keeping parts above ground and coordinating through multiple programs and suppliers no longer were economical.
Enter Global Supply Chain.
Chase Parker, Category Management Manager–Phoenix, has helped oversee a variety of projects that incorporate third-party operations into sites, including everything from employee carpool agreements with Enterprise to this new CAT parts store in Henderson.
And according to Parker, these on-site, supplier-run stores have demonstrated value, supporting internal strategies like reducing same day/next day orders.
“From the first step to the last, it’s seamless,” Parker said. “The way everything from inventory to invoicing is handled, it reduces errors and controls costs. It really is the best outcome for integration.”
For the new fleet, this should translate into more regular maintenance with less downtime, resulting in smoother operations.
For the team behind it, though, the journey there had the potential to be anything but smooth.
Triumphs Through Teamwork
Even though real estate always is at a premium in an underground mine, securing a location for the new parts store may have been one of the first and easiest problems to solve. The bigger challenges involved making sure that the location had both the infrastructure and the inventory to support the new fleet from day one.
“In some cases, it was a race against time,” said Cathy Patti, Regional Supply Chain Manager–Henderson. “We managed to establish an internet connection for the store only a day before the first snow. If we had missed that window, it could have set us back months.”
While Patti claims that victory was achieved with a little bit of luck, the rest she attributes to the on-site GSC team’s dedication. As part of the transition, the team had to make sure the space was ready for the vendor. This included cleaning the space, ensuring adequate lighting and, of course, installing fencing so its inventory would be secure.
And that inventory was a project unto itself.
The GSC team at Henderson had to validate a comprehensive inventory of all the parts already in stock, determining which of those products now would be managed through the parts store and arrange a buy-back agreement that satisfied both parties. Following that buy-back, those parts had to be relocated to the store and inventoried into the new system – a process that was not without its hiccups.
The biggest challenge was just making sure every transfer – whether that was space, data or physical inventory – was aligned across different groups, some of whom worked different shifts, sites and even different time zones. In a mine that never stops running, it required a team that never stopped running to get it over the finish line.
For Patti, though, she expected nothing less.
“For this team, I think a job well done is just another day in the office,” Patti said. “When it comes to GSC, delivering is part of the job description.” ■
