Finning UK & Ireland has seen a notable increase in its machine-rebuild business over the past few years. Aggregates Business gained a close-up view of a broader trend in the quarrying and off-highway equipment markets.
Several renowned UK suppliers of high-quality aggregates, cement, and other building materials are among the companies that have benefited greatly from a tailor-made machine rebuild programme under an agreement with Caterpillar and Finning UK & Ireland, Caterpillar’s exclusive UK and Ireland dealer.
During an Aggregates Business visit to Finning UK & Ireland’s Leeds facility in November 2025, Mark Tudball, product manager, Aftermarket at Finning UK & Ireland, highlighted the rise in customers working in industries such as quarrying who are opting for certified Finning-Cat machine rebuilds. From 1 January to 31 October 2025, Finning UK & Ireland’s five Rebuild, Repair & Response (RRR) facilities across the UK – in Leeds, Llantrisant (near Cardiff), Cannock, Glasgow, and Dublin – had completed and delivered 40% more powertrain rebuilds compared to the full-year 2024, along with a notable increase in component rebuilds. The top three rebuild models by volume are Cat D6 dozers, Cat 972 wheeled loaders, and Cat 775 trucks. The sites also have 8 Rebuilt & Ready To Go (R&RTG) machines available for purchase, and over 225 models with certified rebuild costs calculated, making Finning’s customer quotes faster and more efficient.
Tudball notes that machine rebuilds can support customers on their ‘sustainability journey’. Rebuild options offer flexible scopes of work to suit customer needs, and certified Caterpillar 3- to 5-year warranties are available. Machine upgrades include part numbers and the latest upgrades. Furthermore, Caterpillar remanufactured parts help customers reduce carbon emissions by reducing raw material use. Rebuilds also deliver greater cost-effectiveness than buying new.
Customers can choose from seven rebuild options: Dealer Rebuild – value repair options dependent on customer needs; Certified Machine Component Rebuild (CMCR) – individual components as required; Certified Machine Component Rebuild & Pumps (CMCR&HP) – engine, pumps and associated hoses; Certified Hydraulic Rebuild (CHR – predominantly for large excavators) – all hydraulic components reconditioned or replaced; Certified Powertrain (CPT) – All powertrain components: engine, transmission, differentials, wheel stations and axles; Certified Powertrain + Hydraulics (CPT+H)– as per CPT plus cylinders, control valves, pumps and motors, hose and couplings; and Certified Machine Rebuild (CMR) – ‘Like New’ rebuild machine returned to zero hours—new serial number.
“In 2025, we’ve had a major focus on our Certified Powertrain + Hydraulics and Rebuilt & Ready To Go rebuild options, and Certified Powertrain + Hydraulics is the most popular,” explains Tudball. “We have had more Cat D6 dozer customers who previously opted for only component rebuilds now taking the Certified Powertrain + Hydraulics option after dealer feedback led Caterpillar to set a price point at which we could offer it, along with an undercarriage rebuild and a five-year, 8,000-hour warranty. It’s a promotional offer that equates to a customer spending 55% or less on a new machine. We aim to achieve the ‘55% or below of the cost of a new machine’ on most rebuild models, but it’s not possible for all. The ‘55% or below’ figure is based on new machine sales.
“Together, with our partners Caterpillar, we worked towards a customer-focused solution and offered the first CHR – Certified Hydraulic Rebuild – completed on a wheeled loader. This ensured the asset gained a second life, with the hydraulic system rebuilt and the powertrain scope reduced, adding value through the certified EPP.
“Rebuilds are a great way of maintaining the residual value of the machine,” says Tracey Earp, Finning UK & Ireland’s marketing manager, who is among our Leeds facility visiting party. “The way we got to all the rebuild options is that Mark [Tudball] and his team got lots of feedback from customers as to what they wanted for their business.”
“The warranty [on each rebuild machine] asset is also valid if a customer sells the machine to another party in the UK or abroad,” adds Tudball.
Tudball notes that Finning UK & Ireland likes to order parts [components] from Caterpillar ahead of each scheduled rebuild, with Finning’s RRR facilities targeting a 12-week rebuild-to-return-to-customer time for each machine.
“Some customers like to be ‘hands on’ during the process, with weekly meetings, others not so much. We have multiple contact channels with customers: phone calls, emails (including [progress update] videos), WhatsApp messages, and texts. However, they don’t need to come in [an RRR facility],” highlights Tudball. “Some of the RRR facilities are better set up for [rebuilding] certain models, so it’s more efficient for them to go to that site. We will potentially introduce more [RRR] sites if the demand is there.”
Tudball notes that more than 43,000 machines, powertrains and components have been rebuilt by Caterpillar and Cat dealers since 1985, making it a notable part of the circular economy. He highlights that Finning UK & Ireland’s rebuild programme can improve parts sustainability by reducing carbon emissions, energy use, and raw material consumption. He does this by charting a part’s journey from its installation, through performance, owner maintenance, maturation, replacement, return to Caterpillar, disassembly & cleaning, inspection & salvage, remanufacture & assembly, testing, and, finally, re-entry into the supply chain.
Finning UK & Ireland’s Leeds site opened on 5 June 1958 as a major field service and repair workshop for the northeast of the UK. The branch was extended with the opening of the CRC rebuild workshop in January 1979. The site’s fluid analysis lab was moved off-site in 2013 due to capacity and capability constraints, and to support growth plans. Currently, there are 135 staff and engineers based at the Leeds facility, including employees in the sales and service office.
The Finning UK & Ireland’s Leeds RRR facility is well-resourced. The component rebuild centre (CRC) department has a headcount of 36 engineers (25 engineers and five apprentices permanently based at the CRC, with 6 additional CRC members who are part of a field overhaul team). The CRC has 17 bays and 3 test cells: 4 disassembly bays, 9 engine assembly bays, 4 powertrain assembly bays, 1 powertrain test cell, and 2 engine dynamometer test cells. A dynamometer is a critical testing tool that measures the force, torque, and power output of engines, motors, and various mechanical devices. The CRC serves multiple industries for component overhauls: Construction Industry (CI), Rail, Industrial, Marine, Oil & Gas, and Electric Power.
Finning UK & Ireland’s Leeds workshop department has 15 engineers: 12 engineers and 3 apprentices – working across 8 large machine rebuild & repair bays. It also houses a cylinder-rod bed and tool storage. The workshop mainly serves CI customers as a major RRR rebuild workshop.
The Leeds RRR facility’s field service department comprises 17 engineers: 15 field engineers, 1 hose engineer, and 1 field apprentice. The department has 16 vans: each engineer has a van and credentials to access all required sites. Field service personnel mainly serve CI customers and also service CI industrial equipment in the field. Finally, the marine field service department can draw on 33 engineers, with the same number of vans; each engineer also has access to CRC bays. The department serves UK & Ireland marine operations.
On the Aggregates Business tour of the rebuild workshop, two Caterpillar trucks, a 772 and a 775, owned by a leading UK building materials supplier, were nearing completion of their rebuilds. Very visible were Finning UK & Ireland’s STCKY (Stuff That Can Kill You) health and safety campaign posters. Earp noted that the highly successful campaign was launched in early 2024.
Mike Sanderson, the Finning UK & Ireland Leeds workshop customer service manager, led our workshop tour and also showed us a recently rebuilt Cat D6 dozer, which was about to be returned to its owner. “Everything from a Cat 775 down will pretty much fit in one [workshop] bay,” he explains. “We had a Cat 992 [large wheeled loader] last week. Anything that comes through the Leeds workshop is largely a complete rebuild. We get the odd repair to do via a field service team member who has to bring a machine in, and we’ll create a space for it, like that [Cat] D6 [dozer] over there, which is having an undercarriage repair,” says Sanderson, pointing at the model.
“We recruit engineers via online applications and from the local area, including from colleges. We get machines from all over the country, such as the [Cat] 992 that was here last week, which came up from Somerset. It’s partly about finding a [Finning UK & Ireland RRR] facility that can take the machine, but customers aren’t always open to that. They want the machine to go to their most local site, which we’ll accommodate where possible. We find that customers like the fixed price they’re quoted.
“We are looking to reconfigure the workshop to create what we call ‘super bays’. It will mean pretty much getting rid of the current walkways and having four super bays. You’d still have a central area to walk around the workshop, and it will enable us to have more working space and accommodate a higher volume of machines.”
Isaac Khan, a Leeds RRR facility first-year engineering apprentice, was busy in the CRC during Aggregates Business’s tour of Finning Leeds. “I’ve been really enjoying it, it’s been a big change, but the lads are helping a lot and welcoming me to the business. I’ve been assisting with a C175 [large Cat diesel engine for a locomotive] disassembly,” said Khan.
“All the engines, drivelines and other units we have in here [the CRC] are disassembled down to what we call their ‘bare blocks’. They’re then cleaned, inspected, and hand-rebuilt by one of our engineers after the new part or parts for the rebuild are inspected to ensure they are fit for use. The only thing the engineers don’t do is dynotest components. Dynotests can be done here at Leeds or at [Finning UK & Ireland RRR] Cannock,” explains Paul Mosley, manager of the CRC.
“We’ve heard that other manufacturers who offer rebuilds don’t do the dynotesting,” adds Earp.
Mosley shows Aggregates Business the CRC’s large StingRay Parts Washer, designed to clean large, complex, and soiled components from various off-highway machinery using a high-impact, hot-water-based process, making it an environmentally friendly alternative to solvent cleaning. “We can get more components in the StingRay than in other comparable machines, increasing the [CRC’s] throughput,” he stresses. “If a component is heavily contaminated, like a marine-application engine, it might stay in there [the StingRay] a bit longer.
“There’s a lot of variety in the units that come through here. It’s good for our apprentice engineers to learn about all the different components. All the apprentice engineers wear blue hats, with the qualified engineers in white hats and our first aiders in green hats.” Pointing to Isaac Khan, he says, “He’s already on the job in his first year. They learn here and go down to Cannock [Finning UK & Ireland RRR facility] for more training.”
Mosley goes on to show us another part of the CRC where all the units, including engines, in the process of being rebuilt, are covered with protective cloth during work breaks. “This conforms to Caterpillar’s 5-Star Contamination Control Standard, which we’ve had for over 10 years,” he notes. “Caterpillar can come and audit us any time, so what you see is what you get.”
“The 5-Star Contamination Control is part of Caterpillar’s continuous improvement programme,” explains Tudball.
Given the rising demand for quarrying and other industry machine rebuilds, Aggregates Business left the Finning UK & Ireland Leeds RRR facility, keen to see how the company’s other RRR facilities mirror its success. It is also likely that 2026 will see the magazine report on more tailor-made machine rebuild programmes for quarrying customers.
