PEORIA, IL-Caterpillar Inc., the producer of mining and construction equipment based here, has announced plans to build a new plant in the North America that will employ 1,000 workers. The location has not yet been announced.

The company said in a statement Friday that it is moving the work done now by another plant in Sagami, Japan to this country. The new facility will be part of the firm’s Building Construction Products Division.

Mary Bell, a VP for the firm, said in a statement that the markets for smaller track-type tractors and mini-hydraulic excavators have evolved significantly in the past 30 years, with the majority of customers now in North America and Europe. “Producing these machines at a North America location will put us in the best possible position to serve our customers in the building construction industry,” she said.

A spokeswoman for Caterpillar tells GlobeSt.com that a location for the facility has not yet been chosen. “We’re currently undertaking a fact and data-based approach to determine the optimal location,” she says.

Bell said in the statement that the location will need to meet the requirements of optimizing product availability, minimizing logistics costs to domestic and export customers and overall business goals. The decision should be made by the end of the year, and construction will begin in the first half of 2012.

There are 2,000 employees at the Japan plant. Once the transition is made to the new plant, the Sagami location will continue to serve as a high-tech component facility, with a focus on supporting the company’s growing Asia/Pacific operations.

The firm, with 2010 sales and revenues of $42.6 billion, broke ground on a new manufacturing building for large excavators in China and is currently building a plant in Piracicaba, Brazil that will produce backhoe loaders and small wheel loaders. The company also recently purchased 46 acres of land in Tejon Ranch, CA to build a 400,000-square-foot parts distribution facility to serve both dealers and customers throughout California and the West.

Instant Insights /

Caterpillar Plans 1,000-Worker Plant in North America

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