PEORIA, Ill., July 28, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Caterpillar Inc.
(NYSE: CAT) today announced it will begin independently designing
and manufacturing its vocational truck product family at its plant
in Victoria, Texas. The plant,
which opened in 2012, currently produces hydraulic excavators.
"The on-highway vocational truck product family is important to
our product line; customers like our trucks and want to include
them in their fleets in a variety of heavy duty applications such
as dump trucks, mixers, haulers or one of the other configurations
we offer," said Chris Chadwick,
Caterpillar's director of the Global On-Highway Truck Group. "To
continue to provide the best solution for our customers, we will
bring the design and manufacturing of this product into
Caterpillar, and the production specifically to Victoria. Our updated strategy reaffirms our
commitment to grow and develop our presence in the vocational truck
industry moving forward."
Caterpillar launched its first vocational truck, the CT660, in
the North American market in 2011. Two more models have since been
added to the lineup, the CT680 and CT681. To date, Caterpillar has
worked with Navistar for the products' design and build, which are
currently manufactured in Escobedo,
Mexico.
"We appreciate the collaboration we have had with Navistar,"
Chadwick said. "As we look to future launches of new truck models,
this updated strategy will better position us to help provide our
customers with the best products and services for this market.
Caterpillar continues to drive the design phase of all models, both
current and planned. Before launching the product, we spent
hundreds of hours on the road with customers, asking them to
describe the ideal truck. We know what they want and need – from
functionality of the truck itself to comfort in the cab. We plan to
meet and exceed those expectations as we grow this product offering
to fulfill our customers' needs."
The transition process will begin immediately, with production
expected to begin in the first half of next year. Caterpillar
Victoria will continue to produce
excavators, and the addition of the vocational truck production is
expected to add around 200 new jobs at the
facility.
"Caterpillar Victoria is proud to be a part of this
opportunity," commented Ed O'Neil,
general manager for operations for the Excavation Division. "The
Victoria facility was selected
because of our team's proven record of building high-quality
Cat® products, our commitment to safety and our
successful implementation of the Caterpillar Production System and
Lean manufacturing. In addition, support from the community
and its excellent skilled workforce, as well as the proximity to
suppliers, also contributed to the sourcing decision."
Caterpillar dealers will continue to sell and support Cat
vocational trucks.
About Caterpillar:
For 90 years, Caterpillar Inc. has
been making sustainable progress possible and driving positive
change on every continent. Customers turn to Caterpillar to help
them develop infrastructure, energy and natural resource assets.
With 2014 sales and revenues of $55.184
billion, Caterpillar is the world's leading manufacturer of
construction and mining equipment, diesel and natural gas engines,
industrial gas turbines and diesel-electric locomotives. The
company principally operates through its three product segments -
Construction Industries, Resource Industries and Energy &
Transportation - and also provides financing and related services
through its Financial Products segment. For more information, visit
caterpillar.com. To connect with us on social media, visit
caterpillar.com/social-media.
Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements in this
Release relate to future events and expectations and are
forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as
"believe," "estimate," "will be," "will," "would," "expect,"
"anticipate," "plan," "project," "intend," "could," "should" or
other similar words or expressions often identify forward-looking
statements. All statements other than statements of
historical fact are forward-looking statements, including, without
limitation, statements regarding our outlook, projections,
forecasts or trend descriptions. These statements do not
guarantee future performance, and we do not undertake to update our
forward-looking statements.
Caterpillar's actual results may differ materially from those
described or implied in our forward-looking statements based on a
number of factors, including, but not limited to: (i) global and
regional economic conditions and economic conditions in the
industries we serve; (ii) government monetary or fiscal policies
and infrastructure spending; (iii) commodity price changes,
component price increases, fluctuations in demand for our products
or significant shortages of component products; (iv) disruptions or
volatility in global financial markets limiting our sources of
liquidity or the liquidity of our customers, dealers and suppliers;
(v) political and economic risks, commercial instability and events
beyond our control in the countries in which we operate; (vi)
failure to maintain our credit ratings and potential resulting
increases to our cost of borrowing and adverse effects on our cost
of funds, liquidity, competitive position and access to capital
markets; (vii) our Financial Products segment's risks associated
with the financial services industry; (viii) changes in interest
rates or market liquidity conditions; (ix) an increase in
delinquencies, repossessions or net losses of Cat Financial's
customers; (x) new regulations or changes in financial services
regulations; (xi) a failure to realize, or a delay in realizing,
all of the anticipated benefits of our acquisitions, joint ventures
or divestitures; (xii) international trade policies and their
impact on demand for our products and our competitive position;
(xiii) our ability to develop, produce and market quality products
that meet our customers' needs; (xiv) the impact of the highly
competitive environment in which we operate on our sales and
pricing; (xv) failure to realize all of the anticipated benefits
from initiatives to increase our productivity, efficiency and cash
flow and to reduce costs; (xvi) additional restructuring costs or a
failure to realize anticipated savings or benefits from past or
future cost reduction actions; (xvii) inventory management
decisions and sourcing practices of our dealers and our OEM
customers; (xviii) compliance with environmental laws and
regulations; (xix) alleged or actual violations of trade or
anti-corruption laws and regulations; (xx) additional tax expense
or exposure; (xxi) currency fluctuations; (xxii) our or Cat
Financial's compliance with financial covenants; (xxiii) increased
pension plan funding obligations; (xxiv) union disputes or other
employee relations issues; (xxv) significant legal proceedings,
claims, lawsuits or government investigations; (xxvi) changes in
accounting standards; (xxvii) failure or breach of IT security;
(xxviii) adverse effects of unexpected events including natural
disasters; and (xxix) other factors described in more detail under
"Item 1A. Risk Factors" in our Form 10-K filed with the SEC on
February 17, 2015 for the year ended
December 31, 2014.
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SOURCE Caterpillar Inc.