Caterpillar will transfer production of large wheel loaders and large compactors from Aurora, Ill., to Decatur, Ill.
Caterpillar plans to shut its Aurora, Ill., plant, eliminating about 800 jobs as it shifts production to other facilities in the United States. Caterpillar said it will transition its large wheel loaders and compactors to its plant in Decatur, Ill., and medium wheel loaders to North Little Rock, Ark.
Caterpillar spokeswoman Lisa Miller told Reuters that about 500 of the 800 positions will likely be added to the Decatur plant and about 150 positions to the North Little Rock facility.
Caterpillar has already cut its workforce by more than 16,000 in the past few years.
The plant closure is expected to be completed by the end of 2018.
Caterpillar reported a fourth-quarter loss of $1.17 billion on revenue of about $9.6 billion.
Michael Roth has covered the equipment rental industry full time for RER since 1989 and has served as the magazine’s editor in chief since 1994. He has nearly 30 years experience as a professional journalist. Roth has visited hundreds of rental centers and industry manufacturers, written hundreds of feature stories for RER and thousands of news stories for the magazine and its electronic newsletter RER Reports. Roth has interviewed leading executives for most of the industry’s largest rental companies and manufacturers as well as hundreds of smaller independent companies. He has visited with and reported on rental companies and manufacturers in Europe, Central America and Asia as well as Mexico, Canada and the United States. Roth was co-founder of RER Reports, the industry’s first weekly newsletter, which began as a fax newsletter in 1996, and later became an online newsletter. Roth has spoken at conventions sponsored by the American Rental Association, Associated Equipment Distributors, California Rental Association and other industry events and has spoken before industry groups in several countries. He lives and works in Los Angeles when he’s not traveling to cover industry events.
