Caterpillar may hire hundreds of engineers and designers to work in a planned 100-acre research and development facility and manufacturing plant in Raleigh, N.C., according to online reports. The new facility will develop prototype products for the Caterpillar line of machines and engines.

The company already has a workforce of more than 700 in its Cary, Clayton, and Sanford, N.C., facilities.

Caterpillar also plans to open a parts distribution center in Waco, Texas, and close small distribution centers in Dallas and Kansas City by early 2009, the report said. The company will hire about 180 people to work in the new 500,000-square-foot Waco facility.

Caterpillar grossed more than $44 billion in revenue in 2007.