Caterpillar closing two manufacturing plants

Caterpillar is closing its factories in Aurora Illinois and at Gosselies in Belgium, with the loss of around 3,000 jobs in all. The Aurora facility makes wheeled loaders, with production being switched over to facilities at Decatur, also in Illinois, as well as North Little Rock in Arkansas. This will result in the loss of 800 jobs at the Aurora plant although there will be more personnel required at the Decatur and North Little Rock facilities that will offset the losses Meanwhile the firm says that the
April 4, 2017 Read time: 2 mins
178 Caterpillar is closing its factories in Aurora Illinois and at Gosselies in Belgium, with the loss of around 3,000 jobs in all. The Aurora facility makes wheeled loaders, with production being switched over to facilities at Decatur, also in Illinois, as well as North Little Rock in Arkansas. This will result in the loss of 800 jobs at the Aurora plant although there will be more personnel required at the Decatur and North Little Rock facilities that will offset the losses

Meanwhile the firm says that the closure of the Gosselies site will impact on some 2,000 employees. The firm first announced that it was considering allocating production at the Belgian facility to other manufacturing plants in September 2016. However the company has now made the formal decision to close the facility, so production of its products on the site will be gradually phased out. All production is expected to cease by mid-year 2017. The other operations and functions on the Gosselies site are expected to be gradually ramped down until the end of 2017.

Caterpillar Belgium has agreed to sell the site to the Region of Wallonia. Ownership of the facility will switch to the firm Sogepa, which is an investment company of the Region. In order to support reconversion of the site, Caterpillar agreed to sell the site plus some of the installations and assets for a symbolic euro. The sale is to be effective on 30th June 2018.
Earthmoving & soil compaction Finance & Funding

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • The Fayat Group is growing its US operations
    March 9, 2017
    The Fayat Group is steadily developing its operations and its presence in the North America market. President Jean-Claude Fayat explained the firm’s position at CONEXPO-CON/AGG 2017. The high value of the US$ against the euro has been of benefit to the group, he said: “For sure it’s helping to improve our margins.”
    Read More
  • Wacker Neuson reports strong financial performance
    August 9, 2018
    Munich-based Wacker Neuson is reporting a substantial increase in revenue and profitability for the first six months of 2018. According to the firm’s latest results, revenue is at a record high and there has been a marked improvement in profit before interest and tax. However bottlenecks among suppliers as well as currency developments have had a dampening effect on the results. Revenue for the first half of 2018 rose 8% to a new record high of €825 million, compared with €764 million for the same period i
    Read More
  • Demand diversity in the construction equipment sector
    June 1, 2015
    Demand within the global construction equipment manufacturing industry is anything but homogenous, with certain countries and sales regions significantly outperforming others, with a whole host of factors fuelling and suppressing each key market - Guy Woodford reports
    Read More
  • XCMG boosting capacity
    January 6, 2017
    Increased manufacturing capacity has been a key focus for XCMG in recent years, with the firm having committed to upgrading its production facilities. XCMG has invested heavily in new manufacturing capacity for its ranges of cranes and wheeled loaders and both the Heavy Machinery and Wheeled Loader divisions now have new factories. The heavy crane facility produces machines in the 90tonne category and above and all production moved to the new plant in 2012 as the old factory was too small. The new facility
    Read More

Highlighted Content