Caterpillar Inc announced plans today to expand its manufacturing presence in China with a new facility to produce four models of mini hydraulic excavators.
To meet growing customer demand in China the company will produce models in the under 8-ton range at the new facility in Wujiang. The facility will be part of Caterpillar's Building Construction Products (BCP) Division, which has manufacturing operations in the United States, Japan, Brazil and the United Kingdom.
"China is the world's largest market for excavators in the below 8-ton class,” said Mary Bell, vice president of the Building Construction Products Division, “and the development of this new facility will better position Caterpillar to provide our customers in China with solutions that will help them succeed."
Work on the new facility in Wujiang is expected to begin in late 2010 pending approvals from governmental officials in Jiangsu province. The company expects to begin producing mini excavators there in 2012.
Caterpillar currently supplies Chinese customers with mini excavators produced at its facility in Xuzhou, China and with machines produced in Sagami, Japan. Once the facility in Wujiang is producing machines, the operations in Xuzhou and Sagami will then be able to increase capacity for other Caterpillar products.
"During the past three decades Caterpillar has grown from a single sales office in Beijing to our cross-country footprint of today—which includes eleven manufacturing facilities, three research and development centers, nine offices and two logistics and parts centers," said Jiming Zhu, Caterpillar vice president with responsibility for China.
"We want Caterpillar customers to be more successful working with us, than they can be working with anyone else, and this new operation in Wujiang is the latest step in our long term strategy for helping our customers win in China."
Caterpillar has more than 6,000 employees across China.
