Focusing on the long-term opportunities related to economic development and infrastructure investment planned for China, Caterpillar Inc. executives have announced the opening of a new facility and the completed expansion of another facility in Wuxi, China. Caterpillar opened its 23,000-square-meter powertrain facility in Wuxi to produce axles, transmissions and final drives for use in a range of Caterpillar earthmoving and mining machinery. The company has also completed a 17,000-square-meter expansion at an existing component facility in Wuxi to produce hydraulic cylinders for Caterpillar machines. Both facilities are part of Caterpillar's Advanced Components & Systems Division which designs and manufactures technologically advanced components for Caterpillar machines and customers around the world.
"Success in China is an important part of our long-term strategy, and we are focused on bringing the complete Caterpillar business model to China in order to better serve and support our customer base," says Caterpillar Chairman and CEO Doug Oberhelman.
With the opening of the new powertrain operation, Caterpillar now has 24 manufacturing facilities in China in addition to four Research & Development (R&D) centers and three logistics and parts centers. The company has more than 15,000 employees in China.
"Over the decades, Caterpillar has developed a reputation for providing customers the lowest overall owning and operating costs for the life of a machine. This is heavily influenced by our vertical integration and ability to maximize productivity and deliver fuel efficient machines by integrating across the power train. This expansion of our component capability and capacity in China supports our drive to bring this value to our customers in China," says Ed Rapp, Caterpillar Group President with Responsibility for Construction Industries.
Oberhelman and Rapp announced the new facilities following their participation in the 13th Annual China Development Forum, a Beijing-based event that brings together Chinese and multinational business leaders, academics and senior Chinese government officials to discuss economic and business trends and to share global best practices.
