Caterpillar Digger Info

In a Nutshell: Caterpillars

Caterpillar Inc. (abbreviated as CAT) is a Fortune 100 corporation headquartered in the United States that develops, produces, manufactures, distributes, and sells machinery, engines, financial products, and insurance to customers through a global dealer network. It is the world's largest construction equipment manufacturer. In 2018, Caterpillar was ranked 65th on the Fortune 500 and 238th on the Global Fortune 500. Caterpillar's stock is included in the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The Caterpillar Tractor Company, based in California, was created in 1925 when the Holt Manufacturing Company and the C. L. Best Tractor Company amalgamated to form Caterpillar Inc. After reorganising as a Delaware corporation in 1986, the company changed its name to Caterpillar Inc. Its headquarters are in Deerfield, Illinois. In January 2017, the company announced that it would relocate its headquarters from Peoria, Illinois, to Deerfield, Illinois, over the course of the year, abandoning plans from 2015 to build a $800 million new headquarters building in downtown Peoria. The company also licences and sells a line of garments and working boots under the Cat / Caterpillar name. Caterpillar machines are distinguished by the "CAT" insignia and the signature "Caterpillar Yellow" livery.

Caterpillar Company History

The Caterpillar Corporation was established in 1945. (1925) In the Cibola National Forest in New Mexico, a 60-horsepower Caterpillar Sixty was used for road work in 1931. The Holt board of directors was persuaded to appoint Thomas A. Baxter as Benjamin Holt's successor by the banks and bankers who held the company's large debt. Large tractors were initially dropped from Baxter's lineup in favour of smaller tractors focused at the agriculture market.

After the Government Aid Highway Act of 1921 established a US$1 billion government highway building programme, Baxter began focusing the company on creating road-construction equipment. Both enterprises were likewise threatened by the Fordson corporation. Between 1907 and 1918, Best and Holt spent almost US$1.5 million in legal fees fighting one other in a succession of contractual, trademark, and patent infringement cases. Harry H. Fair of San Francisco's Pierce, Fair & Company had underwritten C. L. Best's debt, and Holt shareholders sought him about their company's financial issues.

According to Fair, the two firms should merge. In April and May 1925, the Caterpillar Tractor Co. was created when the financially stronger C. L. Best merged with the market leader Holt Caterpillar. The united firm was based in San Leandro until 1930, when the merger agreement required it to transfer to Peoria. Clarence Leo Best took over as CEO after Baxter quit in 1925, a role he held until October 1951.

Caterpillar reduced its product lines, selling only five track-type tractors: the 2 Ton, 5 Ton, and 10 Ton from the former Holt Manufacturing Company, as well as the Caterpillar 30 and Caterpillar 60 from the former C. L. Best Tractor Co. The 10 Ton and 5 Ton variants were phased out in 1926. In 1928, the 2 Ton was phased out. Sales during the first year totaled US$13 million. By 1929, Caterpillar's revenues had increased to $52.8 million, and the business continued to grow during the Great Depression of the 1930s. Caterpillar chose the diesel engine to replace gasoline engines. The Seabees, US Navy construction battalions that built airfields and other infrastructure in the Pacific Theater of Operations, made Caterpillar products famous during WWII. Caterpillar ranked 44th among US companies in terms of the value of wartime military production contracts. Caterpillar grew quickly during the postwar construction boom, and in 1950, it opened its first operation outside of the United States, marking the beginning of Caterpillar's metamorphosis into an international corporation.

In 2018, Caterpillar reorganised, closing a demonstration centre in Panama and an engine manufacturing factory in Illinois.

Caterpillar Manufacturing

Caterpillar manufactures parts and products in 110 different locations throughout the world. The nations having 51 plants include Australia (till 2015), Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Czech Republic, England, France, Germany, Hungary, India (Tiruvallur), Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, the Netherlands, Northern Ireland, Poland, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, and Sweden. Peoria, Illinois is home to Caterpillar's historical manufacturing base, as well as its world headquarters and main research and development activities. Caterpillar still has four major plants in the Peoria area, despite outsourcing much of its local parts production and warehousing: the Mapleton Foundry, which casts diesel engine blocks and other large parts; the East Peoria factory, which has assembled Caterpillar tractors for over 70 years; the Mossville engine plant, which was built after WWII; and the Morton tractors factory.

You may learn more about the Caterpillar product line here, but you can also visit http://www.caterpillar.com for more information.

https://www.cat.com/en/new/equipment/excavators.html