Caterpillar Inc. plans to move “as much as possible” of the sourcing for its most complex parts from Japan to China, the Financial Times reported Monday on its website.
The company imports 40% of components for its excavator factories from Japan, according to the FT. However, it plans to cut that by at least a quarter within five years as it prepares for a bigger shift.
“How quickly we can move from Japan to China depends on the ability of the Chinese supply base to do more,” Rich Lavin, Caterpillar’s emerging markets chief, told the newspaper. “As they show their ability to manufacture more complex components we’ll move capacity out of Japan and into China.”
Cat joins all other U.S. Heavy Construction Equipment companies to move their operations overseas. It’s a shame. Who is to blame? Certainly not our country’s labor unions whose workers produce more at less cost than any other counntry.
J. T. Price, former construction equipment salesman
Dallas, Texas