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Caterpillar history
Caterpillar company history timeline
Caterpillar products themselves have been stars, appearing in films like Aliens, Skyfall (James Bond) Hellfighters, and the classic silent film Man Power in 1927.
Several tractors were made and sold to operate in the Yukon, one example of which was in operation until 1927, and remnants of it still exist.
In 1929 Caterpillar’s sales were $52 million, and the Peoria plant alone employed more than 4,000 workers.
The new company was headquartered in San Leandro until 1930, when under the terms of the merger, it was moved to Peoria.
December 7, 1931 Gray to yellow; trademark logo changes (will have both to give to Eric)
Until 1932, when oversize pneumatic rubber tires with deep treads were introduced, all wheel-type farm tractors had steel tires with high, tapering lugs to engage the ground and provide traction.
1932: Company records its first full-year loss, $1.6 million.
Since opening our first Caterpillar dealership in Central Pennsylvania in 1948, we’ve proudly carried on the Caterpillar tradition of excellence and service.
The new plant built in 1949 in Joliet, Illinois, was only the beginning of a program to establish manufacturing centers and subsidiaries around the globe.
1950: Caterpillar Tractor Company Ltd. was established in Great Britain as the first overseas subsidiary.
During the postwar construction boom, the company grew at a rapid pace, and launched its first venture outside the United States in 1950, marking the beginning of Caterpillar's development into a multinational corporation.
The new plant built in 1951 in Joliet, Illinois, was only the beginning of a program to establish manufacturing centers and subsidiaries around the globe.
In 1953 the Indian government purchased 93 CAT machines to aid in the country’s road development projects.
The company experienced a series of labour conflicts with its unionized American workforce beginning in 1961, but its growth has continued.
After the three-year contract extension signed in 1961 was terminated, another strike began in Peoria.
In 1961 Cat suffered the first of many involved labor conflicts with the United Auto Workers (UAW), when 12,600 workers in Peoria walked off their jobs in a wage dispute.
Recognizing that industry works abroad by rules that differ from those of the United States, in 1962 Caterpillar announced the formation of a jointly owned venture in Japan.
Announced as settled as early as February 1964, the strike was off and on until late October.
In 1965 CAT expanded its forklift line through the acquisition of the Mentor, Ohio-based Towmotor Corporation.
The venture, initially named Caterpillar Mitsubishi Ltd., began building Cat-designed vehicles in a factory just outside of Tokyo in 1965.
In 1965 Caterpillar exceeded $1 billion in sales for the first time, announced that its stock would be sold on most of the major European stock exchanges, and started Caterpillar Belgium S.A. to build front-loading tractors there.
The year 1966 brought another confrontation with the UAW, this time in the form of a two-month walkout in Decatur.
In March 1968 the Justice Department moved to block a proposed merger between Cat and Chicago Pneumatic Tool Company, and the merger did not take place.
A contract with Ford in 1970 to supply small V-8 truck engines convinced Cat that manufacturing smaller dieseis could make money, and the firm spent millions of dollars redesigning and retooling existing plants to build the new engines.
By 1972 Cat had announced plans to build a 900,000-square-foot plant in Belgium and a 1.25 million-square-foot production facility in Mossville, Illinois.
In 1975 Caterpillar allocated more funds than ever before for expansion and product development.
By 1978 the Cat expansion program was paying off.
The longest UAW strike against Caterpillar occurred in 1979.
In 1981 CAT made a foray into the world of industrial gas turbines by acquiring the solar and turbomach divisions of International Harvester Company.
In 1981 the firm won a political battle to be granted the right to sell $90 million in pipe-laying equipment to the Soviet Union, despite stiff opposition from the administration of United States President Ronald Reagan.
By 1981 Caterpillar's sales had reached nearly $9.2 billion.
1982: Company suffers first loss since the Great Depression.
Caterpillar began 1983 by announcing the first annual loss in earnings in half a century.
In February 1985 George A. Schaefer was named chairman and CEO of Caterpillar; Donald V. Fites was named president.
The Burlington, Iowa, parts plant locked its doors to workers and, despite optimistic projections of recalling around 3,200 workers in 1985, Cat actually laid off about 3,000 other workers during that year.
In 1986, they officially changed the name to the current Caterpillar Inc.
The firm adopted its current name in 1986.
In 1986 Caterpillar officially changed the company name from Caterpillar Tractor Company to Caterpillar, Inc.
Though the firm improved its sales and earnings over 1986, Caterpillar was still forced to close three factories.
1986: Company is renamed Caterpillar Inc.
The weakening of the dollar abroad raised production costs and cut into profits for Caterpillar in 1987.
Caterpillar expanded its product line in order to remain competitive with such global players as Japan's Komatsu, and in 1987 Caterpillar launched a $1.8 billion program to update its factories.
The venture, initially named Caterpillar Mitsubishi Ltd., began building Cat-designed vehicles in a factory just outside of Tokyo in 1965. It was renamed Shin Caterpillar Mitsubishi Ltd. in 1987.
In 1988 Caterpillar again made the kind of large profits it had made in the past, reaping $617 million for the year.
Bremner, Brian. "Can Caterpillar Inch Its Way Back into Heftier Profits?" Business Week, September 25, 1989.
In 1990 the new company chairman and chief executive officer, Donald Fites, saw Cat as a company that is in the right place at the right time.
1990: Caterpillar reorganizes along product lines and geographic areas.
It was completed in 16 months, occupied in November 1999, and began fabricating machine components in 2000. It had the first electrical substation built in the Leningrad Oblast since the Communist government was dissolved on December 26, 1991.
Since 1991 Caterpillar has entered into 38 acquisitions and joint ventures ranging from partial to 100 percent ownership.
1991: A lengthy labor dispute begins with a strike at two Caterpillar plants.
Sales increased only marginally in 1992, while the firm suffered another loss, this time $218 million.
Such gains led to record sales of $11.62 billion in 1993 and record profits of $652 million.
In 1993 Caterpillar completed the factory-modernization program and at the same time began to benefit from its results.
1994: Record-long, 17-month strike begins.
Franklin, Stephen, “Questions Linger as Vote Nears on Caterpillar Pact: Was Strike Worth It? Will Anger Fade?,” Chicago Tribune, November 27, 1995.
As the strike dragged on into 1995, it was beginning to affect Cat’s inventories and operating efficiencies, but its impact was mitigated by the decreasing number of union workers at the company.
In the Asia/Pacific region, Africa, and the Middle East, combined sales rose 37.7 percent in 1995.
KG, a German producer of power generator engines acquired in December 1996.
Profits were $1.67 billion, up 22 percent from 1996.
The 11-percent sales increase in 1996 was achieved with only a 2-percent increase in prices.
Caterpillar's joint venture with China's Shanghai Diesel Engine Company Ltd. lost $3.6 million in 1996.
"caterpillar developing larger mining truck." pr newswire, 14 march 1997. available at http://www.newsalert.com.
In March 1998, meantime, Caterpillar and the UAW finally reached an agreement on a new six-year contract, ending the 61/2-year labor dispute.
A joint venture between Caterpillar and Finland's Tamrock Corp. was established in March 1998.
"u.a.w. members back contract with caterpillar, first since '91." new york times, 23 march 1998.
As of second quarter 1998, the company had recorded profits in 16 of the previous 18 quarters.
1998: LucasVarity PLC's Perkins Engines unit is acquired for $1.3 billion; prolonged labor dispute ends with the signing of a new six-year contract.
In February 1999 Fites, a man despised by many workers for his hardline stance and his threats to permanently replace his employees, retired from the firm.
The manufacturing facility for this venture is under construction and set to be completed in 1999.
Barton also initiated additional cost-cutting measures to maintain the company's profitability, announcing in August 2000 a plan to cut annual expenses by more than $1 billion over the succeeding three to five years.
The company strongly supported both the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), concluding that the elimination of trade barriers could add $350 million in Cat sales a year by 2000.
Although this was significant from a historic standpoint given the importance of tractors in Caterpillar's early history, by 2001 agricultural equipment generated only about 4 percent of Cat's total revenues.
Sales fell that year and then stagnated, amounting to only $20.15 billion in 2002.
Caterpillar's worst year came in 2002, when profits amounted to $798 million, which translated into a profit margin of just 4 percent.
The company was hoping to reach its goal of $30 billion in revenues by 2006.
The first machine was scheduled for production in March 2009.
Caterpillar anticipates sales growth to customers outside the United States to increase to 75 percent of total sales and anticipates sales and revenues to climb to $30 billion by the year 2010.
In 2010 the company announced plans to further expand production of backhoe and small wheel loaders with a new factory.
On January 31, 2017, the company announced plans to move their headquarters from Peoria to Deerfield, Illinois, by the end of 2017.
In 2018, Caterpillar was in the process of restructuring, closing a demonstration center in Panama and an engine-manufacturing facility in Illinois.
"Caterpillar Inc. ." International Directory of Company Histories. . Encyclopedia.com. (June 21, 2022). https://www.encyclopedia.com/books/politics-and-business-magazines/caterpillar-inc-0
© 2022 Cleveland Brothers CAT. All Rights Reserved.
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Caterpillar competitors
| Company name | Founded date | Revenue | Employee size | Job openings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cummins | 1919 | $34.1B | 57,825 | 549 |
| General Motors | 1908 | $187.4B | 155,000 | 2,027 |
| General Electric | 1892 | $68.0B | 305,000 | 3,274 |
| PACCAR | 1905 | $31.6B | 27,000 | 93 |
| Whirlpool | 1911 | $16.6B | 78,000 | 152 |
| Eaton | 1911 | $24.9B | 92,000 | 2,224 |
| Terex | 1986 | $5.1B | 10,700 | 175 |
| Gardner Denver | 1859 | $2.7B | 6,200 | 347 |
| Alcoa | 1888 | $11.9B | 14,600 | 32 |
| Kimberly-Clark | 1872 | $20.1B | 40,000 | 177 |
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Caterpillar may also be known as or be related to Caterpillar, Caterpillar (Qingzhou) Ltd., Caterpillar Inc, Caterpillar Inc. and Caterpillar, Inc.