Caterpillar announces 500 jobs to area

(MORTON, Ill. ) - Building on the strength of the industry’s best global service parts distribution network, Caterpillar Logistics Services, Inc. (Cat Logistics), a wholly owned subsidiary of Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT), today announced plans to open a new parts distribution center in Clayton, Ohio.

The new facility, known as the Clayton Distribution Center, will span more than one million square feet and is part of the multiyear expansion and enhancement of the North American Cat Parts distribution network.

“We are committed to customer success and to maintaining our leadership in parts distribution,” said Steve Larson, Vice President of Caterpillar Inc. and Chairman and President of Cat Logistics. “One of the key reasons customers buy Caterpillar products is the superior
product support capability our dealers provide.

We support that capability through the industry’s best parts distribution. The Clayton Parts Distribution Center will not only provide capacity for growth in parts demand, it will also enable optimization of the service parts supply chain as we continue to leverage Caterpillar Production System principles.”

The new facility will provide inbound receiving capability close to suppliers and align outbound shipments for improved delivery to dealers and customers. Once fully operational in 2011, the Clayton facility will replace Caterpillar’s Indianapolis Regional Distribution facility and will assume some of the work currently performed at Caterpillar’s parts distribution center in Morton, Illinois.

When fully staffed, and dependent on market demand, the Clayton Distribution Center will employ 500 to 600 people. This facility builds on network improvements achieved with the recent addition of a 750,000-square-foot parts distribution center in Waco, Texas, in 2009, and will be the third parts facility to utilize the SAP solution for Service Parts Management (SPM).

SPM is a global solution that replaces multiple legacy software systems supporting the Cat Parts network. “We are very excited to welcome Caterpillar to the Clayton community,” said Joyce Deitering, mayor of Clayton. “Clayton is fortunate to be part of a region that has quality employees and is well-suited for logistics and distribution companies.”

Construction is expected to begin in the first quarter of 2010 dependent on approval of
incentives from the State of Ohio, Montgomery County and the Dayton Development Coalition.