RIDGEWAY (May 6, 2016) – Caterpillar, manufacturer of construction equipment and machinery, announced the closing last week of five production facilities nationwide, including an assembly facility in Ridgeway.
The generator set control panel assembly facility in Ridgeway is one of two S.C. Caterpillar sites slated for closure in the next 12-18 months, the company said. The company said it will also be closing down the electric power generator set packaging facility in Newberry. The closings will amount to the loss of about 75 jobs in Ridgeway and 325 jobs in Newberry.
Nationwide, closings will result in the loss of about 820 jobs, the company said.
Caterpillar acquired the Ridgeway facility, located at 93 Commerce Blvd., in 2015 from Elite Electronic Systems. The closure is expected to begin this year, Jamie Fox, Senior Public Affairs Manager for Caterpillar, said.
Work at the S.C. sites will be consolidated into existing Caterpillar engine facilities in Seguin, Texas; Lafayette, Ind.; and Griffin, Ga.
The company is also shutting down the Jacksonville, Fla. production of buckets and other work tool attachments for the medium wheel loader product line and moving production to existing suppliers. The closing will impact about 70 employees, Caterpillar said.
Production of engine and undercarriage components at the company’s Morganton, N.C. plant will be moved to existing and outside suppliers over the next year and a half, the company said, impacting around 110 positions.
In Oxford, Miss., the company will close its facility that produces hose couplings. Some of those operations will move to Caterpillar’s Menominee, Mich. facility, with the rest transitioning to outside suppliers. The closure is estimated to cost 240 jobs.
In addition to the closings, Caterpillar said it plans to demolish a vacant building at its Mossville, Ill. site. The building, which has stood mostly empty since 2011, was once used to house engine manufacturing. No jobs will be lost as a result of the demolition.
Since September 2015, Caterpillar’s restructuring process has eliminated approximately 5,300 jobs nationwide. Including these most recent closures, the company has closed or consolidated around 20 facilities.