October 2010 Vol. 237 No. 10

Projects

Caterpillar To Open Hydraulic Excavator Manufacturing Facility In Texas

Caterpillar Inc. has selected Victoria, TX as the location for its state-of-the-art hydraulic excavator manufacturing facility.

Ground breaking for the 600,000-sq-ft manufacturing operation took place last month. The facility is expected to begin production in mid-2012. Once fully operational, it will triple the current capacity of hydraulic excavators produced by the company in the United States, and would double the number of Caterpillar employees in the U.S. making excavators. The decision to increase manufacturing capacity and employment in the United States is part of Caterpillar’s long-term strategic initiative to develop the appropriate global footprint to competitively produce hydraulic excavators.

In other news, Caterpillar announced the company’s C9.3 ACERT engine has received the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Tier 4 emissions certification and European Union (EU) emissions type approval. The C9.3 ACERT is the first Caterpillar non-road engine to receive emissions certification in the 130-560 kW power category.

Interim Tier 4/Stage III B emissions regulations begin Jan. 1, 2011 for 130-560 kW engines and require a 90% reduction in diesel particulate matter (PM) and a 50% reduction in nitrogen oxide (NOx) from previous Tier 3/Stage IIIA requirements.

ACERT is an advanced combustion technology that uses a building-block approach for reducing emissions that is based the integration of key systems technologies. The C9.3 ACERT engine family will power a number of Cat products including mid-range Track Type Tractors, Motor Graders and Hydraulic Excavators in a wide variety of customer applications. Additionally, the C9.3 ACERT engine is being offered in several configurations and ratings for use by customers in the industrial, agriculture, and petroleum markets.