Caterpillar Inc. announced on Aug. 29 it will build state-of-the-art small and medium diesel engines in Wuxi, Jiangsu province, China. The company has an agreement with the Wuxi National High-Tech Industrial Development Zone for a multi-year investment to develop and manufacture Perkins and Caterpillar branded engines in Wuxi.
The first of the planned engine operations in Wuxi will focus on production of the Perkins 400 Series. "This new facility will make the 400 Series engines more readily available for original equipment manufacturers with operations in China and the Asia Pacific region," Hans Haefeli, Caterpillar vice president of the the Industrial Power Systems Division.
Perkins Shibaura Engines, a joint venture between Perkins Engines Co. Ltd., a Caterpillar company, and its small engine partner, IHI Shibaura Machinery Corp., will manufacture the 400 Series Perkins engines in Wuxi. The engines will be sold primarily to OEMs in Asia who produce small construction, agriculture, turf and material handling machines as well as generator sets.
Caterpillar also announced plans to manufacture medium size diesel engines in Wuxi, and plans to focus engine research and development in Wuxi for engines that meet the emissions requirements for Chinese and other customers. The medium size engines under consideration for production in Wuxi would be used in Caterpillar core construction equipment, for power generation, in commercial marine applications and would be sold to OEMs for agriculture and other industrial uses. Once the engine facilities in Wuxi are fully operational they will have the combined capacity to produce in excess of 100,000 diesel engines per year.
"As the global technology leader in the production of clean diesel engines, Caterpillar is committed to establishing a major investment to manufacture these world-class and clean diesel engines in China," said Doug Oberhelman, Caterpillar group president with responsibility for engines. "As Chinese customers face future emissions reduction requirements, Caterpillar will utilize its technology leadership to provide machines and engines that will meet their needs as well as enable sustainable development."
