Caterpillar to open new mining truck facility in Batam

US heavy equipment manufacturer Caterpillar Inc. announced on Friday new plans to build a mining truck facility in the industrial island of Batam to improve its support of mining customers in AsiaPacific.

A range of mining truck chassis and bodies will be produced at the new facility and will be shipped to mining customers throughout AsiaPacific. The company plans to invest about US$150 million in the new facility, which is expected to be operational in 2012 for truck bodies, with the first trucks produced in the third quarter of 2013.

The Batam facility will be the second manufacturing operation for Caterpillar in Indonesia. The company?s existing production facility, located in Cileungsi, West Java, opened in 1982 and is focused on producing excavators and skidders.

The company has also approved plans to triple excavator production at the Cileungsi location. The 20-ton class of excavators made in Indonesia are primarily sold into the mining, forestry, construction and agricultural markets across Indonesia.

?The mining industry is a critical part of Indonesia?s economy and plays an important role in many of the key growth markets in AsiaPacific,? Lavin said. ?We have a long and successful history operating in Indonesia, and with this announcement, we continue to build out our full business model across AsiaPacific to better position Caterpillar to compete and succeed in this region, and to maintain our global leadership position,? Group President Rich Lavin said. (alex)