BRUSSELS: Caterpillar Inc. said Friday it has started a consultation process that may result in the closure of its plant in Gosselies, Belgium, and the loss of 2,000 jobs, as part of its global restructuring and cost-savings plan announced September 2015.
The Peoria, Ill.-based heavy equipment maker said manufacturing of construction equipment at the site may be reallocated to its facility in Grenoble, France, and other sites outside Europe, if it closes. The company said it may also allocate component production to external suppliers and other Caterpillar facilities, and consolidate support functions to other sites.
Caterpillar previously said it would cut an unspecified number of additional jobs later this year on top of the more than 10,000 it had already planned to eliminate through 2018. Caterpillar’s workforce has fallen by 20%, or more than 30,000 jobs, since the end of 2012. The company also previously said it planned to close or consolidate up to 20 plants by the end of 2018.
“We have to contemplate actions to reduce manufacturing capacity and take operating costs out of our business to align with lower demand,” said Tom Pellette, group president with responsibility for construction industries. Frédéric Cauderlier, a spokesman for Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel, said the government had been in touch with Caterpillar and expects the Gosselies site to close for good.
“We are in contact with the directors of Caterpillar, but all the signs point toward a closure of the site,” he said.
Mr. Michel will work with Paul Magnette, minister-president of the Walloon region, and the unions to either change the company’s mind or find other employment for the workers affected by the closure. “They agreed to work together to find a solution,” Mr. Cauderlier said.
“The closure of Caterpillar is an absolute catastrophe,” said Elio Di Rupo, president of Belgium’s opposition Socialist Party.
