Caterpillar UK

The UK arm of Caterpillar, one of its largest bases outside the US, with more than 10,000 employees and factories making construction machinery, engines, electric power systems and rail products.

About Caterpillar UK

Caterpillar is a global maker of construction and mining machinery, engines and power systems, and its UK operations are described by the company as one of its largest bases outside the United States. In the UK it makes articulated dump trucks at Peterlee in County Durham, backhoe loaders, compact wheel loaders and telehandlers at Desford in Leicestershire, engines at Peterborough and Stafford, marine engines at Wimborne in Dorset, and electric power equipment for places like data centres at Larne in Northern Ireland. Many of its UK products are exported, serving mining, quarrying, marine, construction and electric power customers.

Caterpillar says it established its first major facility outside the United States in the UK more than 60 years ago. The Desford site in Leicestershire, which assembles backhoe loaders and telehandlers, was founded in 1952. The company's UK network also includes a defence business in Shrewsbury that integrates engine and drivetrain packages for military vehicles, and a remanufacturing business that cleans, refurbishes and reassembles engines and components. A track shoe plant at Skinningrove on Teesside makes steel parts for tracked machines, and Progress Rail, a Caterpillar company, makes trackwork and rail infrastructure at sites in Scotland, Nottinghamshire and Sheffield.

We could not read Caterpillar's UK values pages, because their content was not shown in the pages we could open, so we have not quoted a mission. What the company does say about its UK work is practical: it points to sustainable manufacturing, such as a large solar array at its Peterborough engine centre, to work with local schools on STEM subjects, and to the skills of its production teams. Those are the company's own claims.

Caterpillar says it employs more than 10,000 people in about 20 major UK facilities, spanning marketing and sales, manufacturing, parts distribution, remanufacturing and services, and that more than 1,000 qualified engineers work on research, development and application engineering. The key office is in Peterborough, and sites also include Stockton-on-Tees, Belfast (Springvale, where axles and transmissions are made), Solihull for financial services, and Aberdeen for oil and gas service support. The UK is also the European home of its remanufacturing and financial services businesses.

Because the sites do so many different things, the range of jobs is wide: design and research engineers, manufacturing and welding teams, test engineers, supply chain and parts distribution staff, service technicians, software and electrification engineers, and finance, sales and human resources teams. If you enjoy maths, physics, design and technology, or just machines, there is a lot to see here, from 6-wheel-drive articulated trucks that carry up to 43.5 tons to engines of all sizes. The company's own site shows what is open and where.

What they do

• {'desc': 'Articulated trucks, backhoe loaders, compact wheel loaders and telehandlers.', 'title': 'Construction and mining machinery'}
• {'desc': 'Cat and Perkins engines and electric power equipment made in Peterborough, Stafford and Larne.', 'title': 'Engines and power systems'}
• {'desc': 'Military drivetrain integration, rail trackwork and engine remanufacturing.', 'title': 'Defence, rail and remanufacturing'}

Key facts

• More than 10,000 UK employees across about 20 major facilities
• First major facility outside the US was in the UK, over 60 years ago; Desford site founded in 1952
• Sites include Peterlee, Desford, Peterborough, Stafford, Wimborne, Larne, Belfast, Shrewsbury and Skinningrove
• More than 1,000 qualified engineers working in research, development and application engineering in the UK

Website: www.cat.com/en_GB.html