A Peterborough-based engine maker, founded in 1932 and now part of Caterpillar, that makes diesel and gas engines for farm, construction, power, industrial and marine machines.
Perkins Engines designs and builds diesel and gas engines. Its engines power farm tractors, excavators, forklift trucks, wheel loaders, generators, boats and even hospitals and sports arenas, according to the company. Its gas engines can run on fuels such as natural gas, landfill gas and biogas for continuous power generation. Perkins Marine makes smaller engines for boats. Today the business is part of Caterpillar, and Caterpillar is also Perkins' biggest customer, especially for excavators and diesel generators.
Perkins was founded on 7 June 1932 in Peterborough by Frank Perkins and engineer Charles Chapman, with early support from directors Alan Richardson and George Dodds Perks. The founders were two out-of-work engineers, and the company focused on high-speed diesel engines from the start. Their first high-speed diesel, the four-cylinder Vixen, appeared in 1932, and in 1935 a Perkins engine set six world diesel speed records at Brooklands. The company began on Queen Street in Peterborough and is now headquartered at Eastfield in the city. Massey Ferguson bought it in 1959, and Caterpillar acquired it in 1998.
Perkins describes its goal as 'providing the most comprehensive range of innovative and reliable power solutions'. We did not find a longer mission or values statement on the pages we could read. The company's 90th anniversary story in 2022 emphasised its origins in two engineers with a good idea, and its gas engines running on biogas and landfill gas are one example of its work with different fuels.
Caterpillar's UK pages describe a Peterborough site that makes Cat and Perkins industrial engines from 0.5 to 7.1 litres, and the Peterborough Engine Centre, which also does design and research and development. A separate Perkins plant at Stafford builds the largest Perkins diesel engines, including the 4000 Series, and the Caterpillar Marine business in Wimborne, Dorset, makes marine engines under the Cat and Perkins Marine brands. Caterpillar says the Peterborough site has a 1.36MW solar array that supplies the equivalent of all of its base load. The pages we read do not give a headcount for Perkins in the UK.
In an engine business there are design engineers, test and emissions engineers, production line operators and technicians, supply chain and quality teams, software and controls engineers, and sales, finance and human resources staff. Caterpillar says production line operators at Peterborough took part in a visit by the Prime Minister to the site. If you like maths, physics, design and technology or just enjoy how engines work, Perkins is a place where those interests turn into products used all over the world. The company's own site shows current roles.
Website: www.perkins.com
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