Heavy-equipment giant Caterpillar Inc. has laid off an undisclosed number of workers at its Tucson Proving Ground in Green Valley, as part of a global cost-cutting effort.
Caterpillar has made some job reductions but is not specifying numbers of cuts by location, company spokeswoman Lisa Miller said.
Caterpillar’s Tucson Proving Ground employed about 300 workers as of May, when it announced it would move a regional headquarters and some 600 jobs to a new office in downtown Tucson over the next several years.
The job reductions are mainly taking place in the company’s “flexible workforce,” Miller said.
Caterpillar’s flexible workforce includes contract and part-time personnel.
The ongoing restructuring will not affect Caterpillar’s plans to move its surface-mining and technology division headquarters to downtown Tucson, Miller said.
The Peoria, Illinois-based company has cut more than 10 percent of its global workforce since 2012 to cope with declining demand. In September, the company announced new global restructuring moves expected to save some $1.5 billion in operating costs.
“These are difficult decisions for the company as they impact our workforce, their families and their communities, but they are also necessary to position the company to emerge stronger from this downturn,” Miller said in an email.
Last week, Caterpillar reported lower second-quarter revenue and earnings as it posted double-digit quarterly drops in global equipment sales across the construction, mining, and oil and gas industries. The company also lowered its revenue and profit forecast for the year.
As part of its earnings report last week, Caterpillar said it shed 13,900 workers in the past year, including 7,500 in the U.S., bringing its global headcount to 112,900.
