Caterpillar Inc. will move its global headquarters from Peoria to Deerfield, Illinois to make its corporate offices more accessible to customers, dealers and employees.
“This site gives our employees many options to live in either an urban or suburban environment. We know we have to compete for the best talent to grow our company, and this location will appeal to our diverse, global team, today and in the future,” said Jim Umpleby, Caterpillar chief executive officer, adding the location was chosen for its proximity to O’Hare International Airport and the Chicago Metra commuter train.
The company said earlier this year it would move its headquarters out of Peoria to the Chicago area. The plans call for about 100 employees to relocate later this year and a total of 300 to make the move when the new headquarters is fully operational, by mid-2018.
“As we’ve previously indicated, the vast majority of our employees currently in the Peoria area will not be relocating to our new headquarters,” said Umpleby. “With our strong presence of over 12,000 employees in central Illinois, we’ll continue our philanthropic support and civic involvement.”
Caterpillar in 2011 acquired South Milwaukee-based Bucyrus International Inc. and established its global mining headquarters in Oak Creek. But as the mining sector has undergone a prolonged downturn, the company has reduced its presence and its workforce in southeastern Wisconsin. In 2015, Caterpillar closed its Oak Creek corporate office complex. Last year, the company announced it would move about 200 engineering jobs from its South Milwaukee operations to Arizona as part of the creation of a central hub for its surface mining and technology offices.
