Caterpillar’s Spatial Metamorphosis: Heavy Equipment Manufacturing in the Twenty First Century

Utkarsh Kumar, Illinois State University
Michael Dougherty, Illinois State University

Caterpillar, Inc., the world’s largest heavy equipment manufacturer, grew rapidly in the early and mid-twentieth century followed by a crisis of overaccumulation in the early 1980s that threatened the company’s survival. In response, Caterpillar launched its $2.8 billion “Plant with a Future” program to transform the company for success in the neoliberal global economy. This program was a material and ideological overhaul and stands as an emblematic case of the post-Fordist manufacturing firm. We organize this transformation into five spatial fixes: restructuring bureaucracy to devolve decision-making and responsibility, reconfiguring assembly processes for flexibility, centering accounting and financial data in decision-making, dismantling vertically integrated supply chains for maximum leanness, and strengthening the dealership network for global expansion. This fine-grained case study substantiates the distinctiveness and intractability of the post-Fordist global economy and constitutes a step toward appreciating the role of heavy machinery production in the governance of the extractive value chain.

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 Presented in Session 9. Labor and Technology