Caterpillar to build Winston-Salem factory, add 392 jobs

Caterpillar will build a new $426 million manufacturing plant in Winston-Salem and create 392 jobs over the next 5 years.

State officials in Raleigh voted this afternoon to award Caterpillar incentives worth up to $16.8 million if it meets hiring goals. Local officials also offered the company additional incentives that could push the total payout to more than $40 million.

Caterpillar will pay average annual salaries of $40,482, state officials said. The 850,000 square-foot factory will assembly parts for large mining trucks.

Gov. Bev Perdue is scheduled to announce the jobs at a news conference in Winston-Salem today.

Caterpillar, an economic bellwether as the world’s largest maker of earth-moving equipment, was hit hard by the global recession, but has seen demand for its products pick up recently.

The Peoria, Ill.-based company shed thousands of jobs worldwide, including hundreds in the Triangle, but has begun to resume hiring at some locations around the country.

The company has added about 1,250 jobs in the United States this year.

Caterpillar now employs 1,026 people in North Carolina, mostly at operations in Clayton, Cary and Sanford.

Winston-Salem was chosen as the site of the new factory over Montgomery, Ala., and Spartanburg, S.C.

The plant will be located next to a Dell computer-assembly plant, a facility that also received incentives but hasn’t panned out.

Dell opened its factory in 2005 after state and local officials promised an incentives package worth more than $280 million. The computer maker announced last fall that it would close the plant.

At the time of the announcement, the plant had about 905 employees. About 400 now work at the Dell plant, which is expected to close in early January.

Caterpillar is also considering expanding its plant in Sanford to meet increased demand.

Last month, Lee County Commissioners approved a $900,000 grant for the proposed project. Caterpillar is also considering a site in South Carolina for that expansion.