Caterpillar Inc. said that it would slash thousands of jobs and cut manufacturing space by 10 percent, as it expects weakening demand from resource and construction companies will continue to drive down sales of its heavy equipment through at least next year, The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday. The job cuts could exceed 10,000 people through 2018, and the company aims to reduce annual costs by roughly $1.5 billion. Caterpillar now expects 2015 revenue to be about $48 billion, which would mark a decline of about 27 percent from a peak of nearly $66 billion in 2012. It added that 2016 revenue likely would fall a further 5 percent from 2015, which would be the first time in Caterpillar’s 90-year history that sales declined for four consecutive years. Caterpillar already had cut its global workforce by more than 31,000 since mid-2012, and it had closed or announced plans to close or consolidate more than 20 facilities. Caterpillar, based in Peoria, Ill., had 111,247 employees at the end of June.
