Caterpillar is reducing 155 jobs at its room and pillar division in Houston, Pennsylvania and will no longer be taking orders while a possible divestiture is considered.
The company will also discontinue production of track drills within its Resource Industries portfolio. In Denison, Texas, where track drills are produced, approximately 40 positions will be eliminated.
Mining group president, Denise Johnson, says the decision to get out of the business is to focus on products with the “highest profitability potential.”
“Caterpillar remains committed to an extensive mining product portfolio,” says Johnson in a news release.
“We firmly believe mining is an attractive long-term industry, and we continue to invest in a broad range of products, both surface and underground. We are targeting our investments within the mining product portfolio to concentrate on those areas with the highest profitability potential.
“At the same time, we continue to manage through the longest down-cycle in our history. We know these ongoing restructuring actions are not easy on our workforce; I’m grateful for our team’s ongoing dedication.”
Caterpillar says room and pillar underground mining products under strategic review include continuous miners, feeder breakers, coal haulage systems, highwall miners, roof bolters, utility vehicles and diesel vehicles.