Caterpillar hydraulics plant in Sumter to close

Listen to this article

The Caterpillar hydraulics plant in Sumter will close early next year.

The heavy equipment manufacturer is closing its hydraulic cylinder plant at 650 Jefferson Road, which will affect 150 workers, according to company officials. The plant opened more than 20 years ago and is one of two Caterpillar sites in Sumter.

The closure does not affect the company’s Sumter Precision Pins facility at 1355 N. Wise Drive, which will remain open, officials said.

“In order to better position ourselves for future competitiveness, we plan to consolidate operations at our Sumter hydraulics facility into other existing facilities early near year,” said Brant Watson, senior communications representative for Caterpillar. “We will do our best to redeploy affected employees. Otherwise we are offering severance packages.”

Caterpillar’s Sumter hydraulics facility went through a large expansion in 2012 which allowed the company to move production of large hydraulic cylinders from Joliet, Ill. to Sumter. The expansion enabled the plant to build both small and large hydraulic cylinders and made the Sumter facility Caterpillar’s primary source of hydraulic cylinders for the Americas.

Officials said the hydraulics plant will close sometime in the first quarter of 2024, but no specific date has been announced.