The company hopes to decide on the plant’s location by Dec. 31 and begin construction in the first half of 2012.
Caterpillar spokeswoman Bridget Young said there are “a number of factors that go into our analysis such as logistics, access to major ports, proximity to our supply chain and the overall general business climate, to name a few.”
Given that, will local officials pursue the plant?
“Absolutely, we’re going to make a case that Dayton, Ohio, is the right place for them to put that (plant),” said Montgomery County Commissioner Dan Foley said. “First, we have to understand what they need.”
Phil Parker, president and chief executive of the Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce, said that given the area’s record of cooperation with Caterpillar, regional officials could lobby the company to consider the Miami Valley.
Caterpillar has set up an email address, north_american_facility@cat.com, where people can suggest locations.
The Dayton area has a track record of success with Caterpillar, the world’s largest maker of construction and mining equipment. Caterpillar Logistics, a wholly owned subsidiary, opened a 1.6 million-square-foot parts distribution center off Hoke Road this year that will employ up to 600 workers.
Dwight Smith-Daniels, chairman of Wright State University’s Department of Information Systems and Operations Management, doesn’t think Caterpillar’s need for “access to major ports” necessarily crosses Dayton off the list of potential locations. There can be access to ports via rail from Ohio, he said.
Much would depend on where the new plant’s potential suppliers are located, he said.
But the Dayton area does have interstate accessibility, and in some places, rail access, Smith-Daniels said. And the area has plenty of older manufacturing sites that can be demolished or refurbished, including a now-closed General Motors truck assembly plant in Moraine.
Frank Manfredi, a Mundelein, Ill.-based publisher of Machinery Outlook newsletter, said new Caterpillar plants have been announced or started in recent years in Arkansas, Texas and North Carolina.
“The places that they’ve gone ... are right-to-work states. That seems to be a pattern with them,” Manfredi said.
Right-to-work laws allow employees to decide for themselves whether to join or financially support unions. States with right-to-work laws tend to be located in the South and West.
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2390 or tgnau@DaytonDailyNews.com.