Caterpillar dozer made in Japan ?

[Sapcut]

Did you know Caterpillar is made in Japan?

Who’d a thunk.

 

[Burnsie]

You would be surprised how much stuff people think is American made, really isn't. Even if something is "assembled" in the USA, more than likely most of the sub-components are from out of country. The lines are usually pretty blurry.
I remember reading a story several years ago about a municipality in the Eastern USA that needed new heavy equipment for their public works dept. They were presented with a proposal for several pieces of equipment from Komahtsu (I think). The city government rejected the proposal because it was not American made and decided they wanted Caterpillar which was more expensive. After the the deal was done, some curious resident did a little research and found out that the majority of the CAT equipment was manufactured outside of the USA, and the foreign equipment was mostly assembled in the USA. hmmm?

 

[CorbLand]

Doesnt surprise me. Stuff is produced all over the world and the honest truth with some of it, is that some countries are just flat better than we are at.

My favorite is when my in laws and wifes grandparents give me crap for my "Japanese Toyota Tundra." When did Japan take over Texas? Or in my case Indiana?

 

[Wrench]

I had a cat genset for one of my facilities that was on a boat from Brazil to china for something then back to Texas to end up in spokane.

I was pretty disappointed with the intake setup. It hung a 10# air filter off the tiny turbo with a rubber 4>3" boot and no support. The paint was rubbed off the door just from the shipping.....never even had fuel in it.

Cat tech told me it was normal.

I called bs.

 

[Tenstrike]

Cat is a huge company, manufacturing products and selling them all over the world, From Wikipedia "Caterpillar products and components are manufactured in 110 facilities worldwide. 51 plants are located in the United States and 59 overseas plants are located in Australia (until 2015), Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Czech Republic, England, France, Germany, Hungary, India (Tiruvallur), Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, the Netherlands, Northern Ireland, Poland, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, and Sweden."

Thinking poorly of a company like Cat because they manufacture products in Japan or China is kinda silly. If they want to sell worldwide it makes sense to manufacture worldwide.

 

[Sapcut]

Doesnt surprise me. Stuff is produced all over the world and the honest truth with some of it, is that some countries are just flat better than we are at.

Precisely why I only drive Land Cruisers. One of very few Toyotas still made exclusively in Japan for quality reasons. Because American car companies will never build anything better. Not because they can't, for sure. Only because they don't want to.

 

[Sapcut]

Thinking poorly of a company like Cat because they manufacture products in Japan or China is kinda silly. If they want to sell worldwide it makes sense to manufacture worldwide.

I'm certainly not thinking poorly of a dozer made in Japan. For the same reason I just stated. I'll never own an American made disposable vehicle.

 

[Sapcut]

Cat D5G

 

[CorbLand]

Precisely why I only drive Land Cruisers. One of very few Toyotas still made exclusively in Japan for quality reasons. Because American car companies will never build anything better. Not because they can't, for sure. Only because they don't want to.

That is pretty much my general response. I will buy an American branded vehicle when American companies can build them as good as the Japanese.

 

[Wrench]

Our D5m was made in Germany.....iirc and it was stealth quiet.

 

[flatlanderhuffandpuff]

I run a CNC machine shop. We use Japanese machines because the American made can't hang.

These days I would trust a Japanese built Cat more than an American built.

 

[Sapcut]

American companies in general go elsewhere, China, to get work done cheaper for more American profit. Ironically, Japanese Toyota go elsewhere, US, Mexico, Canada, to have Toyotas made/assembled. Somehow that is benefitting them. I remember the first Japanese made Honda Odyssey my parents owned. It was a flawless Japanese made automobile, as expected. The next one they bought was made/assembled elsewhere, I think the US, it had the typical things happen that appeared to be careless assembling. No surprise.

 

[MattB]

Most of these companies are publicly traded, so their “owners” are global (mostly big investment funds). The vehicles are made of parts/sub-assemblies made all over the world regardless of where they are “built”. To that point, some Toyotas are more “American” than some Fords or Chrysler.

 

[CorbLand]

Had a guy come in one day looking for binoculars but they had to be made in the US and was mad he couldnt find anything that met that. He asked my "why doesnt anyone build them in the US?" I responded back with "Honestly? If I am looking for binoculars I want them to say Made in Austria or Germany. Those two are way better at it than we are."

 

[wapitibob]

I was a beta tester for what became the extended wheelbase 518 log skidder and it was made in Illinois.

 

[gbflyer]

I believe the only USA built Caterpillar unit left is a huge rock truck that is built for the Canadian market. I suspect others are assembled here with parts from different places.

 

[MattB]

Precisely why I only drive Land Cruisers. One of very few Toyotas still made exclusively in Japan for quality reasons. Because American car companies will never build anything better. Not because they can't, for sure. Only because they don't want to.

4Runners too. Extremely solid, reliable (if not technologically advanced) vehicles.

 

[sneaky]

You would be surprised how much stuff people think is American made, really isn't. Even if something is "assembled" in the USA, more than likely most of the sub-components are from out of country. The lines are usually pretty blurry.
I remember reading a story several years ago about a municipality in the Eastern USA that needed new heavy equipment for their public works dept. They were presented with a proposal for several pieces of equipment from Komahtsu (I think). The city government rejected the proposal because it was not American made and decided they wanted Caterpillar which was more expensive. After the the deal was done, some curious resident did a little research and found out that the majority of the CAT equipment was manufactured outside of the USA, and the foreign equipment was mostly assembled in the USA. hmmm?

Komatsu has a manufacturing facility in Chattanooga, TN. Have several friends that either work or worked there.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

 

[Silveroddo]

20 years ago "Gray line machines" were more of a thing, machines built over seas, mainly for the Asian markets were getting imported. Some of them were models never offered here, others were identical to models offered here, but everything in the cab was written in Japanese (Maybe it was Chinese? I never tried to translate) My brother still has a Cat Excavator and I had a Komatsu that didn't have a word of English anywhere on it. There were english parts books for them and you could call Cat or Komatsu with a part number and it was no big deal, If you told them it was a Gray line machine they got kind of weird though.
JD tractors are made all over the world anymore, the farmer that rents our fields has 3 small JD's for raking and inverting windrows and despite them all being pretty similar I think they're made in 3 different European countries.

 

[zion zig zag]

And Chevy trucks are built in Mexico.…