One of the state’s premier companies is announcing layoffs just a week before Christmas. 

 

Caterpillar in Peoria will be making an undisclosed number of layoffs across the company. In a statement the company says that displaced employees will try to move workers into open positions in the company. 

 

The layoffs seem to build on extensive cost cutting plans that started in 2015 with the elimination of 10,000 positions; the company added even more cuts in 2016 and now finishes the year increasing them again. 

 

The heavy equipment builder blames a slowing world economy on cuts.