Caterpillar girds for 2013 slowdown

CHICAGO Caterpillar (CAT) says it will continue to idle factories and cut production into next year due to a slowdown in demand for its mining and construction equipment.

Mike DeWalt is director of investor relations for Peoria-based Caterpillar. Crain's Chicago Business says DeWalt told the Robert W. Baird 2012 Industrial Conference in Chicago on Tuesday that Caterpillar has been hard hit by a slowdown in mining. That part of Caterpillar's business had remained strong through recession in Europe and the sputtering U.S. recovery.

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Caterpillar spokesman Jim Dugan says shut downs of a week or two will happen at factories in the U.S. and abroad. He says some locations could also move to four-day work weeks.

Late last month, Caterpillar cut its forecast for 2012 for the second time this year.