THESE DAYS, MOST old-line manufacturers are cutting American jobs as they struggle against low-cost foreign rivals. Not Caterpillar. The Peoria maker of heavy-duty machinery and engines, and the only capital-goods outfit on this year’s BusinessWeek 50 list, boosted its headcount by 8,200 people, or 10.5%, in 2005, with the bulk of its new hires in the U.S. Cat needs the added help to keep up with demand fueled by the boom in construction, energy, and raw materials. Indeed, the waiting list for some of Cat’s biggest equipment is years long. Little wonder, then, that its profits jumped 40% in 2005, or that its oneyear total return to shareholders ranked No. 27 among all companies in the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index. Owens, a 34-year company vet, anticipates another strong year in 2006, with income rising at least 15% and sales increasing 10%, to $40 billion. Owens also has begun to gird Caterpillar against the next cyclical downturn in the industrial cycle with a big push into service businesses such as remanufacturing and logistics. Owens’ ambitious goal is to make Cat a $50 billion company by decade’s end. At the rate Caterpillar is growing, he may get there early.

James W. Owens, 60

CEO since 2004

PHOTO BY michael l. abramson

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