Caterpillar says equipment plants running normally

Caterpillar Inc said that all its equipment plants were running normally despite the shutdown late Tuesday of a company-owned facility that supplies a key component for its earth-moving machines.

“There’s been no production stoppage” outside Oxford, company spokesman Jim Dugan told Reuters.

Late Wednesday, Caterpillar Inc said that a plant in Oxford, Mississippi that makes hydraulic hose couplings for its equipment had been knocked out of service after taking a direct hit from a tornado late Tuesday.

In a subsequent statement, the company, the world’s largest maker of construction and mining equipment, said it didn’t know what impact the shutdown would have on production at other Caterpillar facilities but it said it was working with suppliers and its dealers to find short-term supplies.