USA and Canada

Caterpillar delivered record-breaking 2011 sales and revenues of $60.14 billion, an increase of 41 percent from $42.59 billion in 2010.

Profit in 2011 was $4.93 billion, an increase of 83 percent from $2.70 billion in 2010. Profit per share of $7.40 was up 78 percent from $4.15 in 2010.

Excluding the impact of the acquisition of Bucyrus International, Inc, 2011 profit was $7.79 per share, up 88 percent from a year ago.

Boeing ended 2011 on a high with a 20 percent rise in net income for the fourth quarter, and 21 percent for the year as a whole, partly due to an increase in sales of commercial aircraft.

Net income for Q4 2011 was $1.39 billion, compared with $1.16 billion last year, while net income for the year was $4 billion, compared with $3.3 billion in 2010.

The Weir Group PLC has agreed to acquire Novatech LLC, a US manufacturer of well service pump valves and valve seats for upstream oil and gas applications, for $176 million (£113 million) in cash.

Based in Dallas, Texas, Novatech is a family-owned business producing a wide variety of proprietary valves and valve seats for high pressure applications such as frac, cement and mud pumps used in unconventional upstream oil and gas operations.

The business is well known to Weir, being a long standing local supplier to Weir SPM.

A new report from the American Chemistry Council suggests that untapped natural gas resources from shale could rejuvenate the economy of the US state of Michigan.

The report concludes that more than 19,000 permanent, high-paying chemical manufacturing jobs could be created in Michigan, revitalizing the state's industrial base, driving economic growth and boosting exports while generating tens of millions of dollars in much-needed state revenue.

Energy service giant Halliburton today announced net income of $906 million for Q4 2011, and $3 billion for the full year.

Income from continuing operations for the fourth quarter of 2011 was $921 million (excluding a $15 billion environmental-related charge), up from $867 million in the third quarter.

Cost segregation studies deliver earlier than expected tax breaks for US commercial property owners, says Jeffrey D. Hiatt.

Thomas R. Cutler describes the advantages of the omniwheel, the revolutionary alternative to the swivel caster, and heralds the entry of Rotacaster into the next dictionary.

The Kleenex brand is synonymous with tissues. Other brands, like Hoover, have dominated the market to such an extent at times that they have entered the dictionary to describe the concept itself. You don’t search for something online, anymore. You Google it.

Rod Steele, founder of the mining advisory firm TesMan, shares with Jane Alverca his unique approach to generating process improvement through innovation.

Rod Steele, founder of TesMan, is a man very much at home in the deep, dark voids of the earth’s interior. After a long career managing complex mining operations and maintenance programmes around the world, he decided to found his own company to shine a new light on the technical challenges of this subterranean world.

The northern regions of Canada are again experiencing a mining boom and behind every mining operator there has to be solid support, as Alan Swaby discovers from the Gibeault family.

For a case study on man’s ability to adapt and prosper; look no further than Ron Gibeault and his family. Early in his career, Ron decided that a new start in the northernmost reaches of Canada was what he and his new bride needed. 

President and CEO Jeremy Wyeth talks about how this Canadian junior mining company is using cash flow from its Mexican operations to move into the mid-tier with a diversified portfolio of silver, gold and rare earths.