PEORIA, Ill.— Caterpillar announced today a 44 percent increase in profit from Q3 2010. Sales and revenue for the yellow and black clad company were a record setting $15.716 billion — up 41 percent from last year.

“This was the best quarter for sales in our history," said Doug Oberhelman, chairman and CEO of Caterpillar." Our order backlog is at an all-time high."

Excluding the acquistion of Bucyrus International, "this was also our best profit quarter in history, and year-to-date operating profit as a percent of sales was higher than any full year in more than three decades," said the CEO.

Caterpillar reported adding 4,800 jobs in the third quarter, 2,000 of those located in the U.S. "Since the beginning of 2010, we have added more than 30,000 jobs to our global workforce, not including the impact of our acquisitions and divestitures,” Oberhelman said.

In Case of Emergency, Break Glass

While the news is good, Oberhelman said that Caterpillar still recognizes the state of the economy. "A key part of our planning process is to make sure we’re prepared if the situation turns negative. Each of our businesses prepares ‘trough’ plans—a standard practice at Caterpillar—to help us act faster should we need to take action,” Oberhelman added.