Caterpillar Company

I like caterpillar industry because of the quality of footwear they manufacture. The boots produced by caterpillar industries are long lasting, weather resistant and fashionable. The shoe produced by them comes in various shapes, sizes and colors and they are very relaxing. The best machineries are produced by caterpillar industries. Some durable equipments such ad tractors, excavators, trucks, and bulldozers are created by caterpillar industry. The best and reliable tools used in mining and construction are produced by caterpillar industry. Some of these machines include centrifugal gas compressors, industrial gas turbines, diesel engines, gasoline engines and reciprocating engine-powered sets. They also produce protective wears like winter and rainy seasons, caterpillar protective gears such as gumboots, raincoats, and headgears come in handy. All these are useful in harsh weather conditions like winter and rainy seasons.

Good public relations with the customers. The company handles customers in high esteem, gives those incentives, advice and always responds to customers concerns by producing high-quality products and offering guarantees.

3. Caterpillar Inc. is the primary constructor of building equipment, natural gas locomotives, industrialized turbines for gas and mining gear in the entire world. Moreover, it also manufactures electrical –diesel locomotives, footwear and clothing-wear. It originates from Best Tractor and Holt Industrial Corporation merger. It is among the richest corporations with a value of US$D89 billion in assets and it is a constituent of Dow Jones Trade. Its inception was in the year 1925 by C.L Best and Benjamin Holt. In 2017, it moved its headquarters from Peoria, Illinois to Deerfield, Illinois.

Caterpillar tractors have not been confined to America only; the equipment has also provided sufficient and eager power for loggers in several countries among them being the Philippines, India, and Africa for over 100 years. In the early 1900s, Caterpillar documented its first success in South Africa which aided in Agriculture.

Ethiopia's Regent Haile Selassie was a caterpillar customer. In 1932, the Emperor became interested in the construction of Ethiopia’s longest road, and together with his two sons, they visited Wolliso town, 11o kilometers from Addis Ababa where they viewed the Jhimma road as its construction was undergoing. The history of Caterpillar mainly focuses on doing: making, development, problem-solving, inventing, trying, repairing and refining.

Caterpillar has provided logging solutions for many other customers such as the Mengel mahogany company which harvested its logs with caterpillar cruiser tractors in Dunkwa, Ghana. The harvesting of the woods previously was the work of humans making it a tedious process until the invention of caterpillar tractors which eased the task.

In 1955, CAT customers from N’Djole, Gabon worked a few miles from where the equator was located with the climate being very hot and wet. The weather in the area was harsh grades would rise to 60%, and thus only CAT machines could adequately prevent the logs from delving into the hillside during the rainy periods.

In 2009, the first steam-powered caterpillar sold, Don hunter spent nine years in constructing the fantastic track-type tractor. The caterpillars yellow iron has participated in many movie roles throughout the years from silent films to modern blockbusters. From as back as 1990s.

The typical movie the caterpillar featured was Manpower starring Richard Dix and Mary Brian which is the oldest film featuring a caterpillar machine. The movie acting took place in a town known as Happy Valley which was being threatened by a dam that was about to collapse, the Holt 10- Ton caterpillar tractor then climbed a slippery hill and hauled carriages full of dynamite away from the collapsing dam saving the residents of the Happy Valley.

4. Caterpillar Inc. operates on three primary sustainability principals among them being the prevention of waste, quality improvement and the development of better systems through innovation. The chief element of its sustainability is stakeholder’s engagement which happens at two critical levels the external sustainability advisory board and the internal steering committee.

The external advisory board is composed of experts from a wide range of fields among them being academia, industry and non-governmental organizations. This group examines the broad concept of sustainability and provides input and counsel on the best strategy, emerging issues, challenges and opportunities in implementing and attaining sustainability. The internal committee, on the other hand, is composed of leaders from different business units who are responsible for the provision of guidance and support on the in-house sustainability initiatives.

Caterpillar has identified some focus areas in its effort to work on sustainability which associates with their aspirations for 2020, and they include; the classification of sustainable topics including environmental, social, and governance issues. Secondly, the internal committee and the external advisory body evaluated the subjects. The team assessed the problems that would be more influential to their decisions about the Caterpillar Company, and the process included a survey of over 100 customers, stakeholders, nongovernmental organizations, and trade organizations. Lastly, the team then prioritized the topics, although the stakeholders found all items to be important, they came up with several issues that proved to be more critical and urgent,

Caterpillar has also been actively involved with customer social responsibility through community development in various ways; it has invested an approximate of 50 million dollars since 2010 in Africa in support of projects focused on impacting the lives of those who live in poverty particularly girls and women by training them and providing them with entrepreneurship opportunities.

5. Its products are identified by its emblem Caterpillar Yellow and the’ CAT’ logo.

6. The Caterpillar Inc. is in the Manufacturing business, Lee, Bhageri, & Kao (2013) discusses the major trends in the industry among them:

Cyber-Physical Models for future Manufacturing

There is a high need to analytically assimilate and examine equipment and process data during the different phases of the life cycle of a machine so that it can handle the information more efficiently and also achieve transparency of the machines fitness state in the manufacturing industry and hence a cyber-physical model has been established.

Needs and Technologies

The manufacturing industry has had to adopt the ideology of the internet of things in its way of doing things by installing small sensor networks and smart machines which is essential for any company to achieve transparency which is the ability to disentangle and calculate the uncertainties that define the promptness and competence of a manufacturing company.

Visible and invisible Opportunities

Manufacturing issues include visible and invisible, Examples of apparent problems are Equipment failure, poor cycle times, product faults and time interruptions. Obscure matters, on the other hand, compose of Degradation of equipment, Wear and tear of components, and lack of lubrication. All these issues are dealt with uncertainties though in the recent times manufacturing companies have started to use new systems and technologies to work with their associates and dealers to incorporate strategy in manufacturing to avoid problems.

7. Caterpillar Financial Services Corporation is responsible for performing the annual independent audit for Caterpillar Inc. Founded in 1981 in Delaware.

8. Caterpillars products compose of four parts namely: New, Rental, Gifts & Apparels, and Home & Outdoor.

New Equipment

The new equipment is the determinant of the industry standards. The new product line comprises of more than 300 machineries, 1,200 additions, hundreds of power structures and several parts.

Cat Rental

Cat Rental ensures flexibility in each job that you perform as well as efficiency in performance and output. And even better it’s just a call away, and you are guaranteed your equipment on the road wherever and whenever you need it.

Gifts and Apparels

Caterpillar is also a one-stop shop for all branded merchandise ranging from Clothing, Footwear, Toys, Scale Models, and Work Gear.

9. Caterpillar Inc. is a large corporation with an approximate of 95,400 full-time employees as of December 31. The Caterpillar Financial Services Corporation tabled returns of $2.67B in 2015, Profit was $619M and the grant for loss equaled $338M and controls a market share of 59% outside United states retrieved from http://reports.caterpillar.com/sr/_pdf/2016_cat_sr.pdf.

10. Although the management of Caterpillar is optimistic, having had an increase in profits and a decrease in Losses as compared to the previous year, several measures have been put in place to ensure that the core controls and organizational structure are strengthened. A member of management who was responsible for warranting compliance related to recognizing and assessing loans was replaced by the company to ensure no control failure happens again.

The corporate management of CAT Financials also executed a junior level analysis to pinpoint other subsidiaries that do not follow the rules and regulations that are necessary before issuing impairment loans. Training sessions for resident subordinate were conducted to help strengthen the understanding of the rules and regulations that lead to credit losses. The company also implemented extra controls that would detect an error that is prone to cause control failure before it results to a quantifiable misstatement.

11. In August 2017, Caterpillar Foundation gave a donation of $ 300,000 to the American Red Cross society to help the victims of Hurricane Harvey, which hit the state of Texas causing deadly floods in the coastal and inland countries which has then been named a national state of disaster.

The company is keen on its employee’s safety which is its primary priority. Having a total of 20 locations throughout Texas, those in high impact areas closed in August 25th to ensure the safety of its employees and the company will continue to monitor operations at all the facilities available in Texas as the storm lingers. Caterpillar dealers are also active in the disaster by being close in contact with the Red Cross society as they provide first aid to their employees and also distributing generators that are in high demand. They are also sending power equipment from other parts of the country to the affected areas and staging equipment for the cleaning process that will follow after the storm has passed (Corporate Press Release, 2017).

Caterpillar Inc. in January 2017 announced its plan to locate later this year a restricted group of senior executives and support roles Chicago and reiterated that its presence in Peoria and Illinois is equally significant. The Board of Directors of Caterpillar has been for some time now discussed the importance of a location that is easily accessible and strategic to its customers and Chicago is the right choice, Caterpillar CEO Jim Umpleby stated. Which is as a result of Caterpillars significant sales and revenues coming from outside the United States and hence locating the headquarters near a global transport hub will enable them to meet with their worldwide clienteles, suppliers, and staff quickly.

The CEO also added that Caterpillars deep roots in Central Illinois and its hometown Peoria are deeply valued, and thus the majority of its employees will remain in Peoria. The new location in Chicago is, therefore, an opportunity for them to add to their skilled team while at the same time improving the senior leaders’ productivity (Corporate Press Release, 2017).

March 2017, Caterpillar showcases its latest merchandises and technology at the CONEXPO. The attendees will get the opportunity to experience exhibits of two caterpillars which equals approximately 60,000 square feet space and featuring over 40 machines.

Many new machines will feature at the Caterpillar North hall exhibit which will is purely for CAT Connect Technology and services. Various professionals from Caterpillar will be showing their customers how the technology is used to help control cost, increase the efficiency of the fuel, attain productivity and enhance safety. The Gold lot exhibit on the other hand will feature building construction machines.

Bob De Lange, the group president of construction industries, stated how the Caterpillar foundation was excited to showcase to their customers how the CAT Connect technology and services help to control and pursue projects efficiently, monitor safety and performance and also to gauge the richness. This process in turn helps the customers in making data-driven decisions easier and quickly and at the end make more money and operate efficiently (Corporate Press Release, 2017).

12. As at 2015, the total current assets for Caterpillar Inc. were $ 33,903 million whereas the total current liabilities were $ 30, 928 million giving us a working capital ratio of $ 1.09 which is inadequate to pay all the existing debts retrieved from http://www.caterpillar.com/en/investors/sec-filings.html

13. Caterpillar Inc. cash flow as at 2015 was as follows: Investing activities had a total of $ 841 million, operating activities $ 1.27 Billion, and Financing activities $ 228 million retrieved from http://www.caterpillar.com/en/investors/sec-filings.html

References

Corporate Press Release. (2017). Retrieved November 3, 2017, from http://www.caterpillar.com/en/news/corporate-press-releases.html

Lee, J., Lapira, E., Bagheri, B., & Kao, H. A. (2013). Recent advances and trends in predictive manufacturing systems in the big data environment. Manufacturing Letters, 1(1), 38-41.