Caterpillar 2013 Annual Report Download - page 12

CATERPILLAR INC. 2013 YEAR IN REVIEW
10
CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRIES
A Deeper Understanding
of the Customer
It’s not that often that a company gets to truly experience the “ins
and outs” of its customers on a daily basis. But we’re doing just that at
Caterpillar and taking the meaning of “understanding the customer” to
a whole new level. For the past two years, Caterpillar has collaborated
with Kiewit – one of our large North America-based customers – in a
rotational job exchange opportunity.
The idea of a job exchange stemmed from Caterpillar Vice President
Tom Bluth who was looking for an opportunity to develop Caterpillar
engineers with a more profound focus on the customer.
“The start of the program grew out of our desire to drive a deeper
understanding of our customers and also enhance the development
of our key leaders,” says Bluth.
Tim Graham, who is now Caterpillar’s chief engineer for mid-sized
wheel loaders, was the fi rst to experience this opportunity. He spent one
year with Kiewit rotating through various assignments and learning
different aspects of Kiewit’s business – from estimating and planning
projects to the core running of the business to fi eld-facing projects.
“Kiewit owns about 2,500 pieces of Cat® equipment and touches nearly
every industry that Caterpillar serves – earthmoving, mining, energy
and power, etc. – so it was a pretty eye-opening experience for me,”
explains Graham. “Not only did I gain a deeper understanding of the
customer, what their needs are and how we can serve them better, but
there was a lot of character building and leadership growth that natu-
rally happened through this experience.”
Graham’s year proved to be an extremely successful developmental
opportunity, so much so that the two companies expanded the idea
even further by sending one of Kiewit’s leaders to Caterpillar for a
similar rotational experience.
In the second year of the program, Chad Jessen, senior equipment
manager for Kiewit, spent a year at Caterpillar rotating through four
different divisions, while Caterpillar’s Darren Knutson spent a year
rotating assignments at Kiewit. Both Jessen and Knutson’s experiences
were built on a common focus: technology-enabled solutions.
“If our customers are successful, we will be successful,” says Knutson.
“The value of our relationship with Kiewit is about much more than
sales; it is about the relationship and both parties working toward
common goals geared toward technological advances in the markets
we serve.”
While working with Caterpillar, Jessen also had the opportunity to
participate in Caterpillar’s Executive Leadership Program.
“My time with Caterpillar was such a unique experience. There were
so many takeaways,” says Jessen. “Being provided the opportunity to
see a world-class operation like Caterpillar and get behind the curtain
to not only help Caterpillar be more successful by passing on knowl-
edge of what we believe, as the customer, but also to learn what they’re
working on that Kiewit can take advantage of was invaluable.”
“This is just the beginning; we’re just scratching the surface in
developing a deeper understanding of our customers,” says Vice
President Karl Weiss who continues ownership of the program.
“We have the opportunity, as our understanding grows, to help
our customers be more profi table through improved Cat® products
and solutions.”