Caterpillar is a large Fortune 500 corporation with over 115,000 employees, who all strive to meet the mechanical needs of farmers and construction workers across the globe. The headquarters of Caterpillar Inc. located in Peoria, Illinois was established on April 15, 1925. While the management of Caterpillar is set up similar to that of other large corporations, with a board of directors and managers making a majority of decisions, there is a very high level of respect between employees. This is potentially due to Caterpillar’s strong belief in teamwork throughout their company and their focus on excellence, commitment, and integrity.
The history of Caterpillar is filled with a production of reliable tractors that are produced on nearly every continent. Holt purchased and began managing his first factory in Peoria, Illinois in 1910 and immediately began production. Since then factories have been built across nations such as Russia, China, America, and they all cater to the individual needs of the nation, producing different models for each country depending on the need of their customer. Over the past 90 years of business, Caterpillar has acquired 37 different companies, allowing them to expand their market and increase revenue. Caterpillar has been known to produce some of the largest and most reliable tractors, bull dozers, and engines that outperform the competition.
Caterpillar partners with several charities that benefit a range of causes and people. These charities include, the American Red Cross, Charity: Water, The Global Poverty Project, the Nature Conservancy, and more. These charities coincide with the themes of excellence, commitment, and especially sustainability. Caterpillar has seen few lawsuits during its time in production, most recently there was one relating to defective truck exhaust systems. While Caterpillar has strived to keep up with new technologies and modern requests for cleaner burning engines, in 2014 they saw a lawsuit from individuals in eighteen different states claiming that their engines were shutting down on their own due to mishaps in the new exhaust system in trucks from 2007 to 2010.
During the past 90 years, Caterpillar Inc. has seen a large amount of growth and expansion due to its success. They continue to do so by always pushing for newer technologies such as their first of its kind electric drive tractor. Innovations like that continue to propel Caterpillar forward.
