Caterpillar Announces New Organization to Drive Sustained Improvements in Customer Deliveries and Operational Efficiencies and to Build on Recent Product Quality Improvements

PEORIA, Ill., April 15, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Building on the foundation of 6 Sigma and the Caterpillar Production System (CPS), Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) today announced the creation of a new order-to-delivery organization. Caterpillar's Board of Directors has appointed Dave Bozeman, current Caterpillar vice president with the responsibility for the Integrated Manufacturing Operations Division, to lead the new organization. In his new role, Bozeman will be senior vice president with responsibility for the Caterpillar Enterprise System Group. He will be a member of Caterpillar's Executive Office and will report directly to Caterpillar Chairman and CEO Doug Oberhelman. This change and others in this announcement will be effective May 1, 2013.

"In recent years, 6 Sigma and CPS have helped us achieve outstanding results in safety, quality and profitability across the company," Oberhelman said. "But in order to get to the next level of performance, we are bringing together the critical processes and support groups to further improve our manufacturing and supply chain capabilities worldwide. From the moment a customer signs a dealer purchase order, until the product arrives at their door, customers will experience a more responsive Caterpillar, driven by this new organization," Oberhelman added. "For the last few years, Dave has been successfully leading one of the largest and most globally complex manufacturing divisions within Caterpillar. Prior to joining Caterpillar, he held executive leadership positions in manufacturing and quality with Harley Davidson. These combined experiences position Dave to be the ideal leader for this new group," said Oberhelman. "Having Dave as part of our Executive Office will allow all of us to work directly with him and his new team as we aggressively move to implement these improvements for our customers."

Since late 2012, Caterpillar Group President Gerard Vittecoq has been leading a strategic initiative to establish an enterprise vision to deliver world-class lean results, based upon process capability. "The Caterpillar Enterprise System Group builds upon the strong foundation of our Caterpillar Production System and 6 Sigma. It starts with customer expectations and driving competitive advantage. We are aligning all critical elements of our customer order-to-delivery process with a holistic view that will deliver world-class results," said Vittecoq.

As previously announced, Vittecoq will retire from Caterpillar on May 31, 2013, after more than 37 years with the company.

Under Bozeman's leadership, the new Caterpillar Enterprise System Group will combine existing divisions and organizations from several functional areas within Caterpillar including Global Purchasing, Manufacturing Logistics & Transportation, Caterpillar Production System, Lean Office and Process Transformation.

New responsibilities for Denise Johnson:

Caterpillar's Board of Directors has appointed Denise Johnson to replace Bozeman as vice president with responsibility for the Integrated Manufacturing Operations Division. Johnson is currently vice president with responsibility for the Diversified Products Division.

Previously, she was general manager of Caterpillar's Specialty Products Business Unit, where she had responsibility for 17 facilities across the Americas, Europe and Asia. She joined Caterpillar in 2011 following a career with General Motors (GM), where she developed deep expertise in manufacturing operations and product management in a series of positions in the U.S., Canada and Brazil.

"Denise brought a proven, global track record in manufacturing and product development leadership to Caterpillar, and in a short period of time, she has demonstrated exceptional capabilities by driving process improvements and greater business performance," said Steve Wunning, Caterpillar group president with responsibility for Resource Industries. 

New responsibilities for Steve Larson:

With the decision to integrate the Manufacturing Logistics & Transportation (ML&T) group of Cat Logistics into the new Caterpillar Enterprise System Group, Caterpillar has decided to combine its parts distribution business and its Diversified Products Division into a new division, which will be led by Steve Larson, current vice president with responsibility for the Parts Distribution & Logistics Division. The new Division will be called the Parts Distribution & Diversified Products Division and will include Parts Distribution, Global Paving, Forest Products, Caterpillar Industrial & Waste Group, OEM Solutions Group, Defense & Federal Products, Global Work Tools & Services and Caterpillar Tunneling Canada.

"Steve has provided outstanding leadership for our Parts Distribution & Logistics Division, including overseeing the sale of Caterpillar's third party logistics business and the multi-year expansion and enhancement of the Cat parts distribution network," said Stu Levenick, Caterpillar group president with responsibility for Customer & Dealer Support.

Larson joined Caterpillar in 1979 and held a series of positions with growing responsibilities in the areas of accounting, finance and marketing. In 1995, he was named a product/marketing manager in the North American Commercial Division (NACD), and later held positions as a district manager, product manager for large track-type tractors and regional manager. In 2003, he moved to Singapore to become a vice president of Caterpillar Financial Services Corporation. He was named a Caterpillar vice president in 2007.

About Caterpillar:
For more than 85 years, Caterpillar Inc. has been making sustainable progress possible and driving positive change on every continent.  With 2012 sales and revenues of $65.875 billion, Caterpillar is the world's leading manufacturer of construction and mining equipment, diesel and natural gas engines, industrial gas turbines and diesel-electric locomotives.  The company also is a leading services provider through Caterpillar Financial Services, Caterpillar Remanufacturing Services and Progress Rail Services.  More information is available at: http://www.caterpillar.com.

Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements in this press release relate to future events and expectations and are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.  Words such as "believe," "estimate," "will be," "will," "would," "expect," "anticipate," "plan," "project," "intend," "could," "should" or other similar words or expressions often identify forward-looking statements.  All statements other than statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, statements regarding our outlook, projections, forecasts or trend descriptions. These statements do not guarantee future performance, and we do not undertake to update our forward-looking statements.

Caterpillar's actual results may differ materially from those described or implied in our forward-looking statements based on a number of factors, including, but not limited to: (i) global economic conditions and economic conditions in the industries and markets we serve; (ii) government monetary or fiscal policies and infrastructure spending; (iii) commodity or component price increases, fluctuations in demand for our products, or limited availability of raw materials and component products, including steel; (iv) our and our customers', dealers' and suppliers' ability to access and manage liquidity; (v) political and economic risks and instability, including national or international conflicts and civil unrest; (vi) our and Cat Financial's ability to: maintain credit ratings, avoid material increases in borrowing costs, and access capital markets; (vii) the financial condition and credit worthiness of Cat Financial's customers; (viii) changes in interest rates or market liquidity; (ix) changes in financial services regulation; (x) inability to realize expected benefits from acquisitions, including ERA Mining Machinery Limited, and divestitures, including the divestiture of the Bucyrus International, Inc. distribution business to our independent dealers; (xi) international trade and investment policies; (xii) market acceptance of our products and services; (xiii) changes in the competitive environment, including market share, pricing and geographic and product mix of sales; (xiv) successful implementation of capacity expansion projects, cost reduction initiatives and efficiency or productivity initiatives, including the Caterpillar Production System; (xv) inventory management decisions and sourcing practices of our dealers or original equipment manufacturers; (xvi) compliance with environmental laws and regulations; (xvii) alleged or actual violations of trade or anti-corruption laws and regulations; (xviii) additional tax expense or exposure; (xix) currency fluctuations; (xx) our or Cat Financial's compliance with financial covenants; (xxi) increased pension plan funding obligations; (xxii) union disputes or other labor matters; (xxiii) significant legal proceedings, claims, lawsuits or investigations; (xxiv) compliance requirements imposed if carbon emissions legislation and/or regulations are adopted; (xxv) changes in accounting standards; (xxvi) failure or breach of information technology security; (xxvii) adverse effects of natural disasters; and (xxviii) other factors described in more detail under "Item 1A.  Risk Factors" in our Form 10-K filed with the SEC on February 19, 2013 for the year ended December 31, 2012.  This filing is available on our website at www.caterpillar.com/secfilings. 

SOURCE Caterpillar Inc.