Caterpillar Vice President Bob Williams to Retire

PEORIA, Ill., April 23 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) today announced Vice President Bob Williams, 61, will retire after more than 43 years with the company.  Williams has been a Caterpillar vice president since 2004 and currently has responsibility for the Americas Operations Division, (AOD). AOD includes all manufacturing operations in Aurora, Ill., Decatur, Ill., East Peoria, Ill., North Little Rock, Ark., Caterpillar Brazil Limited and CMSA Mexico. The division manufactures motor graders, wheel tractor scrapers, large mining and quarry & aggregate trucks, hydraulic excavators, wheel loaders, track-type tractors, pipelayers and various machine components.  Williams will retire on June 1, 2010.  A replacement for Williams will be announced in the near future.

"Bob's leadership and deep lean manufacturing experience was instrumental in Caterpillar's ability to effectively manage some of our largest and most complex manufacturing facilities as we first responded to record-breaking demand for our products from 2005 through 2008 followed by the rapid decline in demand that occurred in 2009," said Caterpillar Chairman and CEO Jim Owens.  "In addition, Bob has continually demonstrated exceptional values-based leadership for his organization and the rest of Caterpillar, setting a high standard for Caterpillar leaders to follow in the years to come."

Owens also praised Williams for his leadership in the successful implementation of the Caterpillar Production System (CPS) at facilities within AOD and for the development of Caterpillar's new state-of-the-art motor grader facility located in North Little Rock.

"Bob's organization can be held up as a model for the deployment of CPS, which positioned AOD for its strong financial performance during the economic downturn in 2009," Owens said.

Williams began his career at Caterpillar in 1966 as a machinist apprentice in East Peoria.  He became a shop foreman in 1974 and went on to a series of leadership positions in manufacturing and technology. In 1989, he became a factory manager in the Track-Type Tractors Division.  He moved to Decatur in 1993 to assume the role of technical resources manager in the Mining & Construction Equipment Division.  Williams became the general manager of Mapleton foundry operations for the Performance Engine Products Division in 1998. He was appointed director of manufacturing in the Operations Support and Technology Department of the Technical Services Division in 2002. Williams was also director of manufacturing research and development in Caterpillar's Technology and Solutions Division before being named a vice president in 2004.

He graduated from Caterpillar's Machinist Apprentice Program in 1970 and attended the Caterpillar Advanced Management Program in 1996.  He completed the Global Management for Engineers Executive Program at the Carnegie Bosch Institute of Carnegie Mellon's Tepper School of Business in 2003.

About Caterpillar:

For more than 80 years, Caterpillar Inc. has been making progress possible and driving positive and sustainable change on every continent. With 2009 sales and revenues of $32.396 billion, Caterpillar is the world's leading manufacturer of construction and mining equipment, diesel and natural gas engines and industrial gas turbines. The company also is a leading services provider through Caterpillar Financial Services, Caterpillar Remanufacturing Services, Caterpillar Logistics Services and Progress Rail Services. More information is available at http://www.cat.com.

Safe Harbor

Certain statements in this release relate to future events and expectations and, as such, constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.  These statements are subject to known and unknown factors that may cause actual results of Caterpillar Inc. to be different from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements. 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 Caterpillar does not undertake to update its forward-looking statements.

It is important to note that actual results of the company may differ materially from those described or implied in such forward-looking statements based on a number of factors, including, but not limited to: (i) economic volatility in the global economy generally and in capital and credit markets; (ii) Caterpillar's ability to generate cash from operations, secure external funding for operations and manage liquidity needs; (iii) adverse changes in the economic conditions of the industries or markets Caterpillar serves; (iv) government regulations or policies, including those affecting interest rates, liquidity, access to capital and government spending on infrastructure development; (v) commodity price increases and/or limited availability of raw materials and component products, including steel; (vi) compliance costs associated with environmental laws and regulations; (vii) Caterpillar's and Cat Financial's ability to maintain their respective credit ratings, material increases in either company's cost of borrowing or an inability of either company to access capital markets; (viii) financial condition and credit worthiness of Cat Financial's customers; (ix) material adverse changes in our customers' access to liquidity and capital; (x) market acceptance of Caterpillar's products and services; (xi) effects of changes in the competitive environment, which may include decreased market share, lack of acceptance of price increases, and/or negative changes to our geographic and product mix of sales; (xii) Caterpillar's ability to successfully implement Caterpillar Production System or other productivity initiatives; (xiii) international trade and investment policies, such as import quotas, capital controls or tariffs; (xiv) failure of Caterpillar or Cat Financial to comply with financial covenants in their respective credit facilities; (xv) adverse changes in sourcing practices for our dealers or original equipment manufacturers; (xvi) additional tax expense or exposure; (xvii) political and economic risks associated with our global operations, including changes in laws, regulations or government policies, currency restrictions, restrictions on repatriation of earnings, burdensome tariffs or quotas, national and international conflict, including terrorist acts and political and economic instability or civil unrest in the countries in which Caterpillar operates; (xviii) currency fluctuations, particularly increases and decreases in the U.S. dollar against other currencies; (xix) increased payment obligations under our pension plans; (xx) inability to successfully integrate and realize expected benefits from acquisitions; (xxi) significant legal proceedings, claims, lawsuits or investigations; (xxii) potential imposition of significant costs due to the enactment of healthcare reform legislation; (xxiii) changes in accounting standards or adoption of new accounting standards; (xxiv) adverse effects of natural disasters; and (xxv) other factors described in more detail in "Item 1A – Risk Factors" in Part I of our Form 10-K filed with the SEC on February 19, 2010 for the year ended December 31, 2009.  This filing is available on our website at www.cat.com/sec_filings.

SOURCE Caterpillar Inc.