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Caterpillar Inc. World Headquarters

Caterpillar Inc. World Headquarters
A view of Caterpillar's administration building and my "summer home."

Bird Attacks Pedestrians

Bird Attacks Pedestrians
Several Caterpillar employees attacked by protective bird!


One of Caterpillar's Finest

Thursday, May 31, 2007

Digging In at Cat

As I begin my tasks at Caterpillar, I am excited about all that I have learned and what I will continue to learn. Although this week has been short, it has been very productive as well. Last week, I meet my team’s black belt and he informed me of a 6 Sigma project that I could potentially become involved in that would allow me to obtain my green belt. Few interns have the opportunity to work on a project allowing them to get their green belt, which is one of my goals for the summer, so I jumped at the opportunity. My supervisor was also excited about this opportunity and lucky I inquired about joining the project just in time to attend the kick off meeting. The 6 Sigma project I am working on deals with client efficiency improvement within the advertising group of GCMS. Our 18 member team of diverse Caterpillar employees will work to make interactions between Caterpillar employees and Caterpillar equipment dealers more time efficient.

Additionally, this summer I am responsible for updating the Trade Press web site. Trade Press is where industrial publications editors and interested representatives can turn to receive press releases, new product information, images and application stories about Caterpillar. To access the Trade Press web site please visit: http://www.catnewsinfo.cat.com/cda/layout?m=49775&x=7. Specifically, on the site click the “Images” tab, and then select “Accept these terms & take me to the Gallery,” then choose any of the listed Caterpillar products to view the image updates I am implementing. These image updates are in response to current Trade Dress updates. The most current update within Caterpillar is the introduction of the red power stripe. This diagonal strip is now displayed on all Caterpillar equipment. In order to maintain a common look and feel for Caterpillar, all images utilized must portray the updated power stripe. This project involved downloading and saving thumbnail, high resolution and low resolution photos. Essentially, these photos will be used to facilitate projects completed by Caterpillar employees and dealers.

Continuing to advance my progress at Caterpillar is another significant goal I accomplished this week. Ensuring my progress is essential, thus I was privileged to discuss my SMART Goals with my supervisor. Ironically, my SMART Goals aligned almost exactly with the goals my team had prepared for me. As an intern, I look forward to completing the following:

SMART Goal #1: Achieve business plan by meeting or exceeding labor-hour targets. Difficulty---Normal Strategic Alignment: CSF---Tough

Planned Results:

a) Reach or exceed the department's labor-hour target of 210 for internship period.

Actions Taken:

a) Karlie's focus on labor hours led to over (xxx) hours being posted during her review period. A significant reason for Karlie (meeting/exceeding) her labor hour target was her willingness to go above and beyond . . . A prime example was her volunteering to . . . Another example was Karlie's making time to write occasional copy for her coworkers' projects, such as the Trade Press website. Overall Assessment:

SMART Goal #2: Improve employee engagement and culture by completing MPSD-required training and personal development goals, based on career development plans. Difficulty---Normal Strategic Alignment: CSF---People

Planned Results:

a) Successfully complete 100% of required learning in CLMS.

b) Fully participate in all assigned intern programs, tours, sessions and activities.

c) Complete training on Trade Press web site and acquire skills including, but not limited to image support.

Actions Taken: Karlie completed the Strengths Finder assessment, to evaluate her strengths and weaknesses, while gaining insight to how she fits into the MPSD team.

Overall Assessment:

SMART Goal #3: Provide strategic and tactical support for the enterprise, leveraging communications expertise, including actively supporting Advertising Job Directors and Trade Press Editors. Difficulty - Challenging

Strategic Alignment: CSF---Quality

Planned Results:

a) Participate in synergy meetings between MPSD and PSD Advertising groups, as time/ schedule allows.

b) Work with Trade Press Editors to:

- Update image library in the Trade Press website using images with new trade dress

- Download editorial content to the Trade Press website

- Coordinate annual trade press editor’s survey.

- Assist in the assembly of press kits.

Actions Taken:

Overall Assessment:

SMART Goal #4: Ensure assigned marketing processes contribute to Caterpillar’s initiative to become world-class marketing organization and are recognized as best value for the enterprise—level of difficulty: Difficult

Strategic alignment: CSF Quality

Planned results:

a. Participate as Green Belt on 6 Sigma projects and contribute additional project ideas (if possible)

b. Fully support Advertising Job Directors on projects and with StarLink initiatives.

Actions taken:

Assessment:

Throughout my internship experience and during my monthly reviews, I will be able to analyze, along with my supervisor my progress on these goals and how I can better strive to achieve them.

It is amazing how much a person can learn in two weeks and I am definitely doing that. On Wednesday, I was quickly trained on how to update the images for Trade Press and on Thursday I was selecting and updating images that will be utilized globally. What an experience!

Monday, May 28, 2007

Week One Overview


My first week at Caterpillar Inc. was a great experience. Learning about corporate America is truly fascinating, as it is a bustling world, complete with quick decisions, prestigious roles and amazingly qualified people.

During my first week I have learned a great deal of new skills and obtained a multitude of information about Caterpillar. I am excited to begin my assigned projects with my colleagues. I am greatly looking forward to learning more about web design, image standards, trade shows, press kits, global marketing and product support. Looking forward to my tasks, I also hope to work with a team on a project that will allow me to attend workshops and seminars that will ultimately enable me to achieve the next status level this summer. Only having 10 weeks to accomplish all that I hope to, is not much time, but I am excited and willing to take on any challenges.

The tasks I completed this week include completing my Caterpillar Learning Management classes, which are informational on- line training sessions about the company’s policies, standards and specific MPSD requirements. These sessions were very interesting, especially the ones on advertising standards and brands. The advertising portion my team deals with is eye opening, as I assumed that advertisements were designed and produced by my team. However, this is not the case, my team delegates advertising requests from Caterpillar’s dealers to writers, photographers, trademark specialists and layout designers, all who work to develop spec sheets and additional promotional materials. Part of my team’s job is to review the drafts of the spec sheets and promotional materials while communicating with the dealers about their wants and needs. I am greatly looking forward to this project and meeting the designers, writes, etc. who all greatly contribute to these processes.

Another project I look forward to working with is Trade Press. Trade Press is best explained as the event that introduces new Caterpillar products to the industry. However though, Trade Press is specifically for editors of industrial magazines. With Trade Press, I will be updating the image library on their website so that all Caterpillar images are consistent and show updated equipment logos. Wanting to learn more about website design and maintenance, this project will be very worth while and a beneficial learning experience. Also with Trade Press, I hope to attend Cat 101, a three day workshop aimed to improve editors skills and enhance their knowledge of how to best report at a trade show.

A requirement of my internship is to develop SMART goals, which are goals set at the beginning of my internship that “become the foundation for all performance related activities.” SMART goals stand for: Specific, Measurable, Action- Oriented, Realistic, Time and Resource Constrained.

Specific: What will be affected?

Measurable: How much will be affected?

Action- Oriented: How will the goal be reached?

Realistic: Is the goal practical and attainable?

Time and Resource Constrained: When must the goal be achieved and with what resources?

My SMART goals include:

- Perform at the highest level and achieve superior excellence on all assigned tasks.

- Attain greater knowledge in global advertising and communication marketing.

- Enhance editing skills.

- Achieve superior status on all CLMS assignments and in workshop settings.

- Obtain the opportunity to obtain green belt status.

- Increase understanding of Caterpillar Inc. and the company’s key goals.

o Evaluate Caterpillar’s team environment and performance standards.

Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Starting Out Right at Caterpillar!

Integrity, teamwork, excellence and commitment are Caterpillar’s core values, which directly align my personal core values. After Caterpillar intern orientation for the company’s 300 summer 2007 interns, I was elated to know I am working for a company that prides itself in committing to its customers and employees. The Caterpillar brand is known world wide and its logo is synonymous to quality, dependability and trust. Because of these commitments and the efforts taken at Caterpillar to ensure top quality performance by not only their equipment, but also their employees, my company has big plans for the future that expand into 2020.

It is extremely rewarding to know that work I do today as an intern is helping advance the company’s ambitions to reach their goals they have set for 2020. Learning about Caterpillar’s goals for 2010 and 2020 at orientation was very fulfilling, as it allowed me to concretely see where the company is going and that employees are together working towards specific goals.

These first three days of my internship experience have been extremely fulfilling. Although the first day, orientation, was basically paperwork, the words communicated by the intern coordinator were extremely positive and motivating. Plus, by my estimation, of the 300 summer 2007 interns, over half are returning for a second, third or fourth internship experience—this is refreshing.

On the second day, the Marketing and Product Support Division (MPSD) interns met with our coordinator for an overview of more specific requirements for our area. These specific requirements included work expectations, program benefits, assignments, dress code and intern socials. Additionally, we received a tour of a Caterpillar building and were then dismissed to our permanent locations.

It was very exciting to learn which building I am located in this summer. Very few (yet very fortunate) interns are placed in this building, as it is the building housing Caterpillar’s most senior officials. How extremely blessed I am to be part of such a prime opportunity!

Additionally on my second day I met my supervisor and teammates. My official job title as presented to me by my supervisor reads, “Intern will provide assistance and support to the Advertising Job Directors, Black Belt and Trade Press Editors. Specific responsibilities include: updating image library in the Trade Press website using images with new Trade Dress, assist in downloading editorial content to the Trade Press website, coordinate annual Trade Press editors survey, assist in assembly of press kits, support Advertising Job Directors and department Black Belt in the execution ok key initiatives (i.e. Global Advertising Framework).” As in- depth as this description is, I am extremely excited to begin my tasks and make what I hope is a positive impact on Caterpillar. As an intern I look forward to not working as an intern, but working as a full time manager at Caterpillar and having the same influence on my teammates that a manager has. One of my favorite quotes of the intern coordinator from my orientation is, “Dress not for the position you have, but dress for the position you want to have.” In other words, do not just give the efforts and impressions of an intern, instead supply the work and dedication of the position you desire. For me, this means I have a lot to contribute as the positions I desire include CEO of the company or vice president.

Welcome to Corporate Intern, Karlie Elliott's desk

Welcome to Corporate Intern, Karlie Elliott's desk