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.