Caterpillar Announces New Analytics & Innovation Division

PEORIA, Ill., April 10, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- To better capitalize on the growing importance and excitement of data analytics and to drive innovation to support customers, Caterpillar Inc. CAT today announced the formation of a new division, Analytics & Innovation (AI), which will be led by Caterpillar Vice President Greg Folley. The division will bring together the people and resources that will foster a culture with innovation at the core, form a broad and connected analytics ecosystem and manage strategic third party relationships with providers like Chicago, Illinois-based Uptake, a start-up with which the company recently announced a technology and predictive analytics agreement.

Caterpillar will co-locate key employees with the Uptake team in Chicago to accelerate the work needed to create a platform that takes massive amounts of data, combines it with data science to understand patterns and quickly deploys information to save customers money, optimize performance and prevent unplanned downtime. The company is also placing resources in the Silicon Valley and has seeded money in a venture capital fund with the goal of investing in emerging technologies that could further enhance Caterpillar's product and service development. All of these activities under the umbrella of the AI division will complement the innovative work that thousands of Caterpillar employees are already doing around the world— a trait that has been critical to Caterpillar's success since the formation of the company 90 years ago.

"We know that technology and information are the drivers in almost every industry including ours; we have to continue pushing our company to be innovative - to imagine, create, and embrace the new and the different, and to be disruptive in our own way," said Rob Charter, Caterpillar group president with responsibility for the Customer & Dealer Support (C&DS) division. "A huge opportunity for competitive advantage lies in the analytics and innovation space, and we have a unique opportunity to connect data from the broadest product line that cuts across multiple industries. We can transform the mountains of incoming data – from a single machine or engine, an entire job site, the supply chain, a shipping location and much more – into valuable information for our customers and suppliers more efficiently and effectively than anyone else. As the vice president of Reman, Components & Work Tools (RCWT) since 2011, Greg has led the organization to adopt innovative technologies, making him the ideal choice for this new position."

Since joining Caterpillar in 1995, Folley has held numerous positions including senior labor relations consultant, human resources manager, corporate labor relations manager, U.K. HR Shared Services director, director of Compensation and Benefits and general manager of the Specialty Products Business Unit of Motion and Power Control Division. In 2008, the Caterpillar Board of Directors named Folley vice president of the Core Components Division, and in 2009, he was appointed vice president of the Human Services Division. He has a bachelor's degree in economics and a Juris Doctor from the University of Notre Dame, and has completed the Executive Program at Stanford University.

New Responsibilities for Doug Hoerr
With Folley leading AI, Doug Hoerr will now become the vice president with responsibility for the RCWT Division, reporting to Charter. Hoerr is currently the vice president of the Strategic Services Division (SSD).

"Doug's more than two decades of experience ranging from accounting, to business manager in several Caterpillar groups to his work on strategic acquisitions and divestitures are a strong foundation for leading the diverse RCWT group, which must closely collaborate with units across the company," said Charter. "He has fantastic business acumen and, as the former Chief Financial Officer (CFO) for the C&DS division, he comes to the table with deep expertise of RCWT's business."

Hoerr began his 21-year career with Caterpillar in accounting. He held several accounting and business analysis roles throughout the company, including senior leadership positions in Caterpillar's engines business. He served as the senior business manager for Large Power Systems & Growth Markets, and in 2012, was named CFO for the C&DS group. Caterpillar's Board of Directors appointed him vice president of SSD in 2014. Hoerr holds a bachelor's degree in accounting from the University of Illinois. He is also a certified public accountant.

The functions of SSD including the Strategic Planning, Economics, Business Risk Management, Revenue Management and Competitive Analysis groups, will be incorporated into the Finance Services Division led by Vice President Mike DeWalt. DeWalt will continue to report to Caterpillar Group President and CFO Brad Halverson.  The Strategic Investments department in SSD, which manages Caterpillar's Mergers & Acquisitions activities and is led by Derrick York, will also report to Halverson. 

All changes are effective May 1, 2015.

About Caterpillar:
For 90 years, Caterpillar Inc. has been making sustainable progress possible and driving positive change on every continent. Customers turn to Caterpillar to help them develop infrastructure, energy and natural resource assets. With 2014 sales and revenues of $55.184 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 principally operates through its three product segments - Construction Industries, Resource Industries and Energy & Transportation - and also provides financing and related services through its Financial Products segment. For more information, visit caterpillar.com. To connect with us on social media, visit caterpillar.com/social-media.

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 and regional economic conditions and economic conditions in the industries we serve; (ii) government monetary or fiscal policies and infrastructure spending; (iii) commodity price changes, component price increases, fluctuations in demand for our products or significant shortages of component products; (iv) disruptions or volatility in global financial markets limiting our sources of liquidity or the liquidity of our customers, dealers and suppliers; (v) political and economic risks, commercial instability and events beyond our control in the countries in which we operate; (vi) failure to maintain our credit ratings and potential resulting increases to our cost of borrowing and adverse effects on our cost of funds, liquidity, competitive position and access to capital markets; (vii) our Financial Products segment's risks associated with the financial services industry; (viii) changes in interest rates or market liquidity conditions; (ix) an increase in delinquencies, repossessions or net losses of Cat Financial's customers; (x) new regulations or changes in financial services regulations; (xi) a failure to realize, or a delay in realizing, all of the anticipated benefits of our acquisitions, joint ventures or divestitures; (xii) international trade policies and their impact on demand for our products and our competitive position; (xiii) our ability to develop, produce and market quality products that meet our customers' needs; (xiv) the impact of the highly competitive environment in which we operate on our sales and pricing; (xv) failure to realize all of the anticipated benefits from initiatives to increase our productivity, efficiency and cash flow and to reduce costs; (xvi) additional restructuring costs or a failure to realize anticipated savings or benefits from past or future cost reduction actions; (xvii) inventory management decisions and sourcing practices of our dealers and our OEM customers; (xviii) compliance with environmental laws and regulations; (xix) alleged or actual violations of trade or anti-corruption laws and regulations; (xx) additional tax expense or exposure; (xxi) currency fluctuations; (xxii) our or Cat Financial's compliance with financial covenants; (xxiii) increased pension plan funding obligations; (xxiv) union disputes or other employee relations issues; (xxv) significant legal proceedings, claims, lawsuits or government investigations; (xxvi) changes in accounting standards; (xxvii) failure or breach of IT security; (xxviii) adverse effects of unexpected events including natural disasters; and (xxix) other factors described in more detail under "Item 1A. Risk Factors" in our Form 10-K filed with the SEC on February 17, 2015, for the year ended December 31, 2014.

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SOURCE Caterpillar Inc.