“Combined with our aggressive product development and capacity expansion plans, it will position Caterpillar to offer a broad range of surface and underground mining products and solutions to our customers. The rapid development of the world’s emerging markets is expected to continue to drive an increasing need for commodities as billions of people around the world seek to improve their standard of living. Wherever there is mining, Caterpillar and our dealers will be there to serve our mining customers.”
As previously announced, the Cat Global Mining headquarters will move to Oak Creek, Wis., and will include three mining divisions reporting to Steve Wunning. Cat Vice President Dave Bozeman will lead the Integrated Manufacturing Operations Division, which will include the global manufacturing operations for Caterpillar mining products. The division has manufacturing operations in Asia, Australia, Europe and North America. Cat Vice President Chris Curfman will lead the Mining Sales and Marketing Division, with global responsibility for maintaining and enhancing customer relationships, developing the global marketing strategy and ensuring future growth opportunities.
Luis de Leon, previously COO for Bucyrus, has been elected by the Cat board of directors as a corporate vice president, and will lead the new Mining Products Division. The division will be responsible for overall mining product strategy development, product design and product sourcing. In addition, several other Caterpillar divisions will provide critical support to the mining business.
For the past several months, Cat has evaluated the best approach for branding legacy Bucyrus products. The conclusion was a single brand— Caterpillar— for our mining products. “As we examined this issue, it became clear it would be in the best long-term interests of our business to have a single brand for our mining customers, and that brand will be Caterpillar,” Wunning said. “This decision is important to quickly bring together one team with a single face to our customers.”
In addition, it became clear that the capabilities of the Cat dealer network with mining customers meant that all products should be sold and serviced by Cat dealers. “This is consistent with our long-held distribution strategy of strong, entrepreneurial, independent dealers,” Wunning said. “Since Bucyrus predominantly employed a direct model to sell and support products, we’re beginning the process to transition distribution and support to Cat dealers. We plan to sell the Bucyrus distribution business to Cat dealers that support mining customers around the world. While discussions with dealers are just beginning, we estimate the value of the Bucyrus distribution business to be substantial.”
“This marks the beginning of a new era in Caterpillar’s mining business,” said Wunning. “The joining of these two iconic companies is an incredible combination. It positions us for long-term success in an industry with significant growth potential, and we intend to fully leverage our unique strengths to help the mining customer make money. In turn, that will benefit our employees, our stockholders and the communities in which we live and work. We’re ready to get started.”
