Over the past few years, the Advanced Components and Manufacturing (ACM) teams in Monterrey, Reynosa and Acuña, Mexico, continue making strides in recruiting and retaining women within their workplaces and creating inclusive work environments.

The creation of Women’s Initiative Network (WIN) Employee Resource Group chapters in each ACM Mexico location has been vital to the positive results. The WIN chapters were developed with goals to create inclusive environments that empower women, avoid bias and increase the overall number of women working in each facility — both in leadership and non-leadership roles.

The chapters also sought to increase understanding and encourage their male coworkers to become allies for supporting women with opportunities for meaningful career development. Creating a culture where all points of view and opinions are valued has produced positive results, aligned with the Workforce Composition pillar of Caterpillar’s D&I Framework:  

• In Monterrey, women in leadership roles and overall representation of women has increased through training dedicated to empowering women and avoiding bias. They have also collaborated with local universities to introduce young women to Caterpillar careers.
• In Reynosa, the team has made an impact by providing personal protective equipment that it tailored to better fit women and has intentionally been more inclusive in hiring searches for production roles, such as welding. In 2016, Reynosa had less than 15 employees who identify as women, all working in administrative roles. Today, there are more than 60 women welders in the facility, as well as women in roles such as painting, materials, operations, support and administration.
• The Acuña team has also made outstanding improvements through their inclusion efforts and implementation of a local WIN chapter. By fostering an inclusive environment, it provides a platform that enriches culture, welcomes new traditions and strives for continuous improvement. 

Nearly three decades ago, Jenny found herself in front of Caterpillar’s booth at a local career fair. She did not know anything about Caterpillar but needed a job that would challenge her.

Motivated by how Caterpillar encourages employees to be continuous learners, Jenny joined the team as an administrative assistant and became the first local Shanghai Diesel Joint Venture employee in the technical and operations department. Inspired by mentors, she set out to learn all parts of the business and develop strong business acumen. Jenny credits self-directed learning, on-the-job experiences and formal classroom learning for advancing her career.

In 2013, Jenny became the first female district manager in China. As a female leader in a key role, she was inspired to help other women at Caterpillar break barriers in their careers. In partnership with seven other female leaders, Jenny helped form a club focused on giving back by mentoring female employees.

Club members meet regularly to share experiences and advice. The club hosts an annual conference called Women in Leadership (WIL), which focuses on mentoring, career succession, diversity and inclusion and networking.

The annual event attracts about 100 participants each year and focuses on leadership. Participants include both women and men as allies to drive the changes necessary for women to succeed in leadership roles.

Jenny is passionate about paving the way for women in predominantly male fields. Her advice is to take risks, be openminded and adopt a continuous learning mindset. Mentoring has significantly impacted Jenny’s career, and she values the lessons she has learned from mentors the most. She’s come a long way from her first role as an administrative assistant to managing a district office and credits the learning opportunities throughout her career as the key to her success.

The Solar Turbines airfoils manufacturing team has found inclusion inspiration in an unlikely place. The “Flying V” play in hockey requires players to skate in a V-shape formation. Using everyone’s unique skills and strengths, the team moves together, and momentum builds with every stride. Together, using everyone’s diverse skills, the team is stronger.

The Solar team took that inspiration and realized that they could be more powerful together and sought to capitalize on their generational, ethnic and gender diversity to cross-train between product lines and use technology to share information.

The “Airfoils Flying V, Manufacturing Engineers Fly Together” project organized manufacturing engineers into three product teams based on communication styles, personality types and work experiences. These teams cross-trained each other on their respective product lines while using technology platforms to share information, training files and documents.

The results of this intentional partnership are impressive and have been sustained for over two years: 

• 180% increase in product line experience
• 30% reduction in cycle time
• Strong improvement in employee engagement and job satisfaction

Through this collaboration, aligned to Workplace Culture in Caterpillar’s D&I Framework, team members report faster learning curves, greater team camaraderie, and more opportunity to spot problems. According to Taloa Young, senior manufacturing engineer, “My knowledge increased by working through issues not common to my product line.” 

“Our global diverse team and supply network helps Caterpillar fulfill its long-standing commitment to producing world-class products and services to those we serve. We continually build strong supplier partnerships that align with Caterpillar’s diversity strategy to deliver on our promise to help our customers build a better world.”

Pam Heminger
Senior Vice President, Strategic Procurement & Planning Division
Caterpillar Inc.

Learn More about Caterpillar's Supplier Diversity Efforts