Pros

Peoria "was" my home town.

Cons

Caterpillars management is still based on the idea that Peoria is a captive market, Cat is the only game in town. That is how the strikes in the '80s began, corporate beligerance towards it hourly employees combined with market forces. When management employees were made to work in the factories in the '92 time frame, I worked in the factory as well, the CEO was heard saying he would like to replace all of the factory workers. He had no working relationship with the people making Caterpillar great, it is a shame.

Upper Management at Caterpillar have lost touch with the working people and they have lost touch with the ideals and values of the solid Midwest companies. Caterpillar worships General Electric these days. Jim Owens is on the economic advisement board with Obama and General Electric.

Advice to Senior Management

I have no doubt they will get the same level of commitment from their Chinese and Indian technical centers as they would if they had Engineers here in the Midwest.

The best you can do for the United States is move the headquarters out of the Midwest so some of these guys don't get the idea that Caterpillar has a solid Midwest mentality.