Caterpillar – “Caterpillar -- decent place”

Pros

Good work/life balance in most divisions.
Best jobs in Peoria area

Cons

Cyclical business hurts employees in down years
Pretty conservative company. Slow to get into new markets or take advantage of opportunity.
Workforce age distribution is very bi-modal -- lots of folks 50+ and lots <35. Not much in the middle.

Advice to Senior Management

New CEO should be interesting. Don't expect much from him. It's been a long time since Cat has had an engineer or manufacturing leader and it shows. Investment in technology and product lines is sub par.