PEORIA, Ill. – Caterpillar is making a significant investment into its future workforce.
At the Edwards Demonstration and Learning Center on Wednesday, the company announced it was investing up to $10 million into its Building the Future Workforce Initiative. The money will be used in-state and focus on the local communities that Caterpillar has a footprint in.
It’s the fourth investment made as part of the initiative, which includes $100 million over five years, and the largest of the four so far.
Chief Human Resources Officer Christy Pambianchi says the investment will help workers build high-quality careers.
Pambianchi says one focus will be creating excitement for manufacturing jobs. Another is building connections with local manufacturing training institutions, and partnering with local economic development organizations.
Pambianchi says the investment will also try to make access to training and education more affordable and available in the communities where Caterpillar is. And the company plans to share some of their innovations through the investments with business and education leaders.
Pambianchi says there’s no target number on how many jobs and careers they will create with the investment, but says there will be a need at Caterpillar.
“We have the 17,000 employees in the state of Illinois today, and we have continued investments in the operations here, and that’s going to mean we need to continue to replenish, as well as continue to add to our workforce,” Pambianchi said.
Even though the program is focused on the future, Pambianchi says the investments can work in the present to replace retiring employees.
Pambianchi says there will be different strategies in each community, as they go in and learn what is needed and what would work.
