From Day One

When regulatory clearance for Caterpillar's acquisition of Bucyrus came through on July 8, 2011, months of planning fell swiftly into place. The transaction closed later the same day and by "Day One," July 11, these two leading suppliers to the global mining industry became one company.

The idea of one customer face, one team, one distribution model and one brand was the guiding philosophy driving the integration. On Day One, approximately 10,000 Bucyrus employees became part of Caterpillar Global Mining, led by a team that includes both Caterpillar and former Bucyrus management.

"This acquisition brought together the two best teams in the mining industry," said Luis de Leon, corporate vice president and president of Caterpillar Global Mining Products. "The results are already showing through the successes we are achieving in product design and implementation."

With the acquisition of Bucyrus, Caterpillar Global Mining now offers an unparalleled range of equipment and services to the mining industry. In addition to providing customers with a "one-stop-shopping" option, working with Caterpillar as a strategic supplier with a comprehensive product line enables customers to reduce supply chain complexity. It also improves jobsite safety, a major issue for miners, by reducing the number of support people and vehicles on site.

The breadth and depth of mining products today reflects how highly complementary the Caterpillar and Bucyrus product lines were to each other, with only very limited overlap. A number of synergies are being implemented, such as Cat components being added to legacy Bucyrus machines. For example, just six months after Bucyrus was acquired, a Bucyrus AC truck with a Cat engine was delivered to a work site.

"The teams have definitely exceeded our expectations with the speed at which we got this done, which has also enabled us to increase our production," explains David Rea, manager of Caterpillar Mining Truck & Business Integration. "It really reflects how well we were able to combine the experience of both teams and their product strengths."

The same could be said of the entire Bucyrus product integration, and bodes well for the future of Caterpillar Global Mining.