PEORIA, IL — Students who toured the Caterpillar Visitors Center weren’t just checking out the big machines on display.
About 50 students from the Special Education Association of Peoria County learned about a possible career in manufacturing for individuals with disabilities, part of Caterpillar Inc. celebrating Manufacturing Day.
“We wanted to show the kids that there’s an opportunity for them in manufacturing. We want to show them it’s a stimulating environment,” said Jenny Heather, Caterpillar’s recruitment manager for U.S. production.
Along with hearing about some of the various careers that Caterpillar has to offer, students received hands-on experience, trying their hand at welding and truck simulators as well as working on parts assembly and learning about the expanded use of 3D printers.
Working with those with developmental disabilities is nothing new for Caterpillar, said Patti Gratton, executive director for the Community Workshop & Training Center, 3215 N. University St. “We’ve had a partnership with Caterpillar since 1960. We started with 13 individuals. Now we have 175 people who do contract work for Caterpillar on a daily basis. It’s our biggest contract,” she said.
Brad Halverson, a Caterpillar group president and its chief financial officer, greeted the students before they toured the facility. “Think about what it takes to produce one of these machines,” he said, standing in a hall where a D6 tractor and large excavator loomed overhead.
Recalling that his father started as a third-shift worker building tractors at a Caterpillar plant in East Peoria, Halverson pointed out that it was time to change the public perception of the factory since his father’s day. “Today it’s high technology and clean. Technology is changing things for the positive,” he said.
Connor Jones, a senior at Dunlap Community High School, said he was interested in welding — not just as a career but “to express myself artistically.”
“I would work on a gigantic globe with a puzzle piece representing the fact I have autism. The missing piece represents the fact that we need to find out where we fit in,” he said.
Draven Schutz, a 17-year-old student at Elmwood High School, noted that while it was his first time at the Visitors Center, he was no stranger to Caterpillar equipment. “I’m in a program where we go to Mapleton every day. They’re teaching us to run those machines,” he said.
PJ Star reports, other students posed for pictures and gathered about work stations like the one Caterpillar’s Andy Meinert managed that involved the use of 3D printers. “We’re trying to bring service solutions to the job,” said Meinert, describing how 3D models are formed.
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