Caterpillar’s Ties With Colleges Lead to Employment, Funding

Engineering Students Welcome
The Caterpillar road grader plant in North Little Rock, subject of a front-page story in this issue of Arkansas Business, has developed strong relationships with the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and Pulaski Technical College, ties that have led to the employment of graduates and the funding of a special project by UALR engineering students.

Kelley Bass, assistant dean for external affairs at UALR’s Donaghey College of Engineering & Information Technology, said three of the college’s students had partnered on a senior design project for Caterpillar that devised a new way to paint a model of road grader the company makes for the military.

"Paul and his executive team were very impressed with what our students came up with, and they authorized the money to go ahead and buy the materials [the students] need to make this thing go," Bass said, referring to the plant’s general manager, Paul Rivera. "It’s a time and material savings," Bass said. "They basically engineered a new way to do part of the process."

In addition, at least six of the college’s graduates have earned full-time jobs at the plant and six have been hired for internships.

Mary Ann Shope, VP for economic development at Pulaski Tech, said that school had also placed graduates with Caterpillar, adding that the two-year college had worked closely with the company to train its initial hires.

"It’s been a really good partnership," Shope said.