CEO REPORT Grant Whitelaw - CEO Terra Cat H i everyone, and welcome to the winter edition of our On the Ground magazine. Since our last edition, I’ve spent a fair bit of time travelling across the country, catching up with our teams in the regions, and visiting customers. The noticeable change for me when talking to our customers is a shift in conversation beyond what we usually discuss, namely moving dirt, delivering power and fixing machines and engines. The change in topics reflects a heightened awareness of decarbonisation, greenhouse gas reduction and other environmental, social and governance (ESG) topics. Of course, the normal items around supply chain challenges, price movements and tight labour markets always come up but there is an appreciation that many of these challenges are global in nature and impact our whole industry. Our Chief Operating Officer Chris Heaton recently attended a training program at Harvard. When he finished that course, I travelled across to the United States to meet up with him, visit various Caterpillar facilities and hold discussions with Caterpillar executives. While we were there, we visited Caterpillar’s main global parts distribution centre at Morton, Illinois and reviewed the latest robotic technology Cat has deployed to improve efficiency around parts picking and shipping. We also visited the Tech Centre in Peoria, Illinois, and saw some of the latest work happening in the battery and electrification space as well as alternative power sources such as hydrogen fuel cells etc. There is a tremendous effort going on inside Caterpillar to develop these sorts of technologies for future products and to complement the range of greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction initiatives already available such as more fuel-efficient engines, hybrid power trains, solar / battery micro- grid solutions and autonomous and semi-autonomous offerings. The road map to GHG reduction is much clearer to me after these visits. In June, Caterpillar announced it is creating a new Electrification & Advanced Power Systems Division to deliver advanced electrified powertrain, zero-emission products and technologies, plus the solutions and services associated with these products. The new division will give increased velocity and decision-making around these technologies. Earlier this year, our parent company, Sime Darby Berhad released our new sustainability targets after an exercise to update our strategic sustainability vision, targets, and themes. The targets include a 30% reduction in carbon emissions by 2030 (Scope one & two only) compared with 2020, minimum investments in ESG innovation by 2025, and a commitment to more than 50% of products in our 2025 overall product portfolio mix being more energy efficient than in
Winning grins: back (left to right): Candice Fourie, Pete Shaw, Kurt Ansell, Kane Thomson, middle (left to right): Tony Simpson, Jonathan Miller, Scott White, front: Jayden Peek.
Terra celebrates its top teams and technicians
T he dedication of two new managers saw Christchurch crowned as Terra’s branch of the year at the dealer’s annual awards dinner. After winning the Safety and Customer Experience
These categories match Terra’s business strategy, so the achievements being celebrated are critical to the business’s overall success. Nelson’s Jayden Peek won Terra’s first Customer Support Account Manager (CSAM) of the Year award. He was a genuine all-rounder, finishing in the top two across all four metrics used to calculate the winner. This year’s top technician competition was a nail-biter, with a tiebreaker needed on the final afternoon. After multiple rounds of competition, the result came down to just one point, with New
Awards, Service Manager Tony Simpson and Parts Manager Jonathan ‘Jonty,’ Miller were thrilled to receive the prestigious and highly coveted Enterprise Excellence Branch of the Year Award. “We had big shoes to fill and a big legacy, so I’m really, really proud to win this,” said Tony Simpson.
They thanked senior leaders and the health and safety team for showing so much support for two relatively new managers. Christchurch branch consistently achieved high safety standards set by its leadership team, with an increased number of proactive safety activities impacting positively on its injury rate. Other award categories included employee experience, asset excellence and results.
Plymouth’s Kane Thomson pulling ahead of Palmerston North’s Bradley Turner. “Thank you to all the competitors; you guys are amazing, and to be honest, I thought you were all better than me,” said Kane.
2020. Our Sustainability Blueprint is available in our Annual Report on Sime Darby Berhad’s website.
The initiatives released by Caterpillar and our own updated Sustainability Blueprint will help prepare us and guide us into the future as we all head towards a lower carbon world.
Kane Thomson
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