Caterpillar Inc. Donates $500,000 to Associated Equipment Distributor Foundation’s Campaign to Address Technician Shortage
Caterpillar Inc. this week announced a $500,000 donation to the Associated Equipment Distributors Foundation (AEDF) in support of AEDF’s Vision 2025 Campaign. The campaign is designed to address the technician shortage within the equipment distribution industry. It is also focused on strengthening the industry’s future by improving programs offered to students across U.S. high schools and technical schools considered underserved in the technical skills space.
AEDF’s recent skills assessment of the gap in the North American market for technician labor shows an anticipated 73,500 heavy equipment technician positions will be needed over the next five years.
“Caterpillar understands the importance of closing the skills gap in today's labor market and is focused on helping build solutions,” said Asha Varghese, Caterpillar Inc. corporate social responsibility leader. “We believe in supporting AEDF in its Vision 2025 Campaign to make a difference in addressing the critical skills gap and supporting solutions for greater workforce readiness.”
Vision 2025 is designed to bring skills-based programs back to high schools to help enable career success for all learning and career pathways. Through AEDF’s Vision 2025 Campaign, the AED Foundation has positively impacted thousands of students across the U.S and Canada. The initiative is focused on recognizing at least 200 high school programs as AED Foundation Recognized High Schools, as well as accrediting a minimum of 120 college programs by 2027 to help allow for meaningful job placements for their students. By hitting these benchmarks, the Vision 2025 Campaign is expected to create a strong pipeline of talent that could generate an additional:
• 10,000 skilled technicians entering the workforce.
• 5,000 AEDF certified technicians.
• 500 AEDF certified managers.
“The AED Foundation is grateful for Caterpillar’s leadership and investment in our Vision 2025 campaign,” said AED Foundation president emeritus Bob Henderson. “Caterpillar’s support, in conjunction with nearly 75 other investors, brings our Vision 2025 campaign to over $7 million. These investments provide the Foundation the sustainability needed to continue to be the heavy equipment industry’s leader in workforce development.”
Established in 1991 and directed by AED members, The AED Foundation addresses professional education and workforce development in the industry. This includes AEDF accreditation of diesel-equipment technology college programs and AEDF recognition of secondary diesel programs.
About the Author
Michael Roth
Editor
Michael Roth has covered the equipment rental industry full time for RER since 1989 and has served as the magazine’s editor in chief since 1994. He has nearly 30 years experience as a professional journalist. Roth has visited hundreds of rental centers and industry manufacturers, written hundreds of feature stories for RER and thousands of news stories for the magazine and its electronic newsletter RER Reports. Roth has interviewed leading executives for most of the industry’s largest rental companies and manufacturers as well as hundreds of smaller independent companies. He has visited with and reported on rental companies and manufacturers in Europe, Central America and Asia as well as Mexico, Canada and the United States. Roth was co-founder of RER Reports, the industry’s first weekly newsletter, which began as a fax newsletter in 1996, and later became an online newsletter. Roth has spoken at conventions sponsored by the American Rental Association, Associated Equipment Distributors, California Rental Association and other industry events and has spoken before industry groups in several countries. He lives and works in Los Angeles when he’s not traveling to cover industry events.