Nearly 500 employees of the Shandong SEM Machinery Co. Ltd. (SEM) joined a group of faculties and students from the Weifang Educational College (WEC) to celebrate the opening of a new SEM training center on July 8.
 
The joyous occasion attracted a group of distinguished guests, including Jiming Zhu, Vice President of Caterpillar China Division, Paul Blackburn, General Manager of SEM Machinery Business, Guanghua Chen, Deputy Director of the Shandong Provincial Education Department, and local officials from Weifang and Qingzhou cities.

Jiming congratulated the SEM team and acknowledged their hard work and dedication. He also thanked local government officials for their continued support.

"Since SEM joined the Caterpillar´s family, we have been always committed to developing our people with training and other learning opportunities," Jiming told the audiences. The new training center "will provide SEM and Caterpillar employees, dealers, suppliers, as well as WEC students and faculties, with new facilities and resources to develop a local talent pipeline that will benefit both SEM and the local community," he noted.

Located on the WEC campus, the 5,053 square-meter building was part of a joint educational program between SEM and WEC. The training curriculum will leverage the existing educational resources from both sides, including the Caterpillar University, and the WEC faculty members. The center also houses a Simulated Work Environment (SWE) for CPS (Caterpillar Production System) training, and training facilities for assembly, welding and other manufacturing processes.

Paul said the Training Center demonstrated again Caterpillar´s long-term commitment to China, especially the Qingzhou community. "This is a perfect example of a win-win partnership," he said, adding "a well-trained, talented workforce would not only drive local economic development; it would also help position SEM for accelerated growth as Cat´s regional brand with an expanding product lineup."

The training center project dated back to August 2008 when Caterpillar Chairman and CEO Jim Owens visited Qingzhou and signed a Letter of Intend (LOI) with WEC. It took the SEM team to complete the building in just one year after a ground-breaking ceremony in June 2009.