Today we hosted 13 visitors to Suzhou from the Emory University MBA school in Atlanta. Their ringleader for this visit, Jean, is a caterpillar colleague who is on a leave of absence from Cat to get her MBA. She is a Northwestern alum like Kathleen and I. Jean and I worked together a couple of years ago on the recruiting recruting team for Caterpillar at Northwestern.
Jean and her classmates are spending their spring break in Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Beijing. Sunday was their free day which they spent having a look at downtown Suzhou and our new factory. We had a delicious Chinese banquet for lunch at the Pine and Crane Restaurant near Shi Quan Jie which the group thoroughly enjoyed. Kathleen and the kids joined the group for lunch. Afterwards we all stopped at the Cazzato house to tour a typical Suzhou expat villa.
Next we went to the Caterpillar factory and had a look at the progress toward finishing the building and completing installation of the manufacturing equipment. We had a tour through the (cold and dark) factory and got a close up look at things like the spray paint area and welding robots. The students were very enthusiastic to see the factory and asked a lot of good questions. One of the students, Carlos, is part of a family that owns a construction business in his home town in Chile, South America. He was so excited to see a Caterpillar factory because his family owns many pieces of Cat equipment
Juliana, Joseph, and Joseph's friend Owen also came along for the tour. I was particularly proud of Juliana because she participated fully in the tour, seemed very interested, and asked several excellent questions about the topics we were discussing. And she was not the least bit shy to speak up and ask a question in front of this group of 13 strangers.
All in all, it was a good opportunity for all of us to share our experience with a group of bright, young business students, and also fun to see our own lifes through the prism of a group of first time visitors to China. I found myself noticing that all of us living here have come a long way in our ability to navigate, communicate, and appreciate our home in China.
Jean and her classmates are spending their spring break in Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Beijing. Sunday was their free day which they spent having a look at downtown Suzhou and our new factory. We had a delicious Chinese banquet for lunch at the Pine and Crane Restaurant near Shi Quan Jie which the group thoroughly enjoyed. Kathleen and the kids joined the group for lunch. Afterwards we all stopped at the Cazzato house to tour a typical Suzhou expat villa.
Next we went to the Caterpillar factory and had a look at the progress toward finishing the building and completing installation of the manufacturing equipment. We had a tour through the (cold and dark) factory and got a close up look at things like the spray paint area and welding robots. The students were very enthusiastic to see the factory and asked a lot of good questions. One of the students, Carlos, is part of a family that owns a construction business in his home town in Chile, South America. He was so excited to see a Caterpillar factory because his family owns many pieces of Cat equipment
Juliana, Joseph, and Joseph's friend Owen also came along for the tour. I was particularly proud of Juliana because she participated fully in the tour, seemed very interested, and asked several excellent questions about the topics we were discussing. And she was not the least bit shy to speak up and ask a question in front of this group of 13 strangers.
All in all, it was a good opportunity for all of us to share our experience with a group of bright, young business students, and also fun to see our own lifes through the prism of a group of first time visitors to China. I found myself noticing that all of us living here have come a long way in our ability to navigate, communicate, and appreciate our home in China.
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