Next 45 minutes, doing a Q&A. But before I start, I think Ryan has very important things to talk about. Ryan?
Thanks, Tami. Really appreciate it, and thanks for hosting us today. So during today's meeting, we'll be making some forward-looking statements, which are subject to risks and uncertainties. We'll also make assumptions that could cause our actual results to be different from the information we're sharing with you today. Please refer to our recent SEC filings and the forward-looking statements reminder in our releases for details on factors that individually or in aggregate, could cause our actual results to vary materially from our forecasts. A detailed discussion of the many factors we believe may have a material effect on our business on an ongoing basis is contained in our SEC filings. In today's meeting, we'll also refer to non-GAAP numbers. For a reconciliation of any non-GAAP numbers to the appropriate U.S. GAAP numbers, please see the appendix of our earnings call slides.
Additionally, please note that Caterpillar policy does not allow for these meetings to be recorded with smartphones or other devices, unless specific approvals have been sought and granted prior to the beginning of this meeting. And lastly, we'll be posting a transcript that will be available on our website as soon as we can. And with that, I'll turn it back to Tami.
Perfect. So Joe and Denise, let's start with margins. So Caterpillar has seen a very impressive margin over the last 10 years, and we've heard management talk a lot about Operating Profit After Capital Charge as a metric used across the business. So can you help us with how to think about this metric and overall the margin profile as you enter into a more normalized business environment post the COVID-led supply crunch and demand surge?
Yeah, I guess I'll start, and Denise, you can, you can talk about Resource Industries as well. You know, this really goes back to what we call the Operating & Execution Model, and that's how we effectively run the company, and it's a discipline that we put in when we launched our strategy in 2017. You know, Denise was in the executive office, and I ran our strategy group back at that time. So when Jim became CEO, we were part of that team that you know created that strategy. But I think if we take a step back to say, "Well, what's different about CAT now over the last 10 years or so?" Maybe even go before that.
You know, from 2012 - 2016, we sort of had probably the only time in my career where all of our industries sort of hit a bit of a downturn, and we went on a pretty heavy restructuring effort to take out some structural costs. Both in our manufacturing footprint, we had a lot of new factories, so we kinda decommissioned our older ones and maintained most of our capacity. And also really focused on, you know, streamlining our back office and taking our structural costs down. With the O&E model, you know, one of the things is to have a flexible, competitive and flexible cost structure. So we really implemented the discipline to not let those costs come back in 2017, when our industry started to turn around.
So I think that's, you know, I would say is number one reason, which has really helped maintain our margin profile and our OPACC generation and cash generation. The O&E model also then looks at each one of our businesses, and across every division that we have, you know, we really take a granular level of look at each business, and if there's an underperforming product line or business, you know, we really challenge the leaders to turn those businesses around, and we've been able to do that, and in most cases, that's what happens. In some cases, you know, the O&E model for us is also about resource allocation. It's putting our effort, both time and talent, as well as, you know, investment dollars in the areas where we feel like we have the best opportunity to grow OPACC in the future.
And in some cases, we've actually decided to exit certain products or certain businesses. And that's happened in E&T when I was running E&T. CI's had a few as well, and Denise can take you through the RI journey. But you know, I think if you couple all that over the last 10 years, you know, the restructuring, the discipline after that to not you know, bring those costs back in, and then really the O&E model and the discipline of how we allocate resources and look at our businesses, has really you know, been demonstrated in the performance that we've seen you know, in the last couple of years especially.
You know, I'll let Denise talk about RI, because they've, if you look at what Denise has done in her business, the last eight years or so, it's really impressive, so...
Thank you, Joe. For Resource Industries, you know, 2012 was the peak of the super cycle, so there was a lot of mining companies that were buying a lot of equipment. You know, after that super cycle, certainly things fell pretty quickly. We had to quickly assess not only our cost structure, but our product portfolio, and where, where we thought the market was going for the future, and look at our competitive position in all of the product lines that we had both acquired and had traditionally held within the Caterpillar portfolio. We made some really difficult decisions to restructure our business. We closed and consolidated about 35 facilities. We took $1 billion of cost structure out of the segment.
And at the same time, we pivoted to ensure that we were still investing in the technologies that we needed, and we knew we were gonna need for the future. So, it was a massive transformation, and I'm really pleased to see, you know, you know, our operating profit at much lower levels of revenue be at all-time highs. And so, you know, as we move forward, we're very cognizant of the fact that we need to continue to invest in the technologies and the infrastructure that's going to be required for the future for mining companies. But at the same time, do so in a very prudent way to ensure that we're cost competitive, and that we can maintain our profitability over time and through the cycles. RI happens to be an industry that's very cyclical.
And so as a result of that, we need to make sure at the bottom of the cycle that we're still very profitable, and certainly we can grow with the segment as well at the top of the cycle.
Perfect. So, let's talk about growth opportunities. Investors are very excited with Caterpillar's growth opportunities ahead. So Denise, probably I'll start with you. For mining, of course, how is Caterpillar's Resource Industries segment positioning itself to capitalize on the rising demand of some of the critical minerals, like aluminum or copper, cobalt, lithium, driven by AI and the increasing demand for power generation?
Yeah, there's no doubt that as we look into the future, commodities are going to be needed at increasing levels, whether it be for everything from the energy transition, but you know, recognizing that especially copper, but all of the minerals that you mentioned, and in addition to some of the traditional commodities that we've been a part of, helping miners mine, we're really going to need more equipment and support for those. And if you look at strip ratios are declining, ore grades are declining. So to get the same amount of commodity out of the ground, you need to move a lot more ore.
And as a result of that, we recognize that, you know, miners want to be much more efficient now than ever before, and they're very cost conscious because the demand is requiring them to also invest for the future. And it's not just investing in equipment, it's investing in the infrastructure and also some of the fixed plant assets. So we are very focused on ensuring that we have the total lowest cost of ownership, that we have a very competitive product that's high utilization, very high performing, that runs 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and linking that in with services that we can provide to customers. So we've been very mindful of the fact that it's not about just selling a piece of equipment, it's about making sure that it's being maintained at the highest levels possible.
We're doing a lot in the data space around, you know, asset health, as well as ensuring that the assets run. Then, of course, autonomy is a key enabler for the future, as well, as many miners are really struggling with manpower and then also infrastructure in very remote places. We're super excited that we're an industry leader in autonomy and continuing to leverage that, not only for the largest mines in the world, but scaling that down to the smaller mines and even the quarry and aggregate space. You know, that's a big investment that we've made for the future, that we're mindful of the fact we'll have an increased pull over time.
Perfect. So we'll go to autonomy in a bit. But Joe, beyond the RI segment, what other growth opportunities would you highlight yet?
Yeah, I think that's where, you know, the diversity of our business and portfolio really shines. You know, the fact that we've been able to have sort of record results and operate at the level we have, and still have opportunities in all three segments ahead of us. You know, for every part of the business, you can point that's going well, and we have a number of places that are going well. We still have other areas of business with tremendous opportunity. You know, the first one I would highlight is services growth, and that really transcends all segments for us. It's kind of the key pivotal, you know, center of our strategy is to focus on services, and we've been able to do that, and that's great for us for a number of reasons.
One, it's good for our customers, it's good for our dealers, and for us, you know, services is generally much less cyclical, so it helps dampen the cyclicality of some of our new equipment businesses as we move forward. When then you look at, you know, Denise touched on RI and the opportunities, and you go to the rest of the business, you know, even in Construction Industries, if you start there, North America's been strong. Brazil's been strong. We've had, you know, good business in the Middle East, and we think infrastructure spending in North America still has, you know, a couple of years to go here, but parts of the world have not been that strong. Europe has been a little bit weak. China has been, you know, really a small part of our portfolio the last couple of years.
So there are regions of the world where, you know, we could still see some upside in construction. And then in E&T, you know, which recently has been our largest revenue segment, really has some growth opportunities, particularly around our turbine business. We're moving a lot of gas. Our backlog is up there. And then around data centers, and our distributed power, you know, we've announced a capacity program for our large engine business to support the oil and gas and data center customers. You know, that business, it's a secular trend that we're a huge part of, in the power group. And then I would say also distributed power.
You know, the electric grids around the world, even in particular in North America, as more renewables come online, and we retire some of the traditional power generation, and then more things get plugged into the grid, you know, there's going to be opportunities for our distributed power group to really help, you know, fill the gap and stabilize the grid. And, like, our industrial business has been, you know, off of its peak, so there's room in E&T to continue to grow, and it's very promising for us. So if you just think about the diversity of our portfolio, to be operating where we're at and still have those type of opportunities in front of us, and we're making the investments that we think we need to, to capitalize on those. So it's really exciting right now.
That's great to hear. So I wanted to dig deeper on top of my topic, which is data centers and demand for commodities. Does growth in data center demand present opportunities for the RI segment? Denise, the question maybe for you. Can demand for copper expand your total addressable market?
Oh, absolutely. I mean, copper is really, I think, the forefront of the growth opportunity for resource industries. And if you look at how much copper is needed for, you know, data centers and moving forward, especially as you go into AI, four times as much copper is leveraged in a data center that's processing with AI than a traditional data center. So, you know, we recognize that in addition to all of the electrification that's taking place, not only in the auto industry, but even in the mining industry itself, where greenhouse gas reduction is something that's being driven as an initiative by many governments as well as, you know, a lot of goals around the world, and investors are creating pressure there as well.
So, you know, the recognition that more commodities need to be mined, specifically copper, but also lithium and aluminum and many others and that, as a result of that, that creates a huge market opportunity for us, and not only in RI, but, you know, as we look at the CI you know, I think the thing that's unique about Caterpillar is that we're very vertically integrated, and that we have multiple segments that can serve the same customers. So in Energy & Transportation, we leverage a lot of standby power gensets, microgrids already for mining companies. But when you look at the power of electrification in the future, and what that will do for mine sites, it really unlocks the opportunity for the Energy & Transportation segment and RI, in addition to the mining equipment and services segment, to really combine our ecosystem.
You'll see that out on the floor today as you do your walk around on the real power of growth potential for us as a company, as an enterprise.
Perfect. So let's talk about technology and innovation. I think technology seems to be an underappreciated asset for CAT, or advantage for CAT. Denise, we've seen CAT as a leading innovator in autonomous and electric solutions for mining and quarry customers. Talk to us about CAT's latest and greatest innovations in that space. What's the payback period? What's the customer uptake? Any insights you can share?
Yeah, it's interesting, because if you look at the product portfolio for, you know, for Caterpillar, many of the companies that were most interested in moving towards fully non-greenhouse gas emitting equipment were in the mining sector. The largest of our trucks, some that are demonstrated here today, are the ones that mining companies were pulling for us to completely take electric. And there's still a keen interest in that. I think as mining companies have recognized that the problem to solve is not getting new equipment into the site, it's getting the entire site operating in a new ecosystem. So bringing renewables to the site is a big challenge. And then standing up that site with renewable energy, and then being able to distribute the power.
The power requirements for a mine site that's fully electrified are much higher than what they are today, and so, you know, as we've gone along on the journey, we've signed up a number of mining companies that want to be a part of our development process, so we have what we call our early learner program, where a number of major miners, we have seven companies that we're partnering with, and we're placing some of the, what we would call, pre-pilot units, very early development product into the mine sites, and we're already actually installing those today at Cripple Creek and Victor for Newmont. They're getting one of the first units. We have a number of units going to BHP in Australia, and they're standing those up, and we're doing development together.
So I think we're gonna learn together and grow together. But, you know, it really allows us to to create that whole ecosystem. The one thing I wanted to mention, though, that I think is a real game changer for us is not everyone's ready to go full battery electric in their mine sites today. And so when you think about new innovation and what we can do, we've really developed a new strategy where we can take a diesel- electric truck and couple that with a lot of the infrastructure that will be required for the future to take current emissions down by up to 60%. So that's called Dynamic Energy Transfer, and it's demonstrated out here today.
We think that'll be a real game changer for the industry as you look at, you know, how that technology will be deployed, and allow mining companies to step in towards electrification, but not fully go to zero emissions. And we see a big pull in interest from mining companies around that theme, so we're excited. I think it creates a big growth opportunity for us in the future, and I think we're well positioned.
I think investors are excited, too. Going back to you, Joe, given your recent experience as group president of the Energy & Transportation segment, can you explain how the E&T segment differentiates CAT, Caterpillar, and promotes an integrated approach to the mine site of the future?
Yeah, I think Denise said it well, right? That vertical integration and the fact that we've been, you know, in the power, distributed power business almost as long as we've been in the machine business is critical, as you look at sites of the future, and I think one of the amazing things the team's done, both E&T and then, you know, Denise and her team, and she mentioned, is we've developed the technologies to meet our customers where they're at on their sustainability goals, right, so it's not always just get to the fully electrified mine site. I don't know that any of us know the pace at which that's gonna go.
It's gonna vary by customer and region of the world, but we have developed tools like Dynamic Energy Transfer that allow customers to stairstep their way into this. You know, DET with diesel-electric drive not only does it help more sustainably help our customers, but it also speeds up their production. There are other benefits in here as well, and can extend the life of some of their, you know, their trucks and engines. So, you know, having a distributed power group, you know, as Denise mentioned, getting equipment to the mine site is one thing.
Now, customers, and I would say quarries, and this will be this way as CI and construction moves through this journey as well in the energy transition, you know, getting site power, getting the right power, distributing to the right place, knowing when to charge equipment, if it's battery, electric, or when to... You know, how you get the site set up is gonna be critical, and having that experience inside one company where we can bring a whole solution to help our customers solve problems, versus just being a transactional equipment supplier, I think is a huge advantage to us. And then we have the dealer network on the ground with us as well. You know, so our team there, side by side with our dealers, you know, I think it provides a huge competitive advantage for us.
I think that's a perfect transition to my next question, which is on competition. If I'm a customer, why should I choose Caterpillar? What differentiates you from the others?
You go ahead with mining first.
Yeah, I would start from the perspective of resource industries and mining. You know, we provide an end-to-end solution that no one else can provide, and starting with the deep integration of our components. You know, many of our competitors buy their engines from another provider. They buy a lot of their electric drivetrain from others, and then they integrate it. You know, we develop all of that technology ourselves and knit it together with the controls and software to make it perform at a higher level, because we have the deep integration and domain expertise to be able to do that. I think likewise, the support on the ground with our dealers is second to none. They understand the local compliance issues. They understand the local people.
They have relationships built, and so that whole ability to be able to recruit individuals and then be able to serve and support customers is critical. And in remote places throughout the world, that's sometimes difficult. I mean, one of the biggest challenges, you know, a lot of our customers talk to us about is the fact that they need support on the ground 24/7. And so to be able to provide that, both technically from a Caterpillar perspective, but on the ground with the dealer, is really important. So I think that really sets us apart. And then, you know, certainly our ability to provide that service support also is really important.
Yeah, I think that's well said. And, you know, having the breadth and diversity, I keep coming back to this, but of our three segments, you know, we can leverage technology, as Denise mentioned. You know, inverter technology that's in our mining equipment is super durable and helps in power generation and oil and gas. We use the mining transmission to be the best transmission in oil and gas. So, you know, leveraging that scale and technology that we develop and really bringing, you know, the full investment and innovation of the entire Caterpillar, no matter where the technology sits, to our customers in each of the industries we serve, along with the dealer network, I think really just, you know, continues to set us apart.
And, you know, we talked about this earlier, the way the discipline of running the company with an OPACC focus and an O&E model, all the cash generation, the good results, of really allowing us to invest in all these technologies that we can bring to bear for our customers. And if you, when you do the the show floor, if anyone's here, I encourage you to get out there and see Dynamic Energy Transfer and all the, you know, CAT Command, autonomy, all the great technology that we're able to bring to our customers, I think is a huge advantage for us.
Autonomy, let's talk about that. Denise, what drives customers to adopt autonomy in general, and how about specifically with CAT solutions? What are the drivers of adoption?
So I would say it's two things that drive the adoption. One is, productivity, and as we've, you know, have implemented autonomy, initially it was a focus around safety. But productivity is really second to none for, you know, the bottom line of a miner who implements autonomy. But safety is another really important thing. I mean, there haven't been any safety incidents with an autonomous site since we've implemented. That's because we have layers of safety built into our autonomy solution, which really has provided the ability to make that happen. As mine sites have converted to it, initially it was retrofitting existing equipment, and we saw that trend take place in the beginning.
In the early days of autonomy, there were a lot of new mining trucks out there in the field right after the super cycle. So as the pull came, initially it was retrofit, and now we're seeing much more of an adoption of new product, moving into, wanting to desire autonomy. It's more than trucks, though. I mean, we have autonomous drills, we have autonomous dozers, we have autonomous underground solutions, and so we're recognizing the need to be more holistic with it. And that, you know, we have a big pull on those products, in addition to even semi-remote, autonomous solutions. So the, you know, we talk a lot about fully autonomous trucks, but really it is an ecosystem of solutions which, customers are wanting. And really what's driving it is safety and productivity.
Joe, would you wanna add something about some of the semi-autonomous solutions outside of the RI segment?
Yeah, I mean, it's RI as well, and CI, and you'll get to see some of that out on the show floor. You know, we have fully autonomous, but we have, you know, CAT Command. We can do line of sight, remote control. You can be halfway around the world controlling machine, controlling more than one machine at one time. I mean, we're making all these investments. And then there's technology on the machines as well, like grade control and all kinds of assist features. If you think about, you know, one of the things you'll hear as a common theme in the show this week, and you'll hear it through all of our segments, is, you know, yes, we wanna have the best equipment in the world, but we also wanna help our customers with solutions that solve their toughest challenges.
You think about the challenge to get operators, either operators who don't wanna go to remote sites or maybe landfills, or operators that aren't as skilled, and making them skilled, and one of the things I've been able to do over the last year in this role is spending time with our teams, is get in the cab of some of our machines, and suffice to say, I'm not a super skilled operator, you know, and so the teams will have me operate sort of manually, and then they'll turn all the technology on, and the difference in how fast I can pick things up and, you know, complete activities like grades and keeping on grade with all the technology, really, really is impressive.
And when you think about how that gets put to work for our customers as they're trying to attract people and drive efficiency, drive safety, you know, it's more than just having, you know, the best machines. It's putting this technology on there as well to make them much more efficient and help them solve their biggest challenges.
Perfect, so let's talk about connected assets. We've heard management talk about 1.5 million of connected assets and access to massive amounts of data. So Denise, the question to you, the data that you have right now, does it give you any insights on the optimal age or utilization of mining trucks and equipment versus where the fleet is today? And is a great replacement on the come based on the data?
Yes. You know, for RI, we have over 100,000 of those million assets connected today, and I would say absolutely. A lot of the data that we're pulling off is leveraged for productivity and health reasons, and so as you start to look at aging fleets, you know, we're continuing to monitor those to make sure there's no major component that needs to be replaced. We are continuing to see mining companies and even heavy construction companies stretch the life of their machines even longer and rebuild multiple times, so you know, we have rebuild cycles that come up for major components, and we're seeing the length of time double from the past, so that's a good thing for us, as I think we're uniquely positioned to help customers extend the life of their units.
At the same time, there's a certain point when assets do need to be replaced, and if you think about new technology, that comes onto machines and just the electrical infrastructure and the amount of data that you're looking to pull off, if you have an asset that's 15 years old, you know, that's a pretty massive electrical architecture upgrade that needs to be made, and at some point it makes sense to move to a new unit. So, you know, we are, you know, rebuilding, as we speak, and we're also building more large mining trucks than we ever have before.
So we're, you know, we're really able to do both, and we do see replacement cycles starting to come on, and over time, having to increase, though, as a result of some of the trends that we're seeing from a data perspective.
Got it. Just to build on that, what would customers need to see to begin meaningful product replacement from here on?
Yeah, I think it very much depends upon the mine site, the length of the mine, and how long it will be in existence, what the regulation is in their area, and how they're thinking of the energy transition and what they wanna do from that perspective. So I think it's not one single thing that's really going to be a springboard for replacement. I think it's really about how much, you know, over time, as assets age, availability tends to plateau, and so as you're really looking for the most efficient, productive units in the fleets, generally that's when you replenish.
And as they get older and you really are looking to have much more connectivity and data, and with autonomy and some of the other trends with electrification, that's gonna be the tipping point, I think, for when you're gonna see more mining companies move over to replacement. But a lot of it will depend on their investment profile and how much they're investing in other things, as they, you know, are very prudent and careful with the investments they're making at each mine site.
Got it. That's super helpful. So let's talk about services. How does a customer's capital discipline benefit the services business of Caterpillar?
It's a huge benefit from an RI perspective as we look at, you know, the ability to be able to capture, the rebuild cycles, as they come up. So that's everything from drivetrain replacements to hydraulic pump refurbs. A lot of time, the engine we'll put in a Reman engine at a life cycle where that engine needs to be refurbed. So, you know, the services amount is substantial as you start to look at the life cycle over 10 to 20 years, for the life cycle of a piece of equipment in RI. In addition to that, though, you know, I think what we're finding is customers are looking for more skin in the game by Caterpillar, so, you know, really extending component life, right?
It's not just after 12,000 hours. I'm replacing a component. Can it last longer? So leveraging the data, the connectivity, the condition monitoring, and can we extend it? Instead of going to 12,000 hours, I'm extending that to 15,000 or 20,000. You know, while that doesn't sell another piece of component, it does make that, you know, mining company more efficient, and we're willing and recognize that we need to play a part in helping, you know, the cost structure of the services for the customer be affordable and competitive. And so those are the kinds of things we're doing, but we see the services area as a key component of the value prop that we provide that others don't within the industry.
That's what keeps people coming back-
Exactly
To Caterpillar. You asked that question earlier.
Exactly.
I would bring that back also to, you know, another point on the 1.5 million connected assets and all the data. Denise said it well, but that data, we can turn that into opportunities to help our customers in this space, right? All of the condition monitoring, that data also helps our engineers. To Denise's point, you know, when we design a piece of equipment, we have a certain life that we expect in the field, but how is it really performing in the field, and how can we continue to extend those lives? So the data helps the engineering team. We have amazing apps like VisionLink and CAT Central to help our customers, you know, use that data and then help them, you know, notify them ahead of time for what we call prioritized service events.
Hey, we think, you know, within the next so many hours or your next service interval or a certain amount of time, based on all the data and how we see your machine performing, that this service event, you know, and get you in contact with our dealer. You know, we have a great e-commerce solution for customers to try to be easy to buy parts online and do business with. So, you know, this whole services mindset is really helping our customers be more efficient, and the longer we can extend the life of a piece of CAT equipment, it's good services for us, it's great for our customers and our dealers, and that's what's gonna keep them coming back to us in the future.
Perfect. So another key topic amongst investors is Caterpillar's free cash flow generation, which has seen remarkable improvement over the last 10 years. And so I think it was about $10 billion last year.
Mm-hmm.
And so, remind us how you have accomplished this growth, and how to think about that from here on.
Yeah, I think, you know, how we started this discussion today, with really the journey we've been on, the strategy we have in place around the Operating & Execution Model, and how each of the businesses is really focused on driving efficiency, but still making the investments. You're right, last year we were around $10 billion, a little over, I think. We've generated, I believe, around $45 billion since 2017, and it's been $5 billion-$10 billion every year, with the exception of COVID year of 2020, and we were still at $3 billion. You know, that's something that we're very proud of in our business, and I think maybe is a little bit underappreciated because people look at, you know, the top line and how sometimes it can move around. You know, our cash generation has been really solid, and that sets us apart.
You know, that discipline in the O&E model that we have, because it allows us to continue to make the investments in all these things we've talked about today. What you'll see on the show floor, the e-commerce, the digital solutions, in addition to the newest products that we need to bring to market for our customers. So, you know, it's a real advantage for us and I'm proud of the team and what we've been able to do the last, you know, seven years or so, and we plan to continue to do, you know, into the future.
Great. So I wanted to ask you about capacity. So this is a question for you, Joe. Are you well positioned to support the growth ambitions across all the segments of Caterpillar over the coming decade? Or do you need to invest in additional capacity?
Yeah, that depends on which business, and we have a pretty rigorous S&OP process for sort of the short-term operating, and then also looking out to what we think our opportunities are. You know, when you look at the growth we have in certain areas, we will make investments where we need to, and we've announced some in the large engine business, and that's a tremendous opportunity for us with a secular change with, you know, the data centers, and the demand that we see and the backlog that we have, you know, putting that in. And each business sort of goes through, that's one example of the process.
For the most part, we're in pretty good shape right now, but we always keep an eye on it, and that's a great challenge to have in front of us, is having to add capacity because we have good business.
Perfect. So another trending topic within the investment community is the topic of pricing. And so, Joe, this is a question for you. We hear CAT talk about pricing every quarter, and how does mix and product feature improvement play into the pricing decision of products? And can this be a driver of price growth in the coming years?
Yeah, we've been certainly, you know, the inflationary period we've been in is a little bit different than normal. There are a lot of things that go into, you know, decisions to make pricing, and every industry sort of has to take an assessment, and we allow them to do that of their particular dynamics of what's going on in their markets. But, you know, being a premium player and having all the technology that we have, clearly allows us to continue to be the premium player in the market. You know, input costs, but you mentioned mix as well. There are certain regions of the world that generally have a better pricing profile. So as that moves around, you know, we could see a little bit of mix impact.
But, you know, we feel like we're in a good position right now, and we look at that constantly, and even more dynamically than we ever have, and you know, continue to try to make sure we're in the right place at each business, depending on the competitive situation that we're in.
Perfect. So I wanted to pivot to infrastructure spending. Can either of you talk about the pace of spending you're seeing from mega projects, driven by stimulus, as part of the IIJA, IRA, or CHIPS Acts?
I'll start and say, certainly from a heavy construction perspective, we are seeing those investments being made. I think some of the starts for those, though, have started slower than maybe we anticipated, and will extend out still yet a couple of years. So while we expected a big dramatic increase, it has come a little slower than we initially expected. But we are seeing a steady lot of projects out there. There's a lot of infrastructure being put in, and we see that investment continuing for the future, and certainly that benefits both the heavy construction side of RI, but also all of CI as well, with a lot of the investments that's taking place in the United States.
Yeah, I agree. I mean, that's what we're hearing. You know, there's been a lot of stimulus put out there, particularly in the U.S., and I think, you know, we continue to see, you know, generally healthy demand. You know, we'll see what happens with the rate cut and as we move forward, but there's still a decent amount of projects and infrastructure work that needs to happen here in North America. So, you know, I anticipate that business will be there for us, and we'll continue to work with our customers at the pace that they need us to work with.
Any thoughts on M&A? Any areas where Caterpillar could do acquisitions to round out the portfolio, either in RI or overall within the CAT portfolio?
Yeah, Denise can talk about RI. We're always looking at opportunities out there, particularly around the technology space, if you look at the types of transactions that we've done, you know, over the last 5-7 years, mostly have been small bolt-on type of technologies, and that's where, you know, we can really get the best bang for our investment. If you think about the scale that we have of all the industries, if you have a piece of technology that we can bring in that helps us across our product lines, or helps us with our dealers, or helps us make our customers more efficient, you know, those are the types of things that generally seem to have the best fit for us. We don't have anything to announce today, but we're always, you know, looking at what we need.
It's just sort of part of the overall investment thesis, right? It's not, do we have an intentional focus on M&A? It's really, what do we need to help our customers, and what's missing in our portfolio, or what's the next level of technology? And then what can we develop ourselves? And then keep an eye on what's out there that maybe we can tuck in to help accelerate.
From an RI perspective, it is a lot around technology, and recognizing that speed to market is also key. And sometimes you can acquire, you know, something that you could develop internally, but it would take you a much longer timeframe to be able to do. So, most of what we're looking at in RI is in adjacent spaces around our mining technology. We're talking a lot today to customers around precision mining, and that's leveraging data much broader within the ecosystem of mining to allow more efficiency in the whole mining end-to-end product cycle, if you think about it from a value chain perspective. And so things like that are things that we're exploring, and we think really excited, because it also expands our total addressable market beyond where we are today.
Yeah, that's, that's really the area we're exploring the most heavily.
Amazing. So we are near the end of our discussion. So one question for you, Denise. As the RI segment president, it's been quite a journey for you.
It has.
Can you talk about how the segment has really transformed over the past decade, and how you're prepared to support your customers today and going forward?
Yeah, absolutely. So, you know, I spoke previously about the financial transformation or the operational transformation that we made, and really focusing in on what part of our portfolio we're best positioned to win, and win in a very competitive way. I think in addition to that, we have doubled down on a lot of the investment that we know our customers are gonna need for the future, and those are not pinpoint solutions that are based on iron. They are site solutions that can transform and really help our customers be more productive and safer. And certainly help us then also partner with them in a much closer way. So, you know, I'm really proud of what the team has accomplished, and I think we're well-positioned moving forward to be the choice of our customers, you know, as we move forward, so.
Great. Joe, anything you would leave us with?
Yeah, maybe just to wrap up, and we talked about a lot of this today. First, you know, I'm super proud of and honored to be a part of this team. We have an amazing team of people, amazing leadership team, amazing team of 110,000 employees around the globe that support our customers. And, over 150 dealers that partner with us every day to try to make our customers more successful. You know, we started this discussion; we're running as a different company than we were 10 years ago. T he discipline and the strategy that we have is working, and that's translated in our earnings, particularly in our cash flow generation that we talked about. And then most importantly, you know, to leave everyone with the diversity of our business is a strength.
We talked about today how there are a lot of areas of our businesses that, that's performing really well right now, and for almost every area you can name, there are areas that have tremendous growth opportunity or areas that maybe aren't performing at their peak and have a lot of room to grow. So, we've been able to perform. I'm proud of the performance we've been able to demonstrate the last few years, but I also am excited about the opportunities ahead of us. So we really appreciate you joining us today, and hopefully you enjoy the show floor here, the teams. We've got an amazing show put together for everybody.
Perfect. That marks the end of today's session. Thank you so much for joining. Thank you, Joe and Denise-
Thank you.
Thank you.
For spending time with us, and I'll pass it on to Ryan for closing remarks. Okay. Thanks, everyone.