It seems a good fit: Caterpillar Inc. wants to renew focus on their customers and Mike Rowe wants to help renew interest in the types of jobs to customers.
Next to the giant construction machine and TV star can renew hope focus on the importance of trades and jobs to help close the skills gap that exists today and seems to be growing, Rowe said on a visit to Caterpillar on Wednesday.
The host of the popular Discovery Channel program “Dirty Jobs” met with the media, toured SS Building in East Peoria, where excavators are built, and met with officials from Caterpillar, including CEO Doug Oberhelman.
Rowe said one thing that always struck while working on the program is that “we have lost sight of the fact that people are willing to do the dirty things hold together for the rest of us.”
Rowe and Caterpillar formed a partnership to promote in August of men and women working in shops. Rowe said he contacted Caterpillar because I wanted to work with companies that are related and philosophically in line with its website, mikeroweWorks.com.
That site can now be accessed through the web site of Caterpillar, cat.com.
Dirty Jobs has been on the air more than three years, Rowe said he frequently hears from people that the U.S. is focused primarily on older, technical education today than in thr routes. Therefore, workers in the trades are starting to reach retirement age, with few coming up behind them.
That’s why he created his website two years ago and start adapting to companies like Caterpillar and Ford Motor Co., for whom is the spokesperson on national television.
Rowe believes that is beginning to take hold. He cited a recent connection between Caterpillar and provided a new initiative in Alabama, where the shortage of qualified workers is “looking forward”, called Go Build Alabama.
Rowe said that television does a poor job of portraying the working people, which usually trades jobs are seen as drudgery. In fact, he added, “We have a lot of fun and laugh a lot out there.”
He hopes that his show portrays. “There are some shows on TV that actually involve real people,” he said.
“There is a general desire among people to show what they do. They want their stories, but we are proud of what they do. There are too many forums that allow that,” he said.
He said he wanted to be a dealer while growing up because the family members work in stores. He was not skilled enough, he added. “The closest I could get was a show that celebrates,” he said.
Rowe said he was excited about partnering with Caterpillar, because “there is a very short list of companies that build the world and the cat is on it. I mean, where the hell would we be if not for Caterpillar?
Construction workers inside the SS were excited to learn Rowe as he walked along the assembly line, shaking hands and signing autographs.
