Client partner: Caterpillar Inc.
Industry: Global heavy equipment and engine manufacturing
What we make: Complex metal pressings, fabrications and welded assemblies
Highlights:
- Global ranking: Top 15% of around 14,000 Caterpillar suppliers worldwide
- Quality and delivery: Beat the 12-month PPM and on-time delivery thresholds
- Lifecycle: Production commitments of up to 15 years
The award
Global OEMs don’t hand out recognition to mid-sized regional manufacturers lightly. Frank Dudley Ltd (FDL), based in Birmingham, has just earned Caterpillar’s Supplier Excellence Recognition (SER) Award, which puts it among the top 15% of roughly 14,000 suppliers worldwide.
The award looks at 12 months of performance: quality measured in parts per million (PPM), on-time delivery and technical execution. FDL came through on all three, while handling complex tooling and some awkward resource parts for Caterpillar’s global engine programmes.
The challenge: complex tooling and inherited parts
Supplying a heavy machinery OEM means getting it right every time, for years. In tier-1 engine manufacturing, a late delivery or an out-of-spec fabrication simply isn’t acceptable.
FDL also took on ‘resource parts’, which are components moved over from previous suppliers along with their legacy tooling. They needed careful engineering work before they could meet the required standard.
Then there’s the timescale. Component runs can last up to 15 years, so the process control has to hold for far longer than most manufacturing contracts ever ask.
The approach: steady execution, practical engineering
To meet Caterpillar’s SER thresholds, Frank Dudley embedded its 4-step Continuous Improvement Framework across all heavy pressing and welding lines:
1. Tooling & Process Refurbishment
Evaluating, restoring, and optimizing existing tooling to maintain peak efficiency and strict tolerances.
2. Precision Manufacturing
Executing complex pressing and welding operations using high-capacity, standardized press lines.
3. Rigorous Quality Control
Implementing active defect tracking and multi-stage verification to enforce stringent PPM standards.
4. Synchronized OEM Logistics
Coordinating JIT delivery schedules to guarantee on-time, in-full component supply.
Key Execution Highlights:
- Tooling and engineering: Legacy customer tooling was refurbished, bringing difficult parts back within tight tolerances.
- Heavy pressing: Structural components run on FDL’s 800T tandem and progression press lines.
- PPM tracking: Continuous verification checks keep defects in line with Caterpillar’s demanding quality targets.
- Relationship management: The number of active part numbers supplied across Caterpillar’s assembly network has grown over the years.
The results
Caterpillar now counts FDL as one of its Superior Performance Suppliers.
| Benchmark | Caterpillar SER target | Frank Dudley result |
| Global supplier ranking | Top-tier standard | Top 15% of around 14,000 suppliers |
| Quality and on-time performance | Demanding OEM limits | 100% conformance over 12 consecutive months |
| Component portfolio | High complexity | Wider range of complex pressings and welded assemblies |
In their words
“It’s fantastic to be able to recognise Frank Dudley as one of Caterpillar’s Superior Performance Suppliers. The team demonstrated the ability to deliver a performance level that meets or exceeds our expectations and the threshold for the SER award.”
Buyer at Caterpillar
“We set pretty challenging targets, particularly around quality and on-time supply… Over the last 12 months, they have consistently hit these targets, which has been fantastic.”
Purchasing Category Manager at Caterpillar
“This award is amazing for a company like ours, particularly of our size. Our work for Caterpillar involves complex pressing and welding operations, and we have even taken on challenging resource parts… The parts can last up to 15 years, so we have continuously got to improve to maintain that business.”
— Grant Dudley-Toole, Managing Director at Frank Dudley Ltd
Need an OEM stamping and welding partner you can rely on?
Inherited tooling, 15-year product cycles, a global supplier league table: Frank Dudley has dealt with all of it.
