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Fastenal began as an industrial retailer, expanding its product portfolio from nuts and bolts to cutting tools, safety equipment, and janitorial supplies. It transitioned into a distributor by building out a dense network of branches close to its business customers. Once a customer becomes large enough, Fastenal installs vending machines and its own personnel on-site. Today, these on-site locations exceed Fastenal's branch count and remain the firm's main focus for expansion. Fastenal acts as a one-stop outsourcing partner for its industrial customers, offering value-added services along with a wide breadth of maintenance, repair, and operations supplies.

Caterpillar is the world's leading manufacturer of construction and mining equipment, off-highway diesel and natural gas engines, industrial gas turbines, and diesel-electric locomotives. Its reporting segments are construction, resource, energy, and transportation. Market share approaches 20% across many products. Caterpillar operates a captive finance subsidiary to facilitate sales. The firm has a global reach that is approximately evenly balanced between the US and the rest of the world. Construction skews more domestic, while the other divisions are more geographically diversified. An independent network of over 150 dealers operates approximately 2,800 facilities, giving Caterpillar reach into about 190 countries for sales and support services.