THE SNIDER GROUP - Brandeis Focusing on Solutions magazine

Product support is Komatsu priority. . continuedThe advantage of having these partswarehouses located throughout the country isthat it makes it much easier for the distributorto get a part by 7 a.m. the following day — andhaving worked at the distributor level, I knowpersonally how important that is, compared togetting it in at 11 a.m. or noon.QUESTION: Most distributors now offervarying levels of a repair and maintenancecontract, whereby they will provide theroutine maintenance as well as repairs —work traditionally done by the equipmentowner himself. What is the advantage of sucha program for the equipment user?ANSWER: A customer benefits two ways.First, he’s assured that he’s going to gettop performance from his machine, oftenwith guaranteed uptime. If maintenanceis substandard, the machine isn’t going toperform as well or last as long as it otherwiseKomatsu works closely with its distributorsto ensure they have the appropriate numberof trucks, technicians and PSSRs to meetthe needs of customers. “We also providetraining and recently started assessing theskill level of our distributors’ technicians,”said VP Product Support, Mike Evans.To improve partsavailability todistributors and theircustomers, Komatsuhas opened threeregional parts depots,and will open threemore in the next year.would. By having a distributor’s technician dothe work, he knows it’s going to be done rightand that the machine is going to work the wayit’s supposed to work.The other benefit is purely financial. Whenyou analyze the full cost of having your ownshop and your own mechanics — and theirtraining, tooling and benefits — it’s a veryexpensive proposition that most equipmentowners underestimate. They think they’resaving money, but when you look closely, it’susually cheaper to have the distributor do it.QUESTION: What are a few tips you wouldgive to equipment owners wanting to get thelongest, most productive, most reliable lifeout of their machines?ANSWER: Regular maintenance doneproperly. Oil analysis every time. Work withyour distributor and use genuine OEM parts. Itjust doesn’t make sense to put a $200,000 pieceof equipment at risk in order to save a coupleof dollars by buying the cheapest oil and filtersyou can find. We’ve tested aftermarket filtersthat claim to be as good as our OEM product,but they’re not comparable at all. They don’tstop the contamination nearly as effectively,and with tolerances so tight in today’smachines, it doesn’t take much particulategetting through to really damage and reducethe life of a component or an entire machine.QUESTION: Generally speaking, what doyou believe Komatsu brings to the table forequipment users?ANSWER: In my mind, there’s no doubt thattop-to-bottom, across the entire product line,when it comes to productivity, reliabilityand technology, Komatsu equipment is thebest on the market — and I think most of ourcustomers recognize that. My responsibility isto achieve that same level of performance andrecognition for our product support efforts.As of today, I can assure customers that improvingproduct support is our top priority. My goal is toimprove our product support to a “world-class”level so that it’s viewed by customers as a positivedifference-maker — a reason to buy Komatsu. Weno longer want to be just OK, or second-best. Wewant to lead the way. n