Bob Currie has recommended an article which appeared recently in Business Insider. Click for the full article: CATERPILLAR
Here are Bob’s comments on the article:
For those who operate in or follow the construction equipment industry, this article is “must reading”. Comments here about product quality and repair costs may be valid, but they miss a critical understanding of the equipment industry future. The reality is construction equipment moves dirt and they break. Highway trucks haul freight and they break. Agricultural equipment plants or harvests and they break. An air compressor makes air and breaks.
The critical point of this article is that the technology revolution will enable the supplier (the manufacturer and the dealer jointly) to manage, more effectively, two critical customer needs: low total cost of ownership and rapid response to machine down situations. Further, technology will transform equipment service from break/fix to repair before failure, minimizing downtime and maximizing uptime.
So, the take away is that only the most visionary manufacturers in the equipment industry realize the incredible change technology will have on the supplier/customer relationship. A manufacturer that doesn’t move rapidly into technology and on-board diagnostics will find the perception of their quality/technology offering fading over time. Conversely, the “supplier” who does move quickly to incorporate technology will find the perception of their equipment and brand increasing. The comments by Caterpillar and the dealers, shows how serious the issue is and how seriously they regard it. There is no option to this technology initiative.