As a Caterpillar dealer we offer our customers great machines, the support of a 50-billion-dollar organization, the people who design and make those machines, and the people who provide us with the support to solve problems when they arise. While many customers choose Caterpillar machines because of the machines and support they come with, we are finding that in order to build and maintain a long-term, loyal customer base we must listen, digest, and respond to the marketplace with customized solutions that will lead our customers to continue to choose MacAllister Machinery and Caterpillar products.
One of the areas in which our Product Support Sales Department is currently focused is undercarriage (UC). We are finding ways to manage and use data to develop actionable solutions for our customers—particularly in terms of operating at the lowest cost per hour (CPH). Knowing that UC costs can represent more than 50% of the “owning and operating” (O&O) costs of a dozer, we elected to seek out a few customers who were open to working with us on a Beta project.
The plan was for MacAllister to MANAGE these customers’ undercarriages, by performing INSPECTIONS, ANALYZING the results of the inspections, making RECOMMENDATIONS based on our experience with other UC systems and fleet systems, to eventually REDUCE the CPH of undercarriage and at the same time show the value of Caterpillar equipment.
This project eventually resulted in some value-driven results that allowed these customers to understand the overall value of Caterpillar undercarriage particularly as it relates to the CPH and the cost per ton of material moved. One case study showed a D8T Caterpillar Heavy Duty Undercarriage that was 30% more than a well-known competitor at the point of sale was able to run a 55% longer life than the competitor. This translated to less down-time for the customer to replace the tracks and a lower total operating cost ($2 less per hour over 10,000 hours). Caterpillar Undercarriage was the clear winner!
But does this translate to smaller machines?
In most, but not all, scenarios the Caterpillar Heavy Duty Undercarriage would prove to be the leader. Now with the recent addition of Caterpillar GD (General Duty) Undercarriage we have the best product offerings to fit a customer’s application and have the ability to show them value. Caterpillar GD Undercarriage is a price competitive UC offering that uses the best of Caterpillar Heavy Duty Undercarriage with a transaction price that competes in the market place. Caterpillar GD Undercarriage provides the best of Heavy Duty UC at a price that meets the needs of the market.
Would you like to understand how your machines stack up? Would you like to understand your CPH and total ownership cost of UC? We offer complimentary undercarriage inspections for all Caterpillar machines or machines with Caterpillar undercarriage on non-Cat machines that will start the process. As we have these opportunities to partner together and prove the value of our product there are several “mutual benefits” that we find in addition to just providing our customers with the lowest CPH.
