![]() ![]() ![]() In Australia dealing with Komatsu is traumatic, from the latest CEO down they talk endlessly about customer "support" but fail to grasp the most basic concept "to live the dream." at least the Cat dealers have some semblance of a professionally run organisation & customer relationship. The things that keeps Cat on the top of the customer shopping list on most part are the "legend" & generally far superior parts availabilty/product support, Komatsu for whatever reason just does not seem capable of provisioning adequate parts support in any market (as everything you can get ex-nationally stock from Cat seems delayed ex-Japan for Komatsu). Interesting how most Dozer threads turn to a Cat vs Komatsu "forum" - having worked for both OEM's, operated & owned both brands neither products are perfect or much better than the other.whilst a lot depends on application/right spec or size for the job, at the end of the day an operator will make or break either brands reputation. The other manufactures are coming on strong and this does nothing but help the rest of us in terms of pricing and quality.As far as pricing would go at the time Cat and Komatsu were nearly identical in price! I have had Cat, fiat allis, dresser, dressta, komatsu, jd, case, Hyundai, hitatchi Volvo in the history of my company and can honestly say some of the best have not been Cat! So I guess the answer to your question would be product support !We have run the Fiat dozers this last while and I can honestly say have been some of the best we have had! Is there product support? No!but we work on our own stuff and prepare for any foreseeable problem!this is not something a mining corp can do but it still does not make the Fiat a lesser quality machine. The less you can get the operator to complain about the more you will sell!! Have a look at the new cabs offerd now! They had a solid product they just have to sell it to operators that have been running the big C's all their lives with no real competition. I took them over to the 11's and said copy everything you can about the operators station. When we had the first 475 a models the engineers were out to the mine from Japan and wanted to know how to improve their product. ![]() Is their product of less quality? I would say not. If IH or dresser had had their marketing and parts systems in place such as cat did in sure the industry would look alot different today! Komatsu has developed a quality product over the years but still has not managed the customer support and logistics of Cat. Cat has done a excellent job of marketing and product support that has put them where they are. I have nearly ran every brand of dozer built and I can honestly say there are some very good tractors out there, that not only outwork them but also outlast. Komatsu, Dresser, jd and others not nearly as good. If you needed a part for cat it was usually available overnight. 2 they have spent tons of money on logistics and parts distribution. They have over the years caterd solely to the operator making their machines extremely comfortable to operate. First things first! I will give Cat credit for one important thing, and that is operator comfort. I don't wanna even start on final drive trouble ! This even turned me off their brand even more. If Cat had a rep of longevity my yard would be full, just like years ago before I clued in there is other quality equipment in the world !oh and alco what polar operations we talking about? I was with fording coal do I need to post some service records? We once had a team meeting with cat as their brakes kept failing on the 11's and they said it was specific to our mine, and they were not going to warranty anymore? They got all the operators together and wonderd what we could do different to save brakes? I said has the 475 had issues? Reply was no! Do they do the same job? Reply was yes! Then I would say that sums it up! Tell cat to fix their machine or take it home! It was never ending but because everyone was so fond of cat they were still good machines? Ha what a joke. ![]() It is funny alco isn't it! But I do not have cat tattooed to my butt so I do not favor them one bit! Do the komatsu rip better? Doubt it! I own one doesn't rip any better? But they do seem to hold together and that's what puts money in my jeans. ![]()
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