Caterpillar Company free essay sample

Product differentiation and quality are not in balance with these issues. Dealer product support operations and marketing capabilities played an equal role in addressing these critical customer requirements. * Customer surveys were sporadically performed and only partially designed for the purpose of service quality feedback. * The Latin America Commercial division service operation manager recognized that the customer value survey measures were inadequate for capturing and addressing customer satisfaction with individual interactions. * The customer value surveys fell into the category of relationship surveys and were conducted annually. Dealers and Caterpillar employees in the regions lacked the tools to interpret the results of surveys and to translate them into specific strategies. * The team estimated that accelerated growth could be best achieved by developing and communicating attractive service packages to small customers. Resolving this gap means getting the process right. It is generally agreed that 4 factors influence the degree to which management understands what customers want and need. The prescription for Gap 2 failure is defining processes, clarify roles, and to document and measure service delivery goals and performances. Service Strategy, and the SLP (Service Level Package) passed to Service Design, and the SDP (Service Design Package) Service Design passes to Service Transition directly address this gap. Results of Gap Analysis Factor: Management Commitment to Service Quality Possible failure: Management does not fully support the initiative related to service quality. Suggested Solution: Management implicitly and explicitly indicates what it really wants to achieve. Ensure that top management displays ongoing commitment to service quality as defined by customers. * Possible failure: Not setting, communicating and/or reinforcing customer-oriented service quality standards for all work units. Suggested solution: Without explicitly establishing and supporting customer-oriented service quality standards there is little chance that the organization will be able t o meet expectations for service quality. Set, communicate, and reinforce customer-oriented service quality standards for all work units. * Possible failure: Managers are not able to lead staff in delivering the expected level of service quality. Suggested solution: Staff relies upon managers to aid them; an untrained manager is not able to intervene as required, leading to substandard service quality. Train managers in the skills needed to lead employees to deliver quality service. * Possible failure: Not being receptive to new ways of doing delivering service quality. Suggested solution: Many times new ways of approaching old issues can result in breakthrough results. Focusing on the old ways or refusing to consider new approaches to persistent problems is demoralizing and unproductive. Solicit new ways of doing business pertaining to service quality. * Possible failure: Not allocating resources in appropriate ways. Suggested solution: Allocating resources based on business or consumer impact is often the best approach. Clarify which job tasks have the biggest impact on service quality and should receive the highest priority. Factor: Formal Processes for Setting Goals Possible failure: Not having established and monitored performance goals related to service quality. Suggested solution: Without established goals, and without tracking these goals, there is very little chance that the organizational will focus on them. Establish clear service quality goals that are challenging, realistic and explicitly designed to meet customer expectations. Possible failure: Not emphasizing service quality as a priority in organizational goals. Suggested solution: Workers and staff tend to do what management indicates as a priority. These priorities can be implicit or explicit. Explicit priorities tend to get the focus of workers. Set S. M. A. R. T. goals and follow implicit or explicit. Explicit priorities tend to get the focus of workers. Set S. M. A. R. T. goals and follow through with them. Document and communicate service quality as a priority when setting organizational goals. Possible failure: Not ensuring employees understand and accept service quality goals and priorities. Suggested solution: When employees are not involved in the establishment of goals and priorities they often feel excluded, and they often disregard the goals as unattainable or outright foolish. Sounds leadership skills engage workers in creating solutions, and follow their advice. Ensure employees understand and accept service quality goals and priorities. Possible failure: Not rewarding staff for attaining service quality goals. Suggested solution: Setting a goal should be an extending proposition, achieving a goal usually means bringing out the best in people and their abilities. This should be rewarded since it is not business as usual to extend performance and achieve new goals. Reward managers and employees for attaining service quality goals. Possible failure: Not measuring or providing regular feedback about performance related to service quality. Suggested solution: Workers tend to do what they are measured against. If workers are not measured based on their performance then they know that management is not serious about their performance. Setting goals for performance, and honestly working with staff to help them achieve these goals is paramount. Measure performance and provide regular feedback. Factor: Standardization of Tasks Possible failure: Failure to translate service quality standards into specific job tasks that can be benchmarked and standardized. Suggested solution: Producing an expected standard is only half the job the standard needs to be implemented, measured and made the new normal. Failure to follow through with task standardization often results in failing to meet goals. Translate service quality standards into specific job tasks that can be benchmarked and standardized. Possible failure: service quality standards are not drawn in terms system operation and staff tasks. Suggested solution: Goals are often high-level, work standards need to be more granular. They need to indicate the staff explicitly requirements at each point within the process. Failure to do so leads to confusion and ultimately undermines the goals themselves. Develop service quality standards in terms system operation and staff tasks. Factor: Perceptions of Feasibility Possible failure: Having unattainable reaching goals. Suggested solution: Goals that are considered unattainable demoralize staff. Goals need to be attainable, and staff needs to contribute to them. Establish clear service quality goals that are challenging, realistic and explicitly designed to meet customer expectations. Possible failure: Having a perception of infeasibility. Suggested solution: If managers do not believe in the mission, there is little chance the employees will believe in the mission, leading to a demoralizing situation. Remove perceptions of infeasibility. Ensure that employees understand and accept goals and priorities. 3) Should they offer different CSAs to the different segments of general construction? 4) What would that imply for research, standards, and implementation? Competitive pressures make cost control more important today than ever before. Customer Support Agreements provide a total solution that makes equipment management an asset rather than a liability. Caterpillar should convince their customers at the general construction segment that they could provide them with an almost infinite variety of easy, convenient and cost-effective CSAs. They should be ready to work with their customers to develop an agreement that provides maximum benefits for their equipment, their resources and their way of working. Caterpillar General Construction new segments: * Residential construction * Commercial construction * Concrete construction * Landscaping works A Variety of Flexible Options How the new customers work, where they work and the extent of their service apabilities are among the variables that will determine the type of CSA that is right for caterpillars customer. Customized Agreements Our customers Cat Dealer will offer an extensive list of services to support a customized, total solution for their equipment management needs. Why choose a CSA? A Customer Support Agreement is an opportunity for our customers to increase productivity and availability while lowering your owning and operating costs. CSAs help our customers finding equipment problems before causing failure, leaving them with fewer repairs and less unscheduled downtime. The experts at your Cat Dealer will make sure our customer machines are available when they need. Plus, they will customize your CSA so it maximizes your time and resources. 7) How should they create and design the new CSAs? It all starts from knowing your customer needs, it will take a lot of effort to reach a new CSAs for the new segments we have decided to serve, but we have to make an into deep market research to study and to know more about our customers before creating an effective new CSAs. The main idea behind the new CSAs Every piece of Cat equipment is designed and built to provide maximum productivity and operating economy throughout its working life. Cat Dealer can help our customer maintain that built-in value through a Customer Support Agreement (CSA), more than any other supplier. A CSA is any arrangement between you and your Cat Dealer that helps you lower your cost per unit of production. Agreements are tailored to fit your business needs and can range from simple Preventive Maintenance Kits to sophisticated Total Cost Performance Guarantees. No matter which option you choose, you can be assured that your Cat Dealer will provide you with careful planning and ongoing attention that will help you succeed. When you have a CSA with your Cat Dealer, you have more time to do what you do best run your business. Trained dealer technicians assist you by maintaining your equipment and driving down operating costs. In the end, everyones goal is the same: helping you get more work done at a lower cost. Perhaps the most important feature of any CSA is flexibility. There are no pre-set requirements or specific products and services that you must agree to buy. In every case and with every piece of equipment, a CSA is an individualized plan. Depending on your needs, your costs can be a flat rate monthly fee or some other arrangement based on actual production hours. Your agreement may include as few or as many pieces of equipment as you wish. You can cover individual systems, single pieces of equipment, or entire fleets. Your Cat Dealer will work with you to determine the best strategies to maximize productivity and minimize costs for both your Cat and non-Cat equipment. Customer Support Agreements are not just for large pieces of equipment, and they are not just for new equipment either. The need to get more work done at a lower cost is the same, regardless of age or application. A Partnership That Gets More Done At the end, a CSA is a partnership between you and your Cat Dealer that will help you succeed by leveraging the equipment management expertise of Caterpillar. When you and your Cat Dealer team up with a CSA, you get more than just a piece of Cat iron, you get the company; simply you get a full team of technicians behind you. CSA Creating design process: 10 Great Reasons to choose the new Caterpillar CSA: 1. Increased Uptime 2. Greater Productivity 3. Optimized workshop and tooling utilization 4. Improved labor time allocation 5. Remove the costs of maintenance scheduling and record keeping 6. Quality work from highly skilled technicians 7. Guaranteed use of genuine Caterpillar Parts 8. Higher resale values 9. Plan ahead with greater confidence 10. More time to focus on your Business The new CSA Options 1. Preventive Maintenance Servicing With a Preventive Maintenance Agreement, any maintenance and repair is placed in the right hands, so you have greater machine availability, increased operational efficiency and complete control over costs. A Preventive Maintenance Agreement means an end to the uncertainties of arranging and undertaking repair and maintenance. You can concentrate on growing your business, leaving specialists trained by Caterpillar to take care of everything. Two dedicated Preventive Maintenance Trucks are used to perform PMÂ  Servicing, which is one of the most effective ways to keep your operating costs under control 2. Scheduled Oil Sampling (SOS) SOS Fluid Analysis is a thorough, reliable and cost-effective early warning system that quantifies telltale wear elements, dirt and other contaminants in oil and engine coolant. It predicts trouble early, allowing you to schedule repairs- so you can manage system performance and increase machine life. SOS Analysis is the best way to monitor machine compartments and forecast wear-related problems. We understand Cat Equipment and will help you interpret findings and diagnose problems. Well help you achieve the full design life and productivity built into your equipment. 3. Technical Analysis Level Our experienced and fully trained technicians provide complete inspection programs using the most advanced diagnostic tools 4. Customer Track Service (CTS) For most consumers of IT services tangibles are often the least important; however it must be noted that all IT services have some element of tangibility. In other words, there is always some user interface device through which the consumer accesses the service. While the condition of the device may not be important in some situations, it may be critical in others. Tangibles is a component of application or service warranty, or the pledge (in the form of a promise or guarantee from the producer) that an application or service will meet its agreed requirements in terms of how it works, how its delivered and how its supported. All IT services have some tangible physical component through which services realized. The promised service utility and warranty establish service quality criteria. This criteria often relates to tangibles. For example a credit card must fit into a wallet, a cell phone needs to have a big enough keyboard to allow effective utilization of e-mail, etc. For a web site, Tangibles include visually pleasing page presentations, ease of navigation and so on. Similarly, a software applications layout, colours and so on are tangible. In these cases success may rely on Tangibility factors. Diagnosis