Company Announcement - Bobcat Equipment South Africa (Pty) Ltd., part of the Goscor Group of companies and Imperial, is making significant investments into its service portfolio in line with the compact equipment specialist’s mantra of delivering a comprehensive and exemplary customer service.

“Once customers take delivery of their machines, Bobcat’s Service and Parts Department enters the business relationship,” states Bobcat Equipment’s National Aftermarket Manager, Mike Lowe. “It is our role to keep our customers’ equipment operating at maximum capacity and efficiency. We strive to offer a full service spectrum that is permeated with quality and our scope of work includes servicing, repairs, parts sales, machine rebuilds, repainting and engineering as well as component repairs.”

Bobcat’s service enhancement strategy is a three-tiered approach involving appointing additional Aftermarket advisors and parts representatives at some of the company’s branches, broadening the company’s local and cross-border footprint and upgrading the service fleet.

Skilled and competent people are the cornerstone of Bobcat’s Service and Parts Department which now comprises a total complement of close to 100 people. “Training forms an integral part to keep our service team up to date with the latest equipment, products and techniques so that they can attend to customers’ requirements professionally, rapidly and efficiently,” says Arina van der Westhuizen, Inventory & Logistics Manager at Bobcat Equipment. “Our regular training regimen includes the Bobcat University Training on parts counter sales, aftermarket advisor, technical training and technician customer Interaction skills.”

“We are expanding the Bobcat footprint through the establishment of new dealerships to reduce the distance between ourselves and our customers across the mining, construction, forestry, water and power generation industries,” explains Van der Westhuizen. New Bobcat dealerships in Nelspruit, Polokwane and Welkom will complement Bobcat’s existing eight countrywide branches and four dealership based in Witbank, Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe. “The dealer expansion which also reaches neighbouring countries will assist us in delivering our parts and services even faster,” adds Van der Westhuizen.

The Bobcat service fleet has been boosted with the recent purchase of ten new vehicles. The 10 parts and 26 service vehicles are well equipped with toolboxes, compression testers, a diagnostic service tool, pressure and flow gauges, torque wrenches, drills as well as some fast moving parts enabling the 30-strong technician team to deal with virtually any service requirement or emergency breakdown. The vehicles have also been re-branded in line with Bobcat’s new corporate image.

Lowe and Van der Westhuizen state that the mining and agriculture are two sectors currently showing the most growth potential. While the low commodity prices in mining present a serious challenge, Lowe and Van der Westhuizen anticipate a full recovery in around 8 to 12 months. “We are currently positioning the business to be ready for when this happens.”

Bobcat’s ‘one tough animal’ range of machines together with the wide and versatile array of attachments can meet virtually all requirements of the agricultural industry, a sector which Lowe affirms they are currently actively targeting. “We are also making inroads into and have started supplying the military.”

The Bobcat after-sales service is unique in the sense that it encompasses a very wide selection for customers to choose from. Genuine Bobcat parts, tyres and specialised lubricants, service contracts, short term rental, repairs, servicing and maintenance, operator training, free technical advice and we also sell the Bobcat branded clothing range. “We have covered all the bases on our endeavour to offer end-to-end service solutions to meet all our customers’ requirements and provide a personal touch where no customer is too big or too small,” conclude Lowe and Van der Westhuizen.