Customer service has become a topic that garners extensive attention in the construction machinery industry, and a growing number of construction machinery manufacturers and agents have been taking customer service as a major means of enhancing corporate brand images and sharpening competitiveness. At the end of every spring and the beginning of every summer, large-sized enterprises would increase manpower, material and capital inputs, and carry out the quality promotion campaign in association with parts manufacturers to provide technical support, maintenance services and spot inspection for customers.

On May 25, 2012, Yuchai Heavy Industry Company Limited (YHI) drew media attention to its service month campaign themed Journey of Thanksgiving--Care 2012. In two months, Yuchais service personnel will provide free services for over 2,000 Yuchai excavators in the country and provide YHIs excavator customers with multiple services.

Anhui has always been a large consumption province, with its excavator sales ranking top in the country. With the advancement of Anhuis farmland and water conservancy construction and water conservancy facilities renovation, policies of all townships and towns for improving rural water conservancy have been implemented progressively. Hefeis Subway Line 1 and 2 have broken construction, projects of Hefei-Anqing and Hefei-Huainan intercity railways have been launched, and Hefei will press ahead with an array of key construction projects including Binhu section of Baohe Boulevard, overpasses on Tongling Road, connection of Huizhou Boulevard to South High-speed Railway Station, high-speed railway block and road network construction in Feihe block this year, accelerate the construction of a host of trunk roads including overpass construction on Fuyang North Road, Shengli Road clearing and eastern extension of Fanhua Boulevard. The launch of these projects has effectively boosted mini excavator sales.

On May 28, the reporter followed the staff of Anhui Yuhexiang Construction Machinery Co., Ltd., a special agent for YHI, to Jinzhan Township, Liuan City, Anhui Province to visit Huang Shan, an excavator customer engaged in construction in Dabieshan scenic spot. On the way, He Tianhua, director of Anhui Office of Yuhexiang, told the reporter, For the service month, YHI and Yuhexiang have increased the number of customer service staff and inputs in service vehicles, maintenance tools and parts, to better provide customers with free repair and maintenance services and honor our service commitments on the one hand; on the other hand, the move has enhanced the reliability and loyalty of our products, thus boosting our product popularity, enhancing our brand image and increasing our sales and market share.

YC 135-8 excavator operates in Jinzhai Township, Liuan City

YHIs service engineers conduct a spot inspection of Huangs YC135 excavator

Huang Shan, aged 33, born in Jinzhai Township, Liuan City, Anhui Province, purchased a YC135-8 crawler excavator in 2011 and has undertaken dozens of projects in all sizes over the past year. Due to the ruggedness of the mountain roads in Jinzhai, it is difficult for large and medium-duty excavators to enter construction zones, while customers scrambled for compact and flexible Yuchai mini excavators. I have operated excavators in many projects in this zone. Both foreign equipment and domestic equipment have their own advantages and disadvantages. For me, I value excavators digging force and speed most and is satisfied with YC135-8s force and speed said Huang.

The service engineers pose with the customer for a photo

Huang praises the intimate service of YHIs service engineers

When being asked the reason for excavator purchase, Huang was careful with money like most others. Fast in money making and cost recovery, mini excavators are a good choice for us with limited working capital. Furthermore, mini excavators are uncritical of operators capabilities. Even if not using the machine in a certain period, I can easily lease it and will not cause idle or waste. And the low-down-payment sales mode in the excavator market is also a great appeal to us, said Huang.

YHI has established a customer call center and an international service center in Tianjin to serve customers in an all-round way, said Li Yong, director of the Customer Support Department of Yuhexiang. In customer service, YHI has expressly set evaluation indicators including one-year warranty or three-warranty within 2,000 hours, arrival in domestic cities within 24 hours and remote areas within 48 hours, and will study out and release more service policies for creating values for customers in the future.

During customer service, YHIs service engineers elaborately instructed the customer in machine use and maintenance. In the service month, led by Engineer Tan, the service personnel spent a morning tackling all possible problems of equipment after a thorough inspection and check on Huangs construction site. Besides, Tan answered the operators questions patiently and carefully. Following the spot inspection, Li and He presented a complete set of maintenance parts to Huang. The visit is necessary and timely. The service personnel not only tackled problems on the spot, but gave direct site training to our operator through face-to-face communication. Im supposed to applaud the service month, said Huang.

(Cao Yansong/d1cm.com