The Civil Engineering Contractor April 2019 | Page 42

SUPPLY CHAIN NEWS
“We want to improve our service section by bringing our
dealers on a par with the Wacker Neuson service standards,
with a focus on reducing potential frustration and downtime
through embracing technology. The field-service technician
can, for example, through the use of Wi-Fi, call the
mechanic, who will be able to see through his eyes and avoid
any misinterpretation of a minor issue to avoid unnecessary
downtime,” he says. Vietze believes that e-commerce is
the future of after-sales service, “At the click of a button,
customers can order and pay for parts online — it’s a quick
and extremely efficient way of doing business, and definitely
part of future plans,” enthuses Vietze.
The summit also provided the dealers with the opportunity
to engage with international colleagues and representatives
from Wacker Neuson production sites in Germany, Austria,
and the United States, who, as product specialists, were able
to impart invaluable knowledge. Vietze feels that valuable
insights can be extracted from international experiences and
imparted to African partners to promote future growth. “For
example, while Europe is one of our biggest markets, Asia-
Pacific is a tough market — you need to have locals to help
develop the business; you need the help of the locals who
know the culture and the language. We’ve recently opened
a new production centre in Pinghu, China, to develop a
footprint in the Asian market. And we can all learn from
this. The unique African market relies quite strongly on the
local dealer network to develop and expand on the Wacker
Neuson offer — and as such, one of the major reasons for
this summit was to get all our dealers on the same page,”
says Vietze.
The Dealer Summit 2019 has brought everyone closer
together and has staged a unique platform where know-how
was gained, and experiences were shared for the ultimate
goal of unitedly growing the Wacker Neuson brand across
sub-Saharan Africa. nn
dealers our turnkey products, parts and spares, services, and
training, which we consider to be the lifeblood of healthy
and successful collaborations. We are confident that our
unwavering support of our new dealers will motivate long-
term partnerships,” says Vietze.
During the two-day Dealer Summit, a business review of
2018, company targets for 2019, as well as a detailed strategy
explanation of Wacker Neuson were unpacked. Currently in
South Africa, Wacker Neuson is the market leader within the
product groups of rammers, pedestrian rollers, and ride-
on rollers within the 2.5t class. “Our aim is to become the
market leader for excavators up to 5t,” says Vietze.
Improving on communication and transparency within the
dealerships was one of a number of the primary objectives of
the summit. “A Wacker Neuson dealer is not meant to only
sell our premium equipment; we want to treat them as part
of the family; therefore, trust within all business activities
is one of our most fundamental drives,” affirms Vietze. “For
example, we are very proud of our after-sales service —
we’re firm believers in product and service support. We have
an in-house training academy to continuously train our own
staff, as well as our partners and customers, to ensure high
levels of service.”
Expanding on Wacker Neuson’s focus on after-sales
service, Vietze says that the company is looking to introduce
telematics to Africa in Q3 2019. “We want to proactively
inform our customer-base when a service or maintenance
is due — with each and every machine from the Wacker
Neuson portfolio, customers receive a warranty certificate,
which ensures that the customer receives a call when a
service is due,” he explains.
The second strategy for South Africa is to focus on
embracing technology to improve efficiencies. “We want
to professionalise our warehouse — become more future-
driven, with a warehouse management system,” says Vietze.
Wacker Neuson has an area of
speciality in hand-held equipment.
40 | CEC April 2019
www.civilsonline.co.za