World-renowned Caterpillar presents UTE with Customer Excellence Award

From left: Caterpillar India Asia Region Strategy Manager E.C. Manohar, Caterpillar China Investment Region Manager Thomas Teo, UTE Chairman Prasan Fernando, UTE Management Consultant Hari Venkatesan and UTE CEO Riyad Ismail

The nation’s sole authorised Caterpillar dealer, United Tractor & Equipment Ltd. (UTE) received the honour of being awarded Caterpillar’s Customer Excellence Champion for 2017 for the ACAM Region (Asia Pacific African and the Middle East) in the small dealer category. 

Acknowledging the strong and important role dealers play, Caterpillar’s ACAM Distribution Services recognises dealers for their outstanding contribution to the company’s results.

Since 2016, the ‘ACAM Dealer Customer Excellence Awards’ has been heralded as Caterpillar’s dealer recognition programme honouring dealerships that demonstrate outstanding achievement, celebrating dealers who go above and beyond to serve their customers.

“This was a way for us to recognise dealers who go beyond expectations to serve their customers.  Thanks to your relentless support, we received 85 award submissions from 30 dealers across the ACAM region.  This was more than our 2016 competition. I am pleased to announce the winners for each of the categories and our overall Customer Excellence Champions.  On behalf of the entire ACAM management team, congratulations to all the winners,” said Raymond W. M. Chan, Vice President, ACAM Distribution Services, Caterpillar Inc.

“I thank each of you for your consistent efforts to improve the level of service and expertise you provide to our customers by understanding their needs and delivering products and solutions that helps them succeed,” Chan added. 

Thirty dealers submitted 85 projects for ACAM Customer Excellence Awards 2017 with winners selected based on dealers voting together with an eminent judging panel. For 2017, UTE triumphed as Category Awards Winners and received the accolade of ‘Overall Customer Excellence Champion’. 

UTE received the highest number of points among the other contenders and was also recognised for submitting two projects in two different categories. One project was to increase sales of gensets using a focused strategy which educated consultants and their clients on UTE’s superior product offering and the high value addition through well-coordinated product support processes and the second project encompassed reducing the cost of warranty administration through making systems and processes independent of the people and delegating authority and responsibility for faster decision making.

Presenting this accolade to UTE at an ACAM award ceremony organised by UTE at its premises in Wattala, Chief Guest at the event Thomas Teo, Region Manager, Caterpillar China Investment Co. Ltd., said, “My sincere congratulations to UTE. The efforts and initiatives taken to improve and deliver superior customer service level in Sri Lanka is truly recognised. Especially in providing suitable infrastructure, a well-equipped workshop and world class training center facilities. UTE’s contribution and continuous improvement in technological advancements is noteworthy towards Caterpillar’s success.”

“We are extremely delighted to receive Caterpillar’s ‘Overall Customer Excellence Champion’. This prestigious award will provide us further impetus to drive customer satisfaction to new heights adding more value to all our stakeholders,” said UTE Chairman Prasan Fernando.

Despite being a relatively small dealer within the region, UTE has consistently showcased its impressive growth momentum and is recognised as one of the oldest amongst Caterpillar dealers. Delivering the highest quality solutions and unmatched service support, UTE is a proven trusted partner contributing to significant development projects in the country since 1947.

Today, UTE serves its customers through an extensive catalogue of products from world-class manufacturers and is active in mainstream markets for construction machinery, power generation, material handling and storing, welding equipment and engineering solutions. 

Apart from these mainstream markets UTE Engineering is a focused division which engages in adding more value to customers through providing a range of solutions to improve productivity in welding, warehouse, air compressor, energy, rentals, training, filtration to add to UTE’s CAT Parts Store  and remote monitoring systems for machines in the field.

Additionally, UTE’s biggest strength is its superior product support, emphasizing the company’s tagline of ‘The journey continues… long after the sale’.

Detailed information on UTE products and services is available via UTE website https://www.ute.lk/.