Long-term working relationships need commitment, support, reinforcements and continuous maintenance. The Cat® brand stands for all the above characteristics and its Cat Certified Maintained (CCM) program does exactly what it implies by adding a layer of security and peace of mind for the buyer. This makes owning Cat machines a real performing asset – on the site and even when it’s time to be resold to another buyer.
The Cat® Certified Maintained (CCM) program was globally introduced to dealers in the Middle East region in the last quarter of 2023. Al-Bahar began offering this value solution to their customers in the beginning of 2024. “We have made it available to all our customers across all our business segments in all five countries,” says Ali Jubran, Vice President – Aftermarket, Al-Bahar.
The process to achieve CCM for a Cat Machine works like this – at the time of purchase, the buyer can benefit from the convenience of a Cat Customer Value Agreement (CVA). This includes dealer maintenance for the machine; another plus is, a Cat CVA can be financed with the machine and rolled into one monthly payment (the facility to sign up to financing options rolled into a single payment is subjective and depends on various factors.)
Once this is done, the buyer can work with an aftermarket consultant to ensure a technician from Al-Bahar performs the necessary maintenance on the machine in the required time frame. (Each Cat machine has a specific time duration for its service.) Important here is for the maintenance to be done by Al-Bahar’s technician to qualify the machine for CCM.
As this is done, the machine owner is eligible to qualify for a CCM certificate which will show the status after the machine has completed the required number of hours of use. This is a valuable document for resale which records the technical maintenance of the machine from the beginning of its service life. The CVA can be in place for as long as the owner wishes for his machine to be certified and can be renewed annually or for longer periods as needed.
If a customer has a CVA starting from the first maintenance interval, their machine is automatically on track towards receiving the CCM status. He elaborates on the advantage of getting this service value agreement. “Having a CVA makes it as simple as possible to be a part of our CCM program since the equipment is already getting dealer service which meets the Operation and Maintenance Manual (OMM) requirements as part of the CVA.”
The program is valid for all Cat machines and so every machine owner can obtain the CCM designation by enrolling their machine into a dealer maintenance CVA at the time of purchase and get all planned maintenance performed by dealer technicians. Customers purchasing new machines can request to add themselves to the CCM program by having a CVA at the time of purchase.
The product life cycle
“The Cat Certified Maintained program is still in its infancy,” says Jubran. “But yes, we have a couple of customers who have received their CCM plates already and who display them on their machines. Improving resale value is the major highlight for our customers. Hence, we are optimistic about more sign-ups,” he adds.
Reselling machines is a common practice in the region, Cat CCM provides a seal of authenticity needed for Cat’s customers to make the sale easily and even while purchasing a used machine such a seal of authenticity is a value-add. The certification ensures continuous dealer-performed maintenance, as per maintenance guidelines hence avoids costly downtime. In the case of a resale or trade-in, the machine’s CCM designation provides the prospective buyer comfort that the machine has been maintained to factory standards with original Cat parts and fluids from the start of its lifecycle.
Market share
The UAE is Al-Bahar’s biggest market in the region. “Having said that, I must highlight that all the other regions are equally important,” says Jubran. Al-Bahar has been around for more than 85 years and has been a Cat dealer for more than 60 years. “Our service centers are the best and with this legacy we are deemed to be one among the region’s best service providers.” Al-Bahar provides end-to-end services including holistic aftermarket offerings right from the largest genuine Cat parts availability and a range of repair and rebuild options including onsite service vans wherever needed. “We are so confident in our service offering that as part of our service commitment we promise to reimburse our customers financially if there is any kind of delay in receiving parts or services,” he continues.
New and used machines
Jubran mentions that they have a fair share of both categories of machines. “Used machine users are always on the look-out for machines that have a service history and are reliable when it comes to performance and maintenance,” he says. For new machines, customers need good resale value (in case they need to sell their asset). “CCM works best for both kinds of users,” says Jubran. “It will help new customers with the best resale value and promises peace of mind to buyers of used machines. So as a dealer we are hopeful that more and more customers will benefit from this win-win opportunity.”
Spare parts and supply chain
As the authorized dealer for Caterpillar brands in the region, Al-Bahar hosts the largest inventory of genuine parts. “We have an exhaustive inventory of more than 120,000 line items when it comes to parts. Our online portal – parts.cat.com – provides seamless online access. In terms of parts availability, a customer has nothing to worry about since he has the safest possible arrangement with all the right parts at his/her disposal whenever and wherever he needs them,” concludes Jubran.
CVA Options for buyers
- Full PM with Cat Oil: Includes labour, parts, coolants, Cat oils, SOS samples and any service supplied to perform the Agreement’s Scope of Work every interval.
- Full PM without Cat Oil: Oil will be supplied by the customer.
- PM Lite with Cat Oil: Includes preventive maintenance kits-parts, SOS and oil. Performing major PM service (every 1K or 2K hours). This includes parts, SOS, oil, labour and supplies. Machine visual and operations Inspection (Every 1K or 2K hours).
- PM Lite without Cat Oil: Oil to be supplied by the customer.
- PM Kit with Cat Oil: Includes providing the customer with the preventive maintenance kits-parts, SOS, and oil.
- PM Kit without Cat Oil: Oil will be supplied by the customer.