Photos courtesy of Komatsu America
For nearly a century, Komatsu has been regarded around the world as an industry-leading manufacturer and supplier of heavy equipment and services for the construction, forklift, mining, industrial and forestry markets. At CONEXPO-CON/AGG 2020, the company showcased its next foray into the future with the re-launch of My Komatsu, a complimentary web-based solution that includes parts ordering and machine data, parts and operating manuals, and more; all accessible via a single, comprehensive online portal.
The newly re-designed portal is a complete overhaul of the old system, and greatly improves upon what My Komatsu is capable of doing.
In the development of its new portal, Komatsu turned to its network of distributors – like SMS Equipment, Inc. – to understand what My Komatsu needed to become to benefit the customer most. Headquartered in Alberta, SMS Equipment is a solutions leader for the construction, forestry, mining and utility industries that sells and services a broad range of top heavy-duty equipment brands across Canada, Alaska, and Mongolia.
The due diligence done by Komatsu resulted in an easy-to-use portal designed for a broad customer base. My Komatsu was not just created for those sitting in head offices regularly managing a fleet of equipment, but is comprehensive and accessible to all, and readily available to those in the field via mobile app available in the Apple App Store and on Google Play. As My Komatsu is built on a web platform, it can be easily accessed on any computer.
With just a few swipes of the screen, My Komatsu users can now get a wealth of detail about their equipment. My Komatsu’s deep yet efficient interface allows users to view their fleet of machines – or choose a specific machine – and receive near real-time telematics, including working hours, fuel consumption, idle time, work modes and much more. This helps ensure that each machine in the fleet will receive its scheduled and necessary maintenance, as well as alert the customer of fault codes to prevent downtime.
My Komatsu also allows users to view manuals and guides, provides parts and service updates, delivers product brochures and reports specific to the equipment and allows users to stay up to date with the latest promotions offered by Komatsu and SMS Equipment.
“Where it used to be a simple telematic portal for just viewing data, the new My Komatsu provides a completely different portal functionality compared to what it was before,” said SMS Equipment’s telematics lead, Lacey McKay. SMS Equipment has fully integrated its own ePortal with My Komatsu, seamlessly blending the two so the shopping experience is virtually the same regardless if visiting My Komatsu or the SMS ePortal. “My Komatsu has virtually eliminated the need for customers to log in to four or five different places in order to retrieve the information required to properly and effectively maintain their fleet; it is a one-click resource for all Komatsu commodity products.”
Many applications similar to My Komatsu tend to focus on machine metrics and health, but Komatsu has taken their online portal further to include e-commerce. My Komatsu users can now conveniently look up and order the correct parts online, easily, quickly and from anywhere, and have them delivered directly to the jobsite with the simple swipe of a screen.
“You hate to say it’s ‘everything for everybody’ when you’re in the heavy equipment space, but – with My Komatsu – you can,” said Chris Corbett, director, digital transformation at SMS Equipment. “If you are a service technician, it is a real handy place to get your service manuals and parts and service news. If you are a parts person, it’s the easiest place to get into CSS and review your parts books. If you’re a fleet manager, it is the best place to go to get a high-level overview of your fleet – or individual machine – and receive reports sent to you on a regular basis. Komatsu has really tried to bring all of that into one portal and centralize how customers are able to access their information.”
“The new My Komatsu provides a completely different portal functionality compared to what it was before.”
– Lacey McKay, SMS Equipment
As a company, Komatsu strongly believes in the power of data for its customers, as well as providing the ability to access that data. Since 2007, every Komatsu machine has come standard with telematics included and, while the competition may claim similar services, these services typically come with a monthly fee for access. My Komatsu is a unique all-encompassing portal that bundles service, e-commerce and information into a single place online, at no additional cost.
“The feedback we have received on My Komatsu so far has been pretty positive, with some of the things we hear being that it is very intuitive, easy to use and that it provides a wealth of knowledge,” said McKay. “A lot of people can’t believe how many things are rolled into one package, and are made available to them with the price included in the cost of their machine, with no extra fees.”
Looking ahead, Komatsu will seek to make further improvements to the My Komatsu experience through upgrades and evolve its online portal based on the valuable feedback received from its customers and distributors. 