Caterpillar Inc. announced Oct. 30 that it has received a J.D. Power and Associates Award for ranking highest in customer satisfaction for its pickup and delivery heavy-duty diesel engines as part of the 2007 Heavy-Duty Truck Engine/Transmission Study. The award is the 10th Caterpillar has received from J.D. Power and Associates for heavy-duty truck engine customer satisfaction. This marks the 11th year the J.D. Power and Associates study has been undertaken.
“The J.D. Power and Associates Award is important because it is based on the feedback from the end-users of our heavy-duty diesel engines,” says George Taylor, director and general manager of global on-highway for Caterpillar. “It reflects our total commitment to customer satisfaction. It is also exciting that the state-of-the-art technology used in our engines is helping to reduce emissions without sacrificing engine performance and reliability.”
Caterpillar received the highest numerical score among pickup and delivery (day cab) heavy-duty diesel engines in the study, which was based on 2,677 primary maintainers of two-year-old heavy-duty trucks (Class 8, weighing 33,000 pounds or more). Pickup and delivery vehicles usually return to their home base each night and are used in on-road applications such as package delivery, beverage processing and distribution, food processing and distribution, and petroleum distribution.
Four vital engine factors were measured, in order of importance: engine quality, 30 percent; engine performance, 26 percent; engine cost of ownership, 22 percent; and engine warranty, 22 percent. According to the study, Caterpillar rated highest in customer satisfaction in the heavy engine pickup and delivery segment with an index score of 754, and also performed well in the “engine quality” and “engine performance” factors.
The truck engines use Caterpillar’s Acert technology, a long-term solution designed to reduce emissions at the point of combustion without sacrificing engine performance and reliability. A systems approach to emissions reduction, it relies on advanced technologies in four key areas: improved air management, precision combustion technology, advanced engine electronics and a simple aftertreatment process, according to the company.
“We continue to see strong ongoing customer acceptance for Cat engines with Acert technology,” Taylor says. “Acert technology remains the solution for future engines.”
