Page 259 - Peterson 85 Years and Going Strong
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SITECH
MACHINE CONTROL TECHNOLOGY (2010)
It was summer 2010. Peterson had just moved into northern Oregon, and top management was out meeting their new customers. One of the first stops was K & E Excavating in Salem. After the initial introductions and handshakes, everyone settled around a beautiful oak conference table. The atmosphere
was a bit tense. Not uncomfortable exactly. Professional. Cordial. But rather stiff. A lot was on the line.
Peterson owner and CEO Duane Doyle Sr. was there along with Jeff Goggin (COO), Kevin Culligan (general sales manager/Oregon) and Duane Doyle Jr. (product support sales manager/Oregon). Across the table sat Kerry and Eric Kuenzi, cousins and co-owners of the then twelve-year-old general contracting firm known simply as K & E. Once the small talk died down, Kerry jumped in.
“We’ve got a lot committed here, and we want to know who you are. Because we were pretty happy with the last guys.”
“I can appreciate that,” said Duane Sr. “First off, we wanted to come and introduce ourselves. And then find out if there is anything we can do to help you in your business.”
A lively discussion ensued, each sizing up the other, wondering how this relationship was going to go. Peterson hoped to pave a smooth transition and earn the trust of a valued customer. The cousins were cautiously opti- mistic but a bit wary of a big-city dealer coming in to take over and what that might mean to their operation. With a fleet of fifty Cat machines, they had a lot of skin in the game. One of the topics on the table was the guidance control system on their Cat 140 motor grader. It was giving them fits.
“We’ve been having a lot of problems with that machine’s GPS controls,” said Kerry, K & E’s president.
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