Construction-equipment giant Caterpillar has announced that it will build a $7 million regional training centre for the Africa and Middle East (AME), based in Dubai.
The 1,700sqm centre will offer hands-on technical and sales training in machines and power systems to Caterpillar’s dealers in the region. It will employ about 40 technical staff primarily recruited from around the region, enabling the 7,000 technicians employed at AME Cat dealers to enhance their product knowledge.
“Our training centre in Dubai is a key part of our plans for the Middle East and Africa and will ensure Caterpillar and our dealers can be relied upon for providing unsurpassed support to our customers,” said Nigel Lewis, vice president for Caterpillar’s Distribution Division in Europe and AME.
“This is an important region for Caterpillar and we expect to see strong, continued growth for our customers, and we will grow to support that,” he added.
The centre will be equipped with a lab for scheduled oil-sampling analysis to meet the required turnaround time of emergency samples, and cut downtime of Cat products in the region.
It will be located at Caterpillar’s Middle East parts-distribution centre and regional sales office in Jebel Ali, Dubai. It is expected to be operational in the last quarter of this year.
