Komatsu & you
Optimizing your operations
Chief Digital Officer Mike Gidaspow says Komatsu is working hard to help make sure you can access the information you need faster
This is one of a series of articles based on interviews with key people at Komatsu discussing the company’s commitment to its customers in the construction and mining industries – and their visions for the future.
This year marks Mike Gidaspow’s 25th anniversary with Komatsu. He began his career with the company in 2000 as a test engineer and has since held a variety of roles across multiple departments. From 2014 to 2020, he served as a regional director before taking on the leadership of Komatsu’s digital solutions and strategy team in 2020. Since 2022, he has overseen several key areas, including strategic planning, product and parts marketing, Reman, and service. In his most recent role, Gidaspow was named Chief Digital Officer in 2024.
“I had a number of responsibilities before, and as a company, we determined digital solutions was an area that needed more focus,” said Gidaspow. “As we look to where our industry needs improvement, needs to continue forward, this is a big gap for us and our competitors. How do we really move the construction, mining and forestry industries into the digital age and really improve efficiency? Improving our digital footprint is a big step in the right direction for the future.”
During his time with Komatsu, Gidaspow earned an MBA, underwent numerous trainings and served on industry boards such as the Association of Equipment Manufacturers. After a quarter century, Gidaspow said he’s still excited to come to work every day.
“Komatsu is a lot of great things,” Gidaspow stated. “The products we make are second-to-none, and as a company, we are encouraged to always do things with SLQDC — safety, legal, quality, delivery and cost — in mind, in that order. We pride ourselves on that. I continue to learn. I believe there’s always a way to make an impact at Komatsu and on our industry.”
Gidaspow and his wife, Julie, enjoy attending their sons’ activities and spending time together. Gidaspow also likes to “keep moving” by bicycle riding and hiking.
Do you have questions about Komatsu’s digital solutions? Chief Digital Officer Mike Gidaspow is here to answer them.
Question: What do digital solutions mean?
Answer: Our digital team, which is made up of about 100 people, is responsible for Komatsu dealer and customer-facing applications and technologies, such as Smart Construction, intelligent machine control, Smart Quarry and My Komatsu. We also manage our komatsu.com website and Komatsu-affiliated websites. The Komatsu Experience is one overarching project our team was founded for that aims to link all of our solutions together. We’re working on that kind of umbrella project and pulling in other projects over time.
We’re always working to make it easier to do business with Komatsu. Customers have largely had to go to multiple sites to get information, which can be hard to keep track of with many usernames and passwords. We are working to consolidate those so that there is one site for the public, which is komatsu.com, and one for our customers, which is mykomatsu.komatsu, where someone can get the information they are seeking as easily as possible.
I think of it from a manufacturer’s mindset: How do I build a machine with the highest quality as easily and repeatably as possible? Now, how do I do that with the customer experience on the digital side? We’ve added more digital marketing and customer support personnel to do that.
Question: Why is that important?
Answer: One of the things we hear from customers is that Komatsu has all this great data. How can we get it to more quickly make faster decisions that affect my production? They also want to order parts or look up manuals more easily, and we are working to make that happen by moving our e-commerce to komatsu.com.
Our goal is to get them to the information they want and need as quickly and simply as possible. An example would be the ability to get jobsite and machine information from our Smart Construction solutions, such as Smart Construction Remote and Dashboard, and order parts or look up manuals from a single source with My Komatsu for fleet management. It also includes being able to access information on machines from other manufacturers that customers may be using.
Question: Does artificial intelligence, or AI, fit into this strategy?
Answer: It absolutely does. At this time, I don’t know if anybody can accurately answer where AI is going to be in five or 10 years as advancements continue to evolve faster than any of us would expect. We’re working to make it more accessible. In the future, one of the reasons we want to pull all these systems together for customers is to start bringing data together and then use AI to help optimize customers’ operations. We’re excited about what’s possible now and what’s coming in the future, and we encourage customers to visit our website and contact their Komatsu dealer for additional information.
