Rebecca McNatt says rapid advancements in construction technology make this an exciting time to be in the industry.
“It’s non-stop, so we are always learning,” emphasized McNatt, Kirby-Smith Machinery Inc.’s director of construction technology. “I love being able to interact with people and work with them to adopt technology that increases productivity. Skilled operators are hard to come by, and technology such as Komatsu’s new Proactive Dozing Control and iMC (intelligent Machine Control) dozers are having a great impact in helping novice operators perform at an expert level rather quickly.”
This year marks a decade since McNatt first joined Kirby-Smith in an administrative role at the Dallas branch’s service department. Before that, she worked at one of the nation’s largest Ford dealerships, where she had started in a part-time position as a senior in high school. McNatt moved up to service cashier, then shop dispatch — which involved dispatching up to 40 technicians and 10 service advisers — before advancing to the service office manager and shop production manager positions.
Increasing utilization
Five years ago, McNatt became Kirby-Smith’s telematics manager and was responsible for increasing the use of the technology. “Telematics data was being underutilized, by us and our customers,” stated McNatt. “We were not accessing all the data or using it to its fullest capabilities. My goal was to train our technicians, product support representatives and customers on what was available and how to use it for troubleshooting, increasing efficiency, cutting costs and more. We saw tremendous gains.”
McNatt continues to help Kirby-Smith personnel and customers increase their use of technology as the director of construction technology, a role she moved into in 2019. She guides a team that assists Kirby-Smith’s sales representatives in promoting Komatsu’s fully integrated grade control dozers and excavators.
“We work with customers who are new to grade control, customers with 50-plus grade control machines in their fleet, and those in between,” explained McNatt. “We support iMC equipment 100% after the sale, assisting with on-site localizations, operator training and more. Komatsu recently launched several new Smart Construction solutions such as Smart Construction Design, Dashboard and Drone, and my team is responsible for promoting and implementing those as well.”
McNatt noted that Kirby-Smith’s rental fleet carries approximately 90 pieces of iMC equipment that her team supports while they are out on rent. Her team also sells, rents, trains and supports Topcon base and rover kits.
Outside of work, Rebecca and her husband, Bret, are partners in a thoroughbred racing syndicate. She enjoys cooking, spending time in her flowerbeds and spoiling their dogs, Ginger and George.
