Is Your Service Organization Turning a Profit? It Should Be.
“I’m sorry, that part is not in stock. We’ll have to order it.” “Our service center is closed. Please call back tomorrow.” “A door latch is malfunctioning. We’ll have to move you all to a different...
View ArticleProducts That Last: Extending the Service Lifespan Over Multiple Decades
A recent article on this blog “Billion-Dollar Upgrade for British Army’s Warrior Vehicles” got me thinking about the service lifespan of a product and why it’s important to build lasting products which...
View ArticlePLM Syncs Up With Service
For the better part of the last decade, and despite a bigger-picture vision at its onset, Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) has traditionally been stuck in the engineering-specific part of the...
View ArticleNobody Said Service Was Easy!
How would your customer rate a recent service experience with your company? How would they choose that rating? Was it the friendliness or expertise of your technician? How quickly the job got done?...
View ArticleFinding Opportunity in Service Complexity
In my last post, “Nobody Said Service Was Easy!” we learned that service is complex. There are so many different components that affect service that we almost always expect something to go awry. I...
View ArticleOwner’s Manual Mistake Leads to Auto Recall
The ultra sleek design of the Subaru BRZ and Scion FR-S is growing popular among sports car enthusiasts and demand for these vehicles continues to rise steadily. Add to that excellent handling and top...
View ArticleEmpower Your Service Crew with Dynamic Product Information
If you’re anything like me, you throw user manuals out with the packaging. Why? Because they’re pretty useless. Interpreting cryptic drawings and less-than-adequate instructions which don’t really...
View ArticleServices Revolution Spells New Opportunity for Manufacturers
In today’s hyper-competitive market it can be challenging for manufacturers to differentiate themselves from competitors. One strategic way to stand out from the crowd is by adding services to the...
View ArticleApple’s New Ad Campaign Not So Clueless
There’s been a lot of chatter on the internet recently about Apple’s new ad campaign. Some positive and much of it negative. Author and former Apple ad man Ken Segall hates the ads because they “make...
View ArticleFor Manufacturers, Going Digital Means More than Producing a PDF
Today, most manufacturers produce digital documentation, a practice which began over 20 years ago. But let’s look at digital documentation in the context of a complex product. Consider what happens...
View ArticleHandle Unexpected Repairs with Product-Centric Service Information
Ground collisions at airports—whether it’s catering trucks or airplanes—are not as rare as you might think. Just last Sunday, at Paris Roissy-CDG airport, two planes collided with each other....
View ArticleBetter Service Strategy: Making Customer Value King
I want you to stop and think about how important you are. “Sure, I’m important,” you may say. “My family loves me. My staff at work needs me. My dog wiggles in excitement each night when I come home.”...
View Article16-Year-Old Planes, Good Business Sense for Delta
One of the greatest movies of the 1980s was a John Hughes classic called Sixteen Candles. It’s a coming of age story, featuring Molly Ringwald as a high school sophomore struggling through her 16th...
View ArticleIrene and Sandy Prove Why Customer Service Matters
In the days and weeks after Tropical Storm Sandy there was a deluge of frustrated East Coasters complaining about the general lack of good customer service, especially from utility providers. Angry...
View ArticleIs Big Data the Answer to Pricing Service Parts?
Recent articles addressing the Service Parts Pricing process have touted the utilization of “Big Data” to help companies achieve their potential. However, merely having access to “Big Data” does not...
View ArticleRolling out the Red Carpet for Customers: Why Service Matters
Oscar season just ended, and if you are a movie aficionado like me you may have kept up with all of the red-carpet action. Well recently, I had my own first-hand experience with a red carpet. Was I...
View ArticleWhy Customer Value Depends on Technical Information
The life of a complex industrial or consumer product can extend for years or even decades. That’s a lot of time for the customer to optimize value through a product. But it’s also an opportunity for...
View ArticleIs Shoddy Technical Information Holding Back Your Service Department?
Did you know that nearly half of the average service technician’s day is wasted in unproductive activity? In fact, industry research shows that the typical service organization achieves only a 56...
View ArticleThe New Manufacturing Lifecycle: An Interview With Jim Hepplemann
In 2012, the World Economic Forum, in conjunction with Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Unlimited, published a report titled “The future of manufacturing. Opportunities to drive economic growth.” It posed the...
View Article5 Ways to Effective Field Service Workforce Management
Injecting efficiency in field service is usually seen as a means to cut back on service cost and to drive greater productivity from field workers. Yet most organizations haven’t yet understood the link...
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