Manufacturing process and installation before after-sales service. The stages of the after-sales service strategy. See what "after-sales service" is in other dictionaries

To properly take into account the time factor, it is necessary to clearly separate the concepts and. In contrast to the classical concept, the concept is related to the totality of life phases of a unit, understood as a useful function, starting with its production and ending with its destruction or at least the termination of its use by the last known consumer.

Service life cycle

We are talking about creating a service supply management system for the entire period of their life cycle. But in order to talk about the life cycle of services (hereinafter we mean related services, that is, we talk about), it is necessary to determine what it is, whether it differs from the life cycle of a product, and if it differs, then how?

The problem of the life cycle of services has not been studied as deeply and qualitatively as the problem of the life cycle of a product (LCT). As a result, most entrepreneurs are applying lifecycle management practices unchanged to service lifecycle management. But at a time when the product is at the stage of maturity, the service cycle is just beginning to gain momentum.

70% of revenue from sales of services, the company receives at a time when sales of the equipment itself began to decline.

With a skillful organization, the service can become a decisive source of income! At the same time, the use of unadapted life cycle management methods for services can cause the following negative consequences:

Thus, the conclusion suggests itself about the discrepancy between the curves of the life cycle of the product and the cycle of services. The differences in these cycles can be represented graphically (Fig. 4.1).

Rice. 4.1. Differences in product life cycle curves
and related (service) services

The figure shows that the peak of product growth occurs in 2-3 years, and the life cycle of services associated with this product is extended to 15 years.

A tractor can have a life cycle of up to 10 years, and the life cycle of ancillary services can be up to 100 years.

According to Data General Corp experts, the life cycle of related (service) services consists of the following four stages:

1. The stage of rapid growth - from the moment of the first sale of a product to the stage of growth of the product's life cycle.

2. The transition period - from the stage of growth of the life cycle cycle to the stage of growth in the provision of services.

3. Stage of maturity - from the stage of growth of services to the moment of the last sale of goods.

4. The stage of decline - from the moment of the last sale of the product until the end of the use of the product by the last known consumer.

As can be seen from the figure, up to 70% of revenue from the sale of services falls on the last two stages. This phenomenon can be explained by the following reasons:

The company begins to make a profit from the provision of services from the moment the equipment is installed, and the company receives up to 95% of the profit during the last two stages, that is, approximately two to three years after the peak of equipment sales. The reason for this is that, as it was said, the firm receives the main income from the sale of services during these two stages. These provisions can be presented graphically (Fig. 4.2 and 4.3).

Rice. 4.2. Growth graph of income from the provision of related services
throughout life cycle

Rice. 4.3. Profit growth graph from the provision of related services
throughout life cycle

Also, the following factors affect the growth of income and, accordingly, profits at these stages:

In other words, by the time the product life cycle is in decline, the service life cycle will only enter the stage of rapid growth. Thus, first, the company makes a profit directly from the sale of the product itself, and then (with skillful management) from the sale of related services.

The following reasons may impede the receipt of profit at these stages:

1. A high level of breakdowns at the end of the economic life of the equipment (this is especially true for mechanical and electro-mechanical equipment).

2. Level increase wages service workers in the absence of an increase in prices for services provided to customers.

3. Poor management of the parts distribution system. Bad organization renovation works.

4. Incorrect location of the network of service centers.

5. Losses caused by negligence in the work of service personnel.

Let's consider each of the stages of the life cycle of related services in more detail.

1. Stage of rapid growth
Every firm that introduces its product to the market wants the growth stage of its product life cycle to last as long as possible.

With a sound service policy, many benefits can be achieved at this stage.

Ways to gain competitive advantage during the rapid growth phase:

This method has been used quite successfully by Chrysler. It gained a significant advantage over the competition by providing a 7-year warranty on 70,000 miles.

However, it should be noted that at this stage there is a danger that it will fail itself and then it will no longer make sense to talk about.

At this stage, it is necessary to maintain the company's reputation through an efficiently managed spare parts distribution system.

Equipment performance and design information must be closely monitored in order to make modifications to later versions of the product, and to use the information available to develop new products. In other words, it is at this stage that the role of the service department as a source of important marketing information can hardly be overestimated.

Anticipating customer needs, it is necessary to provide technical training for service personnel. It is better to spend money on staff training today than to lose clients tomorrow. Early adopters (innovators) will appreciate the technical training of service workers.

Innovation is consumer acceptance of innovation before other members of the system. The purpose of marketing strategies is to encourage innovation among targeted consumers. If firms fail to achieve acceptance new product these people, you should not rely on other consumers.

A satisfied consumer will tell his friends and acquaintances about the successful purchase. Thus, you can use one of the most effective and cheapest advertising methods - rumors.

According to statistics, a satisfied consumer shares joy happy shopping with three close people, and the dissatisfied one talks about his failure to eleven acquaintances. If each of these eleven tells someone else about the trouble of a neighbor, then the number of people spreading unfavorable information will multiply.

2. Transition period
At a time when the life cycle of a product is in decline, and revenues from the provision of services have reached their peak and began to decline, profits from the provision of services are slowly but surely growing. If the first stage was held under the slogan:, then the slogan of the second stage:. Since at this stage revenues from product sales are falling, and revenues from providing after-sales services are still growing, management faces problems:

In 1985, Data General's service logistics division began implementing a policy that limited the release of parts during the first and second stages of the service life cycle. As a result, after three years, the volume of reserves was reduced by $ 30 million.

3. Stage of maturity.
If we were talking about goods such as cigars or wine, then we could say that it is time to harvest, since at this stage of profit, the curve of the product's life cycle stabilizes or decreases due to the increased costs of protecting the product from competitors.

Considering the equipment, it should be said that at this stage it is likely the largest number equipment failures. If this quantity per unit of production is large enough, then the manufacturer should pay attention to the increase in the terms of reliable operation of the equipment.

The initial phase of the maturity stage - good time to provide various types of service discounts. For example, there is a strong demand for used car service contracts offered by car dealerships.

As a rule, at this stage, the company is already starting to provide equipment modernization services. Modernization is especially important if:

4. Stage of decline
When the product reaches the end of its life cycle, there is still time for the firm to make a profit through the provision of services. Since the production of goods is practically dwindling, then very often many companies forget about the possibility of earning income through the provision of services. But, according to statistics, up to 50% of the equipment sold may still be in operation. At this stage, there are ample opportunities for modernization of equipment.

If, at the stage of decline, the manufacturer is able to provide a decent level of service for the goods, then he will receive an undeniable advantage in the eyes of the client. In the future, the client will not think about which manufacturer's equipment to buy.

So, we can conclude: at each stage of the service life cycle, the company faces certain problems, but at the same time, new opportunities for making a profit open up. Depending on the industry, each stage of the life cycle has its own characteristics. For example:

Features of the development of related services

Service cannot be thought of at the last minute. This is part of a marketing project. It is impossible to release products until its service has been thought out and worked out. It should be noted that the desire to combine the tasks of sales and after-sales service from the beginning of product development is characteristic not only of manufacturers of high-tech products.

Collaboration in the early design phase brings together technology, production, marketing and service. Before giving on product development, each of these functional services is obliged to make sure that the future product falls into the hands of qualified specialists and will be provided the necessary resources... Naturally, it is easier for an engineer to design a product without thinking about its maintenance; if he does not look far ahead, it seems to him even cheaper. However, this is far from the case. Too often, a product is designed in a vacuum, a fantasy of engineers who love technology but may never have seen a living consumer of their company's products.

Many companies create a product and put it on the market without even considering service issues. They soon find that the maintenance costs of the product are prohibitive and reject the project altogether.

All issues related to the service must be resolved before the product appears on the market, namely:

Very often, many firms send a product to a testing center to work on ease of use. In this center, people who do not have special training, read the instructions that accompany the product, study the manual, and master new machines. All this is done under the supervision of engineers and software specialists. The work carried out has a significant impact on the final product modification.

The renowned Komatsu company uses electronics very carefully in some of its models. The reasons were explained by one of the marketing executives:.

Sometimes, in order to identify service needs, a new product is introduced to the market in stages, for example, in 5 major cities of the country.

The production of after-sales services is ensured throughout the life of a product, with multiple actors. When formulating a service policy, this concept of life expectancy must be carefully considered and, in particular, remember to find intermediaries outside the firm who would take on the task of maintaining obsolete equipment.

French economist Herve Mate concludes that service should be developed within the framework of the aggregate supply of goods, during which the definition of strategy and investment planning is carried out according to three parameters: technological, intangible and temporary.

The development of a system for integrated management of aggregate supply can be represented graphically (see Figure 4.4).

EXPLANATION TO THE SCHEME

The main stages of the process
0 is the starting point for the development of a new type of product.
Stage 1 - development of the service proposal and the process of its production.
Stage 2 - Development of a service proposal and a process for its implementation.
Phase 3 - Integrated Product Development: Real Product and Mixed Service.
Stage 4 - establishing the principles of product management over time.
Stage 5 - determination of the product management system in real performance during the period of its use.
Stage 6 - defining the system for managing the service of the product during its life.
Stage 7 - Establishing a system for integrated management of the aggregate supply of a useful function.

Establishing a hierarchy of relationships between different stages of the process
Communication 0-1. Specification of technological and industrial development of goods in real performance.
Communication 0-2. Mixed Service Commercial and Industrial Development Specification.
Communication 0-4. Specification of the development of a supply management system in time.
Communication 1-3. A statement of the needs for the volume and quality of product maintenance.

Rice. 4.4. Steps and links to be involved in the process
development of an integrated regulation system,
understood as the aggregate offer of a useful function

Communication 2-3. A statement of the needs for adapting products to the goals and limitations of the service.
Communication 1-5. A statement of the technical limitations of product management over time.
Communication 4-5. Determination of product life.
Communication 4-6. Determination of the service life.
Communication 3-5. A blended service specification to consider in managing service over time.
Communication 3-6. Technological and industrial specification to be considered over time.
Communication 3-7. A statement of the specific limitations of the complex, which must be taken into account in time.
Communication 5-7. Contribution to the establishment of a system of integrated management of aggregate supply.

Thus, the planning of the service policy should be carried out in parallel with the development of the product in real execution.

While planning a service offering entails identifying needs to adapt a product to service goals and constraints, product development also identifies specific maintenance needs. That is, ideally, the regulation of the supply of services should be inextricably linked with the regulation of the supply of goods in real performance. The coordinated regulation of the interrelated processes of the development of these various sides of the proposal, carried out taking into account the three proposed parameters (technological, intangible and temporary), and ensures the creation of the required product.

Product development at the intersection of technology and service

As already mentioned, planning and development new products are usually a complex combination of production and commercial activities, since they consist of several simultaneous processes:

In general terms, the simultaneous development of products and their manufacturing options is usually viewed as one of the better ways to achieve a reduction in the time of its introduction to the market. This new trend is the result of pressure on European and American firms to compete Japanese enterprises practicing integrated product development.

Widespread for mixed services, this approach forces us to look for new ways to coordinate product development, manufacturing process, and the range of services associated with its future use, and throughout its entire service life.

One of the main competitive advantages in the aftermarket is the design of the equipment that allows the rapid replacement of mechanical, electrical or hydraulic modules, as well as the integration of self-diagnostic systems.

Development of a new industrial products requires an assessment of various service and maintenance policy alternatives. But decisions in this case cannot be based solely on the criteria of technical excellence or efficiency, they must also be economically justified. Therefore, the estimated profitability and costs should appear among the criteria for choosing a particular technical solution. The concept is precisely the result of taking into account the wishes of consumers, who want manufacturers to take into account all phases of the physical life of a product and, even during its development, determine the level of its technical capabilities, as well as the set of services that should accompany its operation.

Rogers Buck, former vice president of IBM :.

This approach, carried out within the framework, leads to deepening economic analysis and allows you to approach the concept, which can be defined as the amount of costs associated with a product, from its development to destruction (Life Cycle Cost - LCC). Thus, post-sale service costs are factored into the product development and manufacturing process.

Back in 1976, the Budget Commission proposed Public service US procurement a new procedure based on the use of equipment selection models based on planned life cycle costs. In 1977, in the midst of the energy crisis, the Carter administration recommended the use of life cycle cost in construction projects sponsored by the Department of Energy. In this case, life cycle costs were defined as the total cost of the acquisition, operation and maintenance of a building over its entire life cycle, including the cost of fuel and electricity consumption. This method, which centered on systematic costing, made it possible to compare costs across proposed project options.

Shipping costs typically account for only 2% of the selling price of a computer, and after-sales service costs for an electronic weapon system can exceed 60% of the total cost of production and use.

Nowadays, it often happens that the maintenance of a microcomputer annually costs an industrial user an amount equal to 10% of the selling price of a new product (see Table 4.1).

In product development, in addition to the estimated cost of operation, the desired quality of service and its objectives should also be considered.

In the 80s. By order of the French National Railways Company, carriages were designed, the maintenance of which was used by local repair shops for car maintenance, which made it possible to resort to a flexible repair schedule for a number of operations that were previously performed exclusively in central depots and required much longer car downtime. The aforementioned results were obtained due to the fact that from the very beginning of product development, they were taken into account as increased requirements from the sales side (a competitive level of service), and strict requirements for ensuring its operation (maintaining a high level of service quality), as well as due to the focus not only on the value of the selling price, but also on the ratio of operating costs and income from it throughout the expected service life of the wagons.

There are two parameters to consider when designing modularly. On the one hand, it is important to assess the possible reduction of the equipment repair time. On the other hand, it is necessary to compare the profitability of a service based on replacement of modules with the profitability of a traditional system of field repair of equipment.

In the 1970s. in the USA, engines with a modular (block) design were introduced into operation. This design allowed under operating conditions to quickly replace failed or units, as well as parts with limited operating time. The main components of these engines are modules that are replaceable on the ground. These most important properties made it possible to carry out maintenance operations not in the processing shop, but in the field. Decentralization of service, in turn, made it possible to significantly reduce the time for recovery work and, in this regard, reduce the number of spare engines and transportation costs.

The introduction of modular structures has made it possible to more than halve the working capital of engines in operation. Economic efficiency the operation of aircraft engines increased by 25-40%.

The problem of compatibility mainly arises when it comes to information, office and sometimes industrial equipment... Not to be overlooked is the fact that, through hardware compatibility, an aggressive service policy can win new ground from competing firms. After all, a device that is compatible with devices from competing firms can be integrated into an equipment system that can be fully serviced by that firm; thanks to this, she will take a privileged position in the eyes of the client.

Table 4.1. Example structure full cost equipment over a 10-year period,%

Opportunities for future refurbishment or refurbishment are also at the interface between service and product design. Reconstruction of equipment is a major operation, similar to industrial production. In this case, the raw material is an already produced product, used, but still retaining some potential; the equipment is completely dismantled, and then mounted again after replacement or restoration of worn-out parts and assemblies. After this operation, the equipment should have an operational potential comparable to that of the new equipment. Reconstruction of equipment can be quite a profitable business, because it is not without reason that companies such as ATT, which produces telecommunications equipment, Pratt & Whitney, which produces aircraft engines, along with the implementation of traditional after-sales services, have begun to create reconstruction centers. By some estimates, refurbishing equipment requires one-fifth of the energy and one-tenth of the components required to make new products of the same type. Taking into account the depletion of the earth's interior and the state of the environment, it should be emphasized that at the present stage of development of society, products should be developed with the expectation of the possibility of their complete restoration. But the main question is still the following: when an industrial firm more or less took over the market by starting the sale of this equipment, what is of greater interest to it - to produce new equipment with approximately the same technical characteristics or to restore old equipment?

Opportunities for future upgrades. One of the main conditions ensuring high growth rates of labor productivity in industry is the constant improvement of the park. technological equipment... This is achieved primarily by replacing outdated equipment with new, modern ones. However, it is not always possible to replace all obsolete equipment with new ones. Such a replacement is far from always economically justified. Often, by constructive changes in individual elements and mechanisms or by adding some mechanisms that do not require large costs, outdated equipment can be provided with technical and operational qualities that allow it to be used with no less production effect than new, modern equipment. This kind of equipment improvement, called modernization, ultimately pursues the same goal as repairs - to increase the time effective use operating equipment. By means of repair, the consequences of physical deterioration of the equipment are eliminated, while modernization compensates for its obsolescence.

Compared to previously produced equipment, modern equipment has, as a rule, higher productivity and accuracy, greater reliability and durability, less labor-intensive and safer to maintain, and requires lower operating costs. Modernization should achieve the same results.

Measures that improve the performance of equipment, that is, increase its reliability, durability and maintainability, are often called repair modernization; and measures related to other areas of modernization (increasing speed, power, rigidity, vibration resistance and accuracy, automation of the working cycle) - technological modernization.

The most effective is complex modernization, as a result of which all the technical, economic and operational indicators of the modernized equipment approach the modern level. However, when only certain parameters of the equipment need to be improved to solve specific production problems, they are often limited to only partial modernization.

Modernization works also include constructive alterations of equipment with the aim of using the equipment to perform work for which it was not intended, or work that is not generally characteristic of this type of equipment. Such design changes to equipment can be combined into the following three groups, representing additional areas of modernization:

1. Expansion of technological capabilities.

2. Specialization.

3. Change of technological purpose.

These design changes also allow extending the effective use of the equipment, and in some cases, such as specialization, even significantly increase its productivity.

Not only obsolete equipment, the production of which is discontinued, is subject to improvement of the design during operation. Relatively new equipment is often subjected to separate design changes. Such modernization modern equipment is usually performed on the initiative of the repair personnel in order to eliminate certain design flaws identified during operation, to increase reliability and durability.

It is advisable to combine modernization of equipment with overhaul. This allows you to avoid unnecessary costs associated with installation and dismantling works, in addition, it is beneficial because some parts or mechanisms that had to be replaced during overhaul due to wear and tear are replaced in this case with parts or mechanisms of a new design provided for by the modernization project.

Partial modernization of equipment is also carried out to improve its maintainability, that is, to improve the adaptation of equipment to prevent and detect the causes of failures or damage and eliminate their consequences through repair and maintenance. Improved maintainability is achieved by:

The economic efficiency of modernization is determined by the combination of the following technical and economic indicators:

The ability, due to the modernization of equipment, to ensure a significant increase in the efficiency of its existing fleet at low cost and their quick payback are the reasons for the rather great attention that is paid to this work at large machine-building enterprises abroad. So, at the Renault plant, the modernization of equipment in terms of repair work is about 25% of their total volume.

Determination of the level of guaranteed reliability. This problem first studied in those industries in which, when concluding contracts with customers, certain obligations are established regarding the average time of accident-free operation; this is mainly the production of weapons and aircraft.

We are talking about determining the level of the calculated reliability of products, that is, the number of failures per unit of time. On the one hand, efforts made to improve product quality are usually aimed at increasing the reliability of its operation. On the other hand, after-sales service is increasingly becoming a source of income for an industrial enterprise. In addition, the desire to achieve a very high level of reliability can entail a significant increase in production costs, in particular the development and cost of purchased raw materials and components; thus, the attractiveness of the product may be diminished. To resolve these contradictions, two concepts can be used: high reliability and preventive maintenance. It is assumed that parts wear out as the equipment is used, but their wear should be planned as best as possible. A service policy based on preventative maintenance is to replace worn parts before the equipment is up. This allows you to save very high level an operational reserve of equipment. Preventive maintenance maintains constant contact between the company and the client, while repairs become a source of constant income.