Tag: Manufacturing

Transforming Service Quality Management for Automotive Suppliers Driving Efficiency and Revenue Growth

Amidst the fiercely competitive automotive supplier landscape, organizations relentlessly endeavor to enhance their service quality management processes. However, tier 1 suppliers often face challenges in their current Service Quality Management practices. This blog explores the pain points faced by tier 1 suppliers and highlights the importance of adopting a specialized Service Quality Management application to overcome these challenges, revolutionize processes, reduce costs, drive revenue growth, and strengthen partnerships with automotive manufacturers.   Streamlining Quality Processes and Reducing Operational Costs: Automotive suppliers face considerable challenges with manual and fragmented data collection processes. These practices lead to inefficiencies, errors, and delays in obtaining critical quality-related information. By leveraging a Quality Management application equipped with OCR capabilities, suppliers can automate data consolidation across the automotive supply chain, eliminating manual data entry and reducing errors. With seamless data integration from various sources through robust APIs, suppliers must use technology to optimize workflows, enhance data accuracy, and ultimately reduce operational costs. Robust 8D Corrective Actions Process: Lengthy and ineffective corrective action processes often lack agility and fail to respond quickly to quality issues, resulting in production disruptions, delays in problem resolution, and increased costs associated with recalls and defects. To address this pain point, suppliers must embrace a specialized Quality Management application for a robust 8D corrective actions process supported by AI/ML technology. By leveraging advanced analytics and machine learning, suppliers can become more efficient in identifying quality issues, performing root cause analysis, and implementing effective corrective actions. This leads to minimizing disruptions, recalls, defects, validating warranty claims, and associated costs, resulting in significant savings and improved product quality. AI/ML-Driven Analytics and Timely Alerts: Another disadvantage for suppliers is a lack of visibility into quality indicators and trends. This lack of predictive insights makes proactive decision-making and identifying emergent quality issues difficult, resulting in wasted improvement and revenue development opportunities. Suppliers must leverage AI/ML-driven analytics and timely notifications to overcome this challenge. Automotive suppliers must capitalize on growing possibilities and maximize their income streams by employing robust predictive analytics capabilities that provide deep insights and projections of market demands and potential obstacles. Furthermore, automated notifications based on specified criteria or quality trends ensure prompt actions, increasing customer satisfaction and revenue potential. Specialized Features for Service Campaigns: Effective management of service campaigns is critical for suppliers to maintain brand reputation, minimize customer impact, and build stronger partnerships with automotive manufacturers. However, challenges in campaign planning, resource coordination, and progress monitoring can hinder the success of these initiatives. Hence, suppliers must excel in their preparation and execution of service campaigns. Wrapping up For tier 1 automotive suppliers, embracing a specialized Service Quality Management application tailored to their unique needs is crucial for driving efficiency, reducing costs, and fueling revenue growth. Industry statistics demonstrate that technology-driven solutions can significantly enhance quality management processes. By addressing the pain points of manual data collection, ineffective corrective actions processes, limited visibility, and service campaign management challenges, suppliers can leverage the benefits of OCR capabilities, a robust 8D corrective actions process, AI/ML-driven analytics and alerts, and specialized features for service campaigns and warranty claims. These improvements enable them to optimize workflows, reduce operational costs, minimize defects, and strengthen partnerships with automotive manufacturers. What’s next? How can you revolutionize your quality management processes, reduce costs, drive revenue growth, and forge stronger partnerships? Look no further; contact us today to learn more about how Tavant’s specialized Service Quality Management application for Tier 1 automotive suppliers can empower your organization and position you for sustained success in the competitive automotive industry.

Why Salesforce Manufacturing Cloud is a Game-Changer for the Industry

In today’s fast-paced manufacturing environment, manufacturing organizations are constantly searching for ways to streamline their operations and increase efficiency. One solution that has gained a lot of attention in recent years is Salesforce Manufacturing Cloud. Salesforce Manufacturing Cloud is a cloud-based solution that caters specifically to the needs of manufacturers, providing them with a unified platform for account planning and forecasting. This platform offers enhanced transparency and collaboration across the manufacturer’s entire ecosystem.     Here are some of the ways that Salesforce Manufacturing Cloud can help transform the manufacturing industry: Real-Time Visibility One of the biggest benefits of Salesforce Manufacturing Cloud is that it provides manufacturers with real-time visibility into their operations. This means that they can monitor every stage of the production process, from raw materials to finished goods, and identify any issues or bottlenecks before they become major problems. With real-time data, manufacturers can make more informed decisions, optimize their processes, and respond quickly to changing market conditions. Increased Efficiency Salesforce Manufacturing Cloud also helps manufacturers increase efficiency by automating many of the manual processes that are involved in production planning, scheduling, and inventory management. By automating these processes, manufacturers can reduce the risk of errors, improve accuracy, and free up their teams to focus on more value-added tasks. Improved Collaboration Another key benefit of Salesforce Manufacturing Cloud is that it enables manufacturers to collaborate more effectively with their teams, customers, and partners. The solution provides a centralized platform for sharing data, communicating with stakeholders, and tracking progress. This makes it easier for manufacturers to work together with their teams and partners to solve problems, make decisions, and achieve their goals. Better Customer Service Salesforce Manufacturing Cloud also helps manufacturers improve their customer service by providing them with a complete view of their customer’s needs and preferences. With this information, manufacturers can personalize their offerings, provide more accurate delivery schedules, and respond quickly to customer inquiries and issues. This can lead to higher customer satisfaction, repeat business, and referrals. Scalability Finally, Salesforce Manufacturing Cloud is designed to be scalable, which means that it can grow and adapt with your business. Whether you’re a small manufacturer just getting started or a large enterprise with complex operations, Salesforce Manufacturing Cloud can be customized to meet your specific needs and requirements. The Manufacturing Cloud is also vital to Salesforce’s Customer 360 suite, empowering manufacturers to provide intelligent field services, lifecycle marketing, channel management, B2B commerce, and other capabilities in a unified view, spanning their entire business. Salesforce Manufacturing Cloud is a game-changer for the manufacturing industry. It provides manufacturers with the real-time visibility, automation, collaboration, customer service, and scalability they need to succeed in today’s fast-paced market. If you’re a manufacturer looking to streamline your operations and increase efficiency, then Salesforce Manufacturing Cloud may be the solution you’ve been looking for. If you’re looking to implement Salesforce Manufacturing Cloud and need expert guidance and support, Tavant is an implementation and consulting partner that can help you on your journey. Tavant is a trusted partner of Salesforce, with years of experience helping manufacturers implement and optimize the Salesforce platform. Their team of experts is well-versed in the nuances of the manufacturing industry, and they can help you tailor the Salesforce Manufacturing Cloud solution to your specific needs and requirements. Tavant’s approach to implementation is thorough and collaborative, with a focus on understanding your business processes and aligning the solution to your goals. We can help you with every aspect of the implementation process, from project scoping and planning to data migration, configuration, and testing. In addition to implementation, Tavant also offers ongoing consulting and support services, helping you get the most out of your Salesforce Manufacturing Cloud investment. We can provide training for your teams, help you optimize your workflows, and provide insights and recommendations for improving your operations. Partnering with Tavant for your Salesforce Manufacturing Cloud journey will ensure a smooth and successful implementation and give you the tools and support you need to transform your manufacturing operations. For more information on how Tavant can help, email us at [email protected].

Revving Up Your Product’s Lifecycle: The Importance of Aftermarket Services and Service Lifecycle Management

Product quality and longevity are crucial for customer satisfaction and the long-term success of any business. However, even the best products require maintenance, repairs, and replacement parts over their life-cycle to ensure continued functionality and customer satisfaction. Therefore, service life-cycle management and aftermarket services are critical for companies to offer.

Connected Service Life-Cycle Management – A data-driven approach to service operations

The immense potential of aftermarket services for the manufacturing industry is a no-brainer. As per industry standards. Aftermarket services comprise 25-30% of the revenues, with a profitability of up to 55% Service parts management is around 15-20% of the revenue, with profitability of up to 50% Service contracts are high margin businesses with a potential to earn anywhere between 30 to 50%     According to a recent Deloitte study, the role of aftermarket services in driving customer lifetime value (CLTV) and sustainable profits has become more profound post-COVID-19. With supply chains being disrupted, the service level expectations of customers, especially for complex products, manufacturing, construction machinery, and transport vehicles, have risen manifold. Customers are willing to pay a premium for uninterrupted services and longer-term contracts that can predict support or replacement proactively before their equipment becomes inoperative. It is a new win-win for both OEMs and customers. Deciphering the aftermarket SLM ecosystem of a manufacturer The case for aftermarket services sounds promising, but does it manifest? Does the transition to SLM translate into tangible business gains? What do OEMs need to realize the true potential of their aftermarket services? Currently, a manufacturer’s aftermarket SLM tech stack can have one or many of these components, independent of each other. Service Parts Management: Covers the spectrum of aftermarket parts sales, from direct customer sales, dealer sales, and service centers to custom programs. Warranty Management: End-to-end management of product warranty processes involving product registration, claims processing, contract management, service plans, returns control, and warranty analytics. Field Service Management (FSM): Provide resources to support products in operation at the customer’s point of use. Capabilities span asset management, mobile workforce management, customer portals, service request management, and contract management to ensure the right resources are delivered at the right time. Service Knowledge Management: Manage, collect, and report on every aspect of customer interactions, including online portals, call center operations, training programs, and product health monitoring. Service Network Management: Plan, manage, and expand service operations through organic capabilities to transform service strategies across MRO operations, component repair & exchange, product modifications, and service delivery. Technical Information Management: Technical information storage about design, bill of materials (BOM), reliability data, parts information, configuration data, maintenance data, and production data to lay the foundation for the life-cycle and performance management of a product.   On a standalone basis, these systems are certainly helping manufacturers transform their processes. Still, this siloed approach is incapable of value creation as it tends to ignore the complementarities and interdependencies across the ecosystem – OEMs, suppliers, dealers, customers, and service centres. Not only that, but the multiple system approach also leads to a growth slump, as it cripples OEMs’ ability to see complete and accurate data and deploy that data to build a seamless experience for their customers and gain a competitive advantage. As modern enterprises focus heavily on keeping track of their customers’ needs and aim for proactive service delivery to meet their satisfaction levels and drive customer lifetime value over the life-cycle, the need to implement connected SLM has become more pronounced than ever. From SLM to connected SLM – A case for manufacturing Using AI and analytics to create a 360-degree view of the service life-cycle processes for manufacturers, their channel partners, and customers Let’s look at an industrial equipment manufacturer that faced challenges across its service supply chain. The manufacturer wanted to eliminate inefficiencies and ensure maximum service parts availability across its global operations. This required evolution from a location-based inventory model to a centralized inventory management model, which could predict parts requirement, intelligently analyze parts availability, and automatically allocate resources per customer demand. The journey began with designing, building, and implementing SLM solutions to serve use-cases built around industry-specific challenges. The next step was integrating SLM with existing ERP and SAP systems and using analytics and AI to leverage real-time orders and feed them to SLM systems to ensure optimal inventories. This helped the manufacturer drive inventory turnover by 18-20%, increase parts availability by 3-5%, and save inventory costs by millions. Manufacturers must explore the integration of artificial intelligence (AI), the internet of things (IoT), and analytics tools across processes. IoT devices, or connected devices, help automate data collection from operational equipment to gauge product performance and uptime and diagnose problems. AI and analytics deliver capabilities to derive insights across system uptimes, inventory, service needs, and other functional areas. Unlocking the value of the Convergent SLM Strategy A connected SLM strategy can help build end-to-end interconnected systems that drive optimization across all manufacturing operations. A transition from a pure-play SLM strategy to a connected SLM one enables manufacturers to collect data from field assets, warranty systems, parts management systems, and FSM. This data can be utilized to implement service updates, manage complex technical information, and drive a seamless service experience for end customers. Some other benefits include: Streamlined workflows: Connected SLM solutions can enable organizations to streamline workflows with smart connected products, reduce downtimes, reduce service response times, enhance first-time fix rates, optimize price and parts availability, and reduce costs. Building new service models: Connected SLM solutions can also deliver insights into how products are performing at the customer’s point of use, which can be leveraged to build new service models. Personalizing communication: The connected SLM solutions enhance communication channels by ensuring detailed information is available and curated as per stakeholder needs to perform reactive and proactive service activities. Implementing a feedback loop across the digital thread enables manufacturers to leverage data that serves as input to increase product serviceability and reliability.   Manufacturers must explore new revenue streams from real-time engagements with end customers. Smart devices and connected SLM systems will provide capabilities for manufacturers to deliver value-added services, reduce service and parts costs, and adopt a data-driven approach to decision-making.

Top Blogs and Webinars from 2021-Connected Service and Warranty

As we close the year 2021 (and what an incredible year it was), here is a list of our most popular blogs and webinars from this year – the ones our customers showed the most love to, and that answered the most pressing questions. Enjoy! Blogs  1) From Cost Center to a Competitive Advantage: Warranty Management in Manufacturing Today Once considered a cost center, warranty management is taking the front seat in creating seamless aftermarket service experience. 2) Electric Vehicles and their Impact on Automotive Warranty Management The transition to smarter electric vehicles and the potential phasing out of combustion engines is likely to be a game-changer for many. 3) Futuristic Tech: Turning the Wheels of Manufacturing Learn about the advancements in the manufacturing industry with Drones, AR/VR, IoT, and much more for better processes, performance, and protection. 4) Data Analytics: A Catalyst for Change in Service Life-cycle Management Today AI and analytics is critical in addressing service life-cycle challenges, increasing transparency, and creating a rich aftermarket experience. 5) Making Warranty Management Profitable for Manufacturers Traditionally manufacturers offered warranties to buyers to assure them of the quality and longevity of products or services. The industry has progressed a long way. Webinars 6) Connected Service Life-cycle – The Flywheel Effect Opening session at WCM Experience by ‘Women in Manufacturing’ from Tavant, on how smart and simple changes in after-service processes like customer support, service request, service planning, service execution and field service, spare parts management, warranty management, and recalls can create exponential value and set the flywheel to spin faster. 7) Panel Discussion: Service Analytics – Make that Data Work for You! Smart learning models are getting more accurate and changing the way service analytics is driving decision-making. This session explores the decisions that impact machine uptime, service parts pricing, equipment failure, and maintenance demands. 8) Panel Discussion: Service and Sustainability – Reduce, Recycle, Reuse! Timely Service data and insights can impact the bottom line in three ways – fiscal, societal, and environmental. In this session, the speakers from varied Manufacturing backgrounds discuss how service data can benefit sustainability. 9) Connected Warranty and Service in Automotive Industry A discussion on the Automotive warranty trends, the impact of innovative technologies and connected data, and how the Automotive industry is redefining service through connected and optimized service platforms. 10) The Learning machine: Transforming Customer Experience Using Data, Warranty, and Service Contracts Opening keynote by Bob Roberts, Customer solutions leader, Trane Technologies at WCM Conference. Service excellence in a manufacturing and aftermarket industry dictates decisions be made using near-real-time information. To provide a rich and seamless experience to their customers, manufacturers need to improve data visibility, the backbone for delivering cutting-edge services.

Tavant Transforms Service Life-cycle Management with Enhanced Connected Service Experience

SANTA CLARA, CA (September 30, 2021) – Tavant, the global leader in Service Life-cycle Management (SLM), today announced the expansion of its solution suite to enhance service delivery experience, drive sustainability, and capture aftermarket lifetime value. The expanded solution builds a single source of information designed to help OEMs and their suppliers improve how they develop, maintain, and service their products. Powered by AI, the SLM suite will enable manufacturers to gain better insights into end-to-end aftermarket processes like warranty and claims, service parts, field management, predictive maintenance, operating conditions, wear and tear, parts failures, and support. This suite also helps in improving service processes like parts refurbishment, scrap management, parts management, waste management, and optimizing the carbon footprint in the manufacturing ecosystem. “AI and Analytics must be a strategic part of the overall service experience for the manufacturer,” says Aly Pinder, Program Director, Service Innovation at IDC. “In order to make sense of the rich data opportunity within the service life-cycle, organizations will need to rethink all aspects of service life-cycle management including the role of connected machines, devices and efficient processes and how they impact their service business.” “As systems and products become smart and connected, companies today need to emphasize data to drive business decisions. Tavant’s vision is to create a 360-degree view of the service life-cycle processes for manufacturers, their channel partners, and customers. Our future-proof SLM suite gives businesses a competitive advantage by enabling exceptional service experiences for their customers while driving high service revenues,” said Roshan Pinto, Head of Manufacturing, Tavant. “The manufacturing industry is one of the largest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions worldwide. Built with a data-first approach, Tavant’s SLM suite is architected to provide a more comprehensive look to the service processes with actionable insights for a far-reaching approach to sustainability and carbon footprint analysis,” Roshan added. To learn more about Tavant’s Service Life-cycle Management Suite. Find Tavant on LinkedIn and Twitter. Media Contact: Len Fernandes Firecracker PR [email protected] (888) 317-4687 ext. 707

Electric Vehicles and their Impact on Automotive Warranty Management

The falling costs of the lithium-ion battery pack, coupled with the rising concern of climate change, in addition to policy incentives, rising incomes, and technological advancements have pushed the adoption and sales of electric vehicles (EV) this last decade. The Growth of the EV Segment Bloomberg NEF’s Electric Vehicle Outlook study forecasts that EVs will hit 10% of global passenger vehicle sales by 2025, growing to nearly 28% in 2030 and 58% in 2040. In the US alone, the number of brands offering EV options will grow from 16 now to at least 40 in 2025, with electric vehicles offering consumers a wide range of segments and price points. In addition to climatic awareness, governments are also driving change. US President Biden began his term with an order to electrify the federal fleet of about 650,000 vehicles, investing in over 550,000 public charging points, and taking initiatives to bolster the domestic supply chain for critical technologies and raw materials. The Impact of EVs on the Automotive Industry All of this indicates that the next decade will see a major shakeup in the automotive industry. One example is an estimation by Ford, which believes that the simplification in the assembly of EVs could lead to a 50% reduction in capital investments and a 30% reduction in labor hours, as opposed to internal combustion engine (ICE) manufacturing. Similarly, as the number of electric vehicle consumers grows, other aspects of the automotive industry including automotive design, supply chains and production processes will undergo a transformation as well. As vehicles become more computer-dependent and less combustion engine related, learning gaps are expanding for technicians and even drivers, as they learn to handle what is essentially a new operational vehicle. EV Trends and Future of Warranty Management The automotive industry is already bracing for a shake-up when it comes to repair and parts management. With the surge in Electric Vehicles across the world, we can expect the OEMs to face an increase in the volume of technical warranty requests from their dealers. And because every vehicle is different, there will be a significant shift in how to handle these claims initially. The service and maintenance of an electric vehicle are likely to be highly different from a typical combustion engine, to which the industry has so far been geared. Not only do EVs have fewer mechanical parts, but some components also (such as plugs and sockets, inverters and powerpack coolers), aren’t part of the existing automotive warranty service. How Connected EVs Change the Repair Game There are also several different types of EVs, such as hybrid and connected vehicles, which could further add more complexity to the issue of long-term service and maintenance. IoT devices are also enabling vehicles to stay connected and detect vehicle failures even before they physically reach the service center. That means connected EVs ​will offer vehicle owners the ability to self-service and distinguish between actual car failure and driver solvable issues. This will impact automotive servicing to a greater extent as manufacturers may need to include ability to educate the driver if vehicles are brought in with no actual failure. There are also likely to be more auto repairs in the field, as the parts get smaller and more computer-like. This could have a significant cost and operational impact on manufacturer warranties as mechanics (with computerized knowledge) travel to the customer rather than the other way around. Smarter Cars, Smarter Warranty Management To manage this transition, OEMs will need to become smarter about their warranty management processes. By using technology to examine warranty claims, OEMs can bring increased efficiency and transparency into a complex process. This will, in turn, enable OEMs to offer superior customer-centric service. The next generation warranty management software solution leverages artificial intelligence and machine learning capabilities in order to identify and understand patterns in warranty claims. Additionally, software solutions such as end-to-end warranty lifecycle management can help OEMs reduce costs in warranty management, increase supplier recovery, and improve aftermarket sales support. Warranty management solutions can also be used to handle increased volumes in claims processing easily. Through machine learning and image recognition, the system can be trained to recognize parts and models automatically, or even detect fraud claims, saving manufacturers a tremendous amount of time and money. Shifting Gears to Stay Ahead The transition to smarter electric vehicles and the potential phasing out of combustion engines is likely to be a game-changer for many.  Automotive manufacturers and suppliers are making key investment and technology decisions about the next generation of vehicle and components manufacturing, already. Forward-thinking OEMs will need to tackle their challenges by using technology solutions to enable transparent cooperation with partners to offer sourcing, supply, and maintenance benefits and future proof their business. SOURCES: The future of cars is electric – but how soon is this future? The Auto Industry and EVs: Where We Are and What’s Coming Next, After Years of Crying Wolf? Plugging Into The Future: The Electric Vehicle Market Outlook

Making Warranty Management Profitable for Manufacturers

Traditionally manufacturers offered warranties to buyers to assure buyers of the quality and longevity of products or services. The manufacturer (or the seller) would typically cover the repair or replacement of the products within a period of time. The industry has progressed a long way from there. With the increasing complexity of production and the supply chain, warranties today include everything from product coverage to customer support and logistics. But today, with distribution and supply chains spanning continents, how do manufacturers stay on top of their warranty information and claims management? What is Warranty Management?  IDC Manufacturing Insights defines warranty management as the stages of the warranty process, including registration, claim capture, claims validation, early failure detection, recalls, parts returns, adjudication, extended warranty service, supplier recovery, and reserve optimization. Professional claims management for manufacturers often comprises the paperwork for warranties, checking validity in case of fraudulent claims, and ensuring fast, efficient and cost-effective processing while fulfilling warranty claims. Managing warranties often includes the stakeholders (and their roles)  in ensuring customer satisfaction with a product or service. If you are looking for a Warranty Management system that can help you reduce backlog, and minimize claims processing time and paperwork, check out Tavant’s solutions.  The Impact of Digitization on Warranty Management With increased digitization, more manufacturers are turning to technology solutions to optimize the warranty management process. While manufacturers have traditionally viewed warranty management as a necessary evil, studies now prove that the right technology can help manage warranty information and claims processes more effectively, which can positively impact revenue. What is a Warranty Management Software? Warranty Management software allows manufacturers to optimize their warranty management process by helping them create, monitor, process, and track warranties. Warranty management software enables users to stay on top of claims, coverage, and customer requests across the entire service life-cycle. Today’s warranty software products are also AI-enabled, allowing manufacturers to use machine learning capabilities to automate time-consuming functions. This helps improve the warranty process and ensures a superior level of customer service while delivering profitability. Benefits of a Warranty Management Software In general, warranty management software helps ensure uniform standards in warranty processes while providing increased transparency and communication between manufacturers, suppliers manufacturers. Let’s look at some of the additional specific benefits: Reduce warranty costs Technology can help manufacturers streamline processes in a way that can save time and shorten the service life-cycle, and as a result, reduce costs. APCQ (American Productivity & Quality Center) found that the more digitally mature an organization’s supply chain, the lower the warranty costs. Costs are found to drop from 3.5 % of sales when decisions are made based on analyzing past actions. Improve aftermarket excellence Reduced errors, faster resolutions, and accuracy in troubleshooting are the benefits of a warranty software solution, which improves customer satisfaction and builds a reputation for aftermarket excellence. Gain real-time intelligence  Due to the digitization of many aspects of the manufacturing process, proper warranty management can offer manufacturers the ability to view in almost real-time the service experience and product usage across the entire service life-cycle. As data starts getting captured by more connected devices such as IoTs and automated warranty systems, manufacturers can analyze and avail near real-time insights into product performance and service status. Reduce fraudulent activity AI-based systems are using image recognition to identify fraudulent claims in a faster and more cost-efficient way. Machine learning algorithms are trained using thousands of images and can detect real issues against digitally manipulated images or past claims. Improve processes Warranty management software offers a closed-loop approach that can help optimize the claims procedure. By reducing operational discrepancies, warranty management can help manufacturers improve the process incrementally. Increase visibility between teams Often, teams across the service life-cycle don’t have visibility into warranty information, products, assets, and customer information.  Access to service data can help all stakeholders have clear communication and visibility, improving collaboration. Optimize revenue Warranty management systems can help reduce losses incurred due to logistic delays or fraudulent claims. Time spent analyzing claims can also be minimized, saving resources and enhancing productivity, which can make warranty management a more cost-effective process. Tavant offers manufacturers an AI-driven, next-generation warranty management solution, which has helped organizations reduce warranty costs, increase supplier recovery, and improve aftermarket excellence. Talk to us for more information. SOURCES: https://corpuat.tavant.com/products/warranty-management/ https://www.sdcexec.com/sourcing-procurement/article/21196030/apqc-metric-of-the-month-reducing-warranty-costs-as-a-percentage-of-sales https://www.idc.com/

Data Analytics: A Catalyst for Change in Service Life-cycle Management

The past few years have seen manufacturers look at their aftermarket services management in a completely new way. While technology and digitization have largely driven this change, the recent global pandemic has rocketed the drive for remote yet effective service support to ensure that customer requirement are still seamlessly met. Tech Innovations and the Flood Called Data The inadvertent result of this upsurge in digitization has been the data. Data, which is often collected from disparate sources, is now becoming a big challenge and an opportunity for manufacturers. With the adaptation of technology, many manufacturers can capture and utilize data but fail to do so. Why Measurement Matters Data-driven manufacturing is in the realm of being seen as a strategic necessity that can help manufacturers compete effectively. And with the application of analytics, manufacturers, suppliers, and distributors can achieve significant value in speed and operational efficiency. The ability to measure and use data is also leading manufacturers to offer services based on usage, uptime/downtime, and create value for customers through personalization. Let’s look at some of the key uses of data analytics and how it will impact manufacturers. Manage Demand and Supply Chains Data analytics is helping manufacturers understand the cost and efficiency of every aspect of the product lifecycle, from suppliers to customer usage. By analyzing the parameters and conditions that impact the supply chain from all angles, businesses can uncover problems such as hidden bottlenecks or unprofitable production lines. As a result, they gain insight into the conditions that affect the complete profitability of an integrated supply chain and learn how best to capitalize on given conditions. Forecast Demand for Products & Services Manufacturers can combine data with predictive analytical tools to create an accurate projection of purchasing trends. Insights driven by analytics can even help manufacturers understand how well lines are operating, enabling smarter risk management decisions. The ability to analyze when warranties are expiring can also result in additional service revenue channels for manufacturers. IoT solutions for asset management offer real-time alerts, enabling manufacturers to act quickly, and minimize losses from delayed, damaged, or lost goods. Proactive System Maintenance  Predictive maintenance is helping manufacturers increase their product lifetimes while preventing downtimes. It analyzes the historical performance data to forecast potential failure and further identify the cause of the problem. This is particularly effective in field service management, where predictive maintenance can result in tremendous savings. According to McKinsey, manufacturers using predictive maintenance typically reduce machine downtime by 30 to 50 percent and increase machine life by 20 to 40 percent. Optimize Machine Efficiencies and Utilization  Data analytics can significantly improve assembly-line efficiency by identifying bottlenecks and defects. With advanced analytics, manufacturers can ensure that machines operate at high efficiency, resulting in improved quality and increased productivity. Optimize Inventory and Warehouse Costs Efficiently Advanced analytics can be applied to improve product flow management, which positively impacts inventory operations while reducing unnecessary expenditure. For example, manufacturers can assess fill rates which can reduce stock-outs. Improved insights can help manufacturers know which locations/equipment are operating at an optimized level and improve other production centers and address warehousing deficiencies if any. Final Thoughts Enhancements Across the Service Life-cycle Analytics is enabling manufacturers to scale cloud-based operational intelligence, AI-enabled monitoring, diagnostics, and asset lifecycle management. AI-enabled digital technologies are seamlessly addressing service life-cycle challenges, increasing transparency across the process and functions, and creating a seamless and rich experience for the customers. SOURCES: http://www.wonderware.es/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/WhitePaper_InvensysandMicrosoft.pdf https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/operations/our-insights/manufacturing-analytics-unleashes-productivity-and-profitability   

Tavant Enables Kubota to Leverage AI to Accelerate Digital Transformation

SANTA CLARA, Calif., Jan 7, 2021 Tavant, a leading digital products and solutions company, today announced the implementation of AI-powered Tavant Manufacturing Analytics Platform (TMAP) at Kubota Tractor Corporation, a leading manufacturer of machinery equipment. The platform powers the Kubota Quality System (K-QA) to track equipment field defects. The new K-QA system predicts QA codes using AI, ensuring better data quality and greater accuracy in identifying the issues so that they can be resolved faster. The systems are now delivering an accuracy of over 93%. TMAP uses advanced artificial intelligence to generate actionable insights and exposes them with APIs for direct consumption in other systems. TMAP enables manufacturers to achieve cost leadership by improving their aftermarket operational efficiency and to increase revenue by leveraging the latest innovations in data analytics. TMAP KPIs leverage machine learning algorithms to adapt to environmental and process changes. In addition, this solution leverages Tavant’s comprehensive MLOps methodology for the end-to-end automation of the machine learning pipeline. “We are delighted to expand our partnership with Tavant, reflecting our confidence in the company’s strong artificial intelligence capabilities. K-QA now brings a whole new level of accuracy and allows Kubota to find and fix issues faster than ever. The solution also provides warranty analysts and QA engineers insights and powerful tools to look inside the data for emerging trends, root cause analysis, and validation of countermeasures.  Overall, the solution is a monumental achievement and provides a lot of value to Kubota, its dealers, and customers,” said Cristoph Nathan, Senior Director, Kubota. “AI-Powered TMAP helps manufacturers unleash the latent information in their data and deliver actionable business insights and predictions. The expansion of our collaboration with an industry leader such as Kubota is a testament to our unwavering commitment, data-driven mindset, and digital capabilities,” said Atul Varshneya, VP of Artificial Intelligence, Tavant. About Kubota Tractor Corporation Kubota Tractor Corporation, Grapevine, Texas, is the U.S. marketer and distributor of Kubota-engineered and manufactured machinery and equipment, including a complete line of tractors of up to 170 Gross hp, performance-matched implements, compact and utility-class construction equipment, consumer lawn and garden equipment, hay tools and spreaders, commercial turf products and utility vehicles. For product literature or dealer locations, contact: Kubota Tractor Corporation, 1000 Kubota Drive, Grapevine, TX 76051, (888) 4-KUBOTA [(888) 458-2682], Ext. 900, or visit  https://www.kubota.com/. Find Tavant on LinkedIn and Twitter. Contacts Vibhor Mishra Tavant 866-9-TAVANT [email protected]