Repair Flow
The repair process should start as soon as the equipment is received. As the equipment is unpacked and checked for shipping damage, technicians could be given a break from their normal repair and inspect the equipment for the depth of repair that may be required. You may want to rotate this job between each technician and pull as many as needed to complete this stage quickly, trying to keep this inspection period down to an hour or less.
Repairs should be flagged as to the difficulty estimated. Pictures taken of the condition that the equipment arrived and the customer notified if shipping damage has occurred.
The equipment should not be placed back into it’s shipping container, this just duplicates the work of packing and unpacking and wasting time. Have plenty of carts designed for repair. Secure the equipment to the carts and tag with the Return Material Approval number (RMA number), and cover the equipment with clear static proof plastic to prevent dust from collecting and creating more work.
Repairs that have been tagged as quick and easy repairs should be moved directly to the repair area, or better yet, repaired right there in the shipping area. It might even be possible to return some of the units the same day.
The estimated medium repair time units, units that the problem is obvious but time will be required to replace the bad parts, should be moved near the parts stock area with a list of needed parts. The part’s depot person can then pull the required parts and place them on the cart or on the lower shelf of the cart for the technician.
The estimated hard to repair units, units where the bad parts are not known or are in question should be moved to the challenge staging area. I say challenge, because this is where the fun begins. There should be an atmosphere of competitiveness in the work center to see who can get to these units and accept the challenge.
The Easy repairs should be completed first, before anyone is allowed to return to the hard units they may be currently working on.
Next the medium repairs should be cleaned up. This should be considered mundane work of just replacing parts.
The first technicians completing the above repairs could then move on to completing the harder repairs they were previously working on or select the challenge of their choice. This removes the need for tying up someone assigning work loads. This also reduces and tension that may develop from favoritism being exercised or maybe just the feeling of some employees that this is happing. The better technicians will start to surface and no one should be able to question the results.
The repair flow should be kept short, stay out of major traffic flow areas and do not block other work areas. A moving chain in the floor to transport the work carts to the assigned areas would be a time saver also. These are available with pins attached to the carts that hook into the moving chain or cable in the floor slot.
There could be two possible routes for the equipment, to parts or to the hard repair staging area. The easy repair area should be near by or in the inspection area.
With the repairs now flagged in three categories Easy, Medium and Hard, each unit is removed from the questionable area of cost and time and the customer can make appropriate plans.
Tracking the Repair
Pictures should be taken at each stage of the repair and posted on a web page by the RMA number for repair tracking. E-mails should be sent to the customer when the equipment arrives, with pictures. E-mails should be sent with the rough estimate of time and labor as soon as the preliminary inspection is complete. This e-mail should be clear that this is only a preliminary estimate and that a more refined estimate will follow. If this is a warranty repair then the estimate would be for time only. If the repair is not a warranty repair then you may want approval to continue with the repair, with the understanding that an updated estimate will be sent when the problem is identified.
You may also want to consider offering replacement options with each estimate along with any upgrade recommendations offered by sales. It may be good to copy sales in on the estimate and recommendations for possible follow up by sales. This could be automated based on the previous time studies for cost to repair each area. For example, if the estimate for the repair was $1,500 and a replacement or upgraded unit was $5,000 and support for the unit under repair would be only be for the next five years, with sales allowing a $1,000 trade in of the old unit toward an upgrade, then I am sure the customer would like to know this before spending the $1,500 for the repair.
Tracking of the repair should be easy and available for the customer so that they can check on the status at any time. This should be an automatic update sent to the customer so that they will not have to call and check on the progress of the repair.
Use of a Web site for status of repairs
The use of a web site for the posting of the status of the ongoing repair, would be a very inexpensive and attractive feature for customers. Large blocks of web storage space are now being offered, 1,000 Mb for as low $20.00 / month. You could upload an updated web page (a html document) to the web site using the RMA number as the name of the document and e-mail the link to the customer advising them that they can view the status pictures of the repair in progress.
The web page would start with the report of shipping condition, of course with pictures. The parts’ department would update the site with pictures of the parts on the cart and the technician could update the site at any time during the repair stage with added pictures.
And when the equipment is shipped a picture of the well-packaged equipment along with a tracking number could be posted to the web site. The web page could remain available for a given time frame and be used for future repair reference and even training.
Customer relations, contact with the customer
You cannot make too many calls to the customer, it is their equipment and they are eager to hear about the progress and discuss the problem in detail. If the symptoms are not obvious, then the technician should place a call, if the status of the repair changes then e- mails should be sent. Any time the technician needs information a telephone call should be made and any time a repair is completed or the equipment is moved to final check out then e-mails should be sent.
Complete details of the problem and the correction should be sent to the customer. Let the customer know if the product is getting close to the end of the product life and how long parts or service will be available. This will enable the customer to plan for the future.
Try to always give the impression that they are dealing with a small repair center where they can get to know the repair person and feel free to call for technical support.
Let them know about customer training classes, new products and new features that will help the end user with the operation of the equipment.
Use the customer’s name frequently during discussions, comment on a good maintained unit and try to thank them for using your company’s product. Avoid negative comments and highlight positive actions they have taken as well as the better features of the equipment. The customer may not have been aware of a simple test or adjustment they could have made to avoid the service call or repair, so be sure to mention these or list them in the final service report.
Should the customer have to make more than the first call?
I believe that this is where we tend to get into trouble with the customer. We should take ownership of the problem, letting the customer know that we care are doing all that we possibly can to repair and return the unit as soon as possible. We should take the lead in always making the call to the customer, to show them that their repair is the most important repair we have in the shop. Shipping companies have realized this and have set up easy tracking systems for their customers. We in service should do the same.
Are feedback forms needed?
If we are making contact with the customer and having discussions with them about our problem with the equipment, we will be getting the feedback and unnecessary forms are not needed. Why create extra work for customers by asking for feedback forms to be completed and sent back? If we fail to deliver on time or return equipment that is not up to standards, we will know it and I am sure that the customer will not only let us know about a poor repair, but others that they contact with as well. A happy customer is one that comes back and buys more of our products.
How do you measure customer satisfaction?
Customers that are pleased with our service will generally let us know, We have had customers send us gifts, cards and sometimes letters to management. If we are not hearing positive feedback from our customers, then we should be working harder until that positive feedback starts to flow. Use your liaison contact with the sales department to inquire if a customer is satisfied, A customer is more likely to let sales know if they are not happy with a repair than let us know directly. This will also give sales an opening to review the customer’s needs.
I would not expect feedback from every customer. However, I would set a goal of say 5%, and then every three months, compare the cases of positive feedback with the number of repairs. Be sure to check with sales to see if they have had any customer comments about repairs, positive or negative. If the service person receives a thanks for an update on the repair or a call after the repair, then have them send you a quick e-mail with a subject line only. The subject lines need only say Positive/Negative feedback, you would then be able to see if you are meeting your goals. Avoid any long forms or lengthy comments. You may not need the details only the numbers. Be sure that the service persons understand what management is looking for, a small measure of results and not a lengthy detail report to get someone in trouble.
Sending the e-mail to sales checking on any feedback on a regular basis will also send a positive message to sales that the service department is concerned about our customers and is working hard to improve the image of the company.
Keeping Sales involved
The sales department is not our enemy. They are one of our customers. We should do every thing possible to help them promote our products and understand the operation of our products. We should keep them informed of problems by using the product group contact person, keeping them advised of product changes. The relationship we build between sales, manufacturing and the customer will be the key to our survival.
Keep sales advised of the life of each current product and when a product comes in for repair that is close to the end of the repair (parts becoming harder to acquire), sent the customer information to sales as a sales lead.
Always take the initiative with sales, this way they will know that they can count on the service department for the latest information, not only relating to the product, but also about the customer and manufacturing changes. Remember that information is the key to success.
When I was working every day in a technical support role, I believe that I was so close to the problems that I could not see the overall picture. You go in each day and face the day to day challenges and your mind is centered on these and not much else. Now that I have been away from service for about a year and started to reflect back on my career I see things a little different. It’s like working on a problem and then when you get away from it for a while, things begin to clear up and answers start to come.
For complete paper on The Service Department, Please visit my web site at:
hucosystems.com/
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