Starting up Field Service

I always give the customer the options available and EXPLAIN the possible outcomes.

Makes them feel more comfortable and they have the liability!!

When involved with FS before, it was always the policy that if you tinker with our machinery then you violate the warranty. Period. After that stake is driven into the ground, THEN you start negotiating with the desparate customers with down machinery and the tight-fisted Purchasing Department trolls threatening all sorts of unpleasant things in order to get their sources of revenue back up and running as soon as possible for the least cost. Parts sent in for warranty repair/replacement were always evaluated first before resolution was made ("uh, sir, I'm unable to warranty this part...I can't see the part serial number because of the fork-lift tire tracks are covering it").

This is the big game of equipment suppliers supporting their customers, and it is an expensive game. Some options that I have seen in action:

1) customers allowed to do some of their own repairs but only if they attend training classes
2) Maintenance Support subscriptions, and different levels (costs) of support subscriptions detailing spare parts issues, Technician dispatch priorities, etc etc etc
3) spare parts are always outrageously expensive because the customer is paying for the next-day delivery capability support when something fails
4) same for service tech dispatches
5) spare parts stored at the customer site...let them carry the costs
6) exploitation of the internet to provide online "how-to-fix" videos etc so that they can do it themselves

Variations / mixtures of the above. One needs to support their customers in the most efficient & economical way, but also to manage your cash, FS techs, and sanity. But one must be prepared for bad & obnoxious & demanding customers, and have planning & policies in place to handle that because the Sales force will want to give away the farm. Study up on your diplomatic & negotiating skills.

TygerDawg
Blue Technik LLC
Virtuoso Robotics Engineering

I am an engineer in the execution side of the business at an equipment packager, so take everything I say with a grain of salt. In my opinion a FS manager should perform the following (in no particular order of importance):

1) Ensure the root cause is understood and that the cause of the problem is rectified. Replacing a failed bearing will only result in another failure if the lubrication ducts are plugged. Nothing worse than curing the symptom rather than the disease. Your organization should reflect this in all its initial problem assessments.

2) Determine where the fault lies for the problem. This is critical for proper charging of labor. If a customer deleted lines of control code in their PLC any failures would be their fault, and they should be billed accordingly for the repairs. If the PLC was improperly programmed, that’s the companies fault and they can expect to pay. Sometimes this gets really murky, but that goes with the territory

3) Keep a crack team of field guys to perform the work. These people should be well trained on your equipment and have enough technical skills to handle most problems on the spot. They should also be able to tell when a problem is out of their league and call back to base to speak with an expert (in house expert, vendor expert, or consultant if necessary).

4) Relay back to the execution end of the organization the types of field problems being had, so they can be prevented in the future. Too often this is not done, and it is very frustrating to find out a common design had been problematic for years.

5) Always remember everyone in the company is on the same team. Playing the blame game when there is a problem doesn't get anyone anywhere while there is a problem, save the blame for a root cause analysis report on the failure. Don’t name names, just list out what was done incorrectly and how it led to failure (trust me, everyone will know who was responsible). All failures that are the companies fault should have a root cause analysis report for presentation to the execution and sales end of the business.

6) Keep the costumer happy. Your organization will only be called in when there is a problem. It won't matter that it worked flawlessly for 3 years prior, It's broken now and they will be mad. All of your field service technicians should have disarming and positive personalities and can do attitudes.

7) Ensure your group keeps track of warranties during repairs. Inform the client of their warranty situation. How you handle warranties when a client performs their own repairs will be up to your company’s internal policies.
Just my two cents worth.


Always remember, free advice is worth exactly what you pay for it!

Thank you all. Let me take it from the top :

MiketheEngineer :
Honesty and clarity are indeed the best policy IMO - I intend to pursue that.

tygerdawg :
1. I want them to repair simple parts by themselves - replacing a power-adapter with a standard connector should not be a problem for an electrician in a factory.

2. We had that when I was an FSE - good method, our machine is robust and simple, but we are planning to introduce other systems too.

3. I don't like that rip-off game and don't want to play it, when suppliers do it to me I really get POed and be sure I will fix myself if I can and never buy from them again.

4. Same same....

5. This means you have to guess what can go wrong.... and in the EU 90% of everything is managed on costs... Although I can stock parts with a high-failure probability.

6. I'm a fan of those. Since I train the customer how to install as well - it is much better to watch a video than read a zillion pages of text...


ColonelSanders83 :
1. one of the corner-stones of engineering IMO... I had to teach it to my physician...

2. This is based on point-1.

3. Ahum... Right now it is just me. The manufacturer and developer are in.... Japan... so also the knowledge transfer is difficult (language, mentality, business hours).

4. keeping a log and issuing a Failure Analysis report each time, for statistical analysis. I also talk to the end-user periodically - so they know I have not forgotten them and they give me feedback on the system I then use to make recommendation for further development.

5. I'm the only engineer (and technical manager at it right now) colleagues are always supportive.

6. Tell me about it... This is exactly what I'm trying to achieve with proper planning.

7. good point, so far the doc is only paper-copy and in Japanese, so I scan and save a PDF. The warranty will be a story, I'm thinking of covering only key components, and not cables or adapters which are standard parts and can be bought online anywhere if you can read a spec-sheet.

I have to edit a draft by the end of February. Again thank you for your feedback and please add anything you can - I'll keep track of it.



(Eng. Applied Physics)

Anyone here actually go out in Field Service?

Mike McCann
MMC Engineering
Motto: KISS
Motivation: Don't ask

Once in a while, yes.
When our designers had screwed up a new-ish design,
or when our service guys had tried everything they knew and still couldn't fix a problem with a superyacht's exhaust system, I went out and faced the pissed-off billionaires or their professionally nasty agents.

Since we were already losing money when I got up from my desk, I didn't worry too much about what anything cost or who would pay for it. Instead, I concentrated on not losing even more money, e.g. in court.

My priorities were:
- Figure out what went wrong.
- Find a way to fix it.
- Make the fix happen.
- Adjust the root cause to prevent reoccurrence.
- Document all the above, as it happened.

Long term, I think the documentation was the most important part. It gave our lawyers ammunition, and enabled me to improve the product with data that we got 'for free'.



Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

MikeHalloran :
Right about the documentation, generally engineers hate writing reports, but it is a necessity. My previous company won a claim from a supplier who screwed up due to documentation and emails I kept, this taught me never to delete anything.

msquared48 :
I used to do FS in north-west Europe a few years ago when i started out. Not a lot of people were able to handle lasers and optical components, so the outsource of the (US based) company did not work out very well. The FS policies and rules were copied from the US because the company was based in that market, so managing an existing FS is not the same as starting up one... Especially I can not exactly copy the policies from our Japanese HQ.... This would totally not work in Europe at all.

But I'm getting some useful input here and we have first of all introduced one of our more simple systems as a trial... The more complex systems are still coming...

(Eng. Applied Physics)

I've done it. As an Applications Engineer, I was sent to customers when our FS Techs couldn't resolve the issues. One company supported me well, backed up my decisions, and ran interference with the customers. Another company regularly parachuted me into hostile territory without weapons or ammunition, and left me to fend for myself. It was their unwritten philosophy that if they sent a warm body to a problem, then they have satisfied the company's obligations. A terrible, dysfunctional, sick, poorly managed company, that was.

Regarding your reluctance to charge high costs for parts, you may quite likely change your position. Selling equipment, especially "standard-design" equipment and not "custom-design" equipment, seems to follow a standard formula. Sell the equipment at a low margin because you are competing with all the other companies on cost for Capital Funds. But if you provide superior service and support, your customers will call you without hesitation. And they'll spend freely because their equipment is down, and they'll spend Expense Funds. There's generally no limit to Expense Funds, but Capital is limited. The trick is to actually build reliable equipment so that you don't have to accidently annoy your customers.

Companies use Spare Parts and Field Service & Support as the means to make substantial profit contribution for the company, while equipment sales will keep the lights on. You may have altruistic notions about how your customer is treated, but you really should focus on what brings revenue to your own company and keeps your paycheck coming.

TygerDawg
Blue Technik LLC
Virtuoso Robotics Engineering

tygerdawg : LOFL at that "sending a warm body to a problem" description...

Custom-made parts are a different story - then the customer pays for engineering not only standard parts.

ya I guess I might be a bit of an idealist there - an approach I'm quite certain will not be reciprocated by most customers when they are out to milk-the-max...

But let's say a customer destroyed by mistake a cable used in our equipment - which is a standard cable, I'd rather give them the spec-sheet and tell them what adapter to buy - but not get involved myself. However - what is then my responsibility (I told them which adapter to buy) and what do I do with the warranty (remove warranty from self-replaced standard parts, and maybe i can give the customer the choice on that ?).

(Eng. Applied Physics)

That's rather naive. In your example you have now handed over quality control to the maker of the equivalent cable. Say he goes down to Best Buy and buys a computer RCA to RCA instead of a real one? Might be OK. Might not.

Cheers

Greg Locock

I rarely exceed 1.79 x 10^12 furlongs per fortnight

Hi greg, my other option is to have the system sent back to me, since the original adapter from Japan is not even sold in the EU, I still have to buy something local (standard product which I can buy at the HW store), I test briefly and ship back to the customer, I charge them some x3 the adapter price (that was what I REALLY did in this case).

However, had I taken the time to perform complete tests (immunity, durability....) it would take me MONTHS, just for one adapter.

Shipping just an adapter from Japan (our factory also buys the adapters from another company) would take weeks and cost 8-10 times the adapter price...

so what is the best option in this specific case ?

(Eng. Applied Physics)

Oh and another thing..... When I registered here I selected (Electrical) for my field - because my real field (Applied Physics) was not available.

Now even when I go back to my "Personal profile" I'm unable to change this selection, it appears nowhere.

How do I change it ? An off-topic question - sorry :S

(Eng. Applied Physics)

You should be sourcing your spares in exactly the same way as the original parts that went into the machine, and to the same spec. Is your organisation ISO 9000 compliant?

Cheers

Greg Locock

I rarely exceed 1.79 x 10^12 furlongs per fortnight