A Passion to Serve
As
products commoditize, the battleground shifts to service excellence. Delivering
exceptional service requires a real passion infused throughout the organization—a
real desire to serve and make life easier for customers. It starts with how
personnel are trained, not just in the service organization but across the company.
But then it must be reinforced in every speech, every policy, and every gesture
until it becomes part of the heart and soul of the company.
The Evolving Role of the Design Engineer
When
the product alone was the primary basis of competition, the life of a design
engineer used to be a lot simpler. If you completed your project on time, within
budget, and met the "functional spec", you were golden. No more. Design engineers
are being asked to make an increasingly complex set of trade-offs (performance
versus manufacturability versus ease-of-use versus material cost versus environmental
requirements versus time-to-market versus transportation costs versus serviceability
versus localization versus reliability versus duties and tariffs, etc., etc.)
This mandates a very cross-functional and inter-enterprise approach to the design
process.
It
is widely understood that the majority of material costs for a product are "baked
in" during the design phase (see figure 1). The design engineer has a much greater
influence on the cost of goods than the procurement professional. Realizing
this, more advanced companies get their engineers and procurement people to
work together before the design is finalized.
SOURCE:
BOOTHROYD & DEWHURST
FIGURE 1
This
same concept applies to serviceability as part of the total lifecycle cost of
the product. In other words, the design of a product has a major impact on the
cost to assemble, package, ship, maintain, repair, and ultimately dispose of
or recycle the product. So in the enlightened company, the design engineer's
responsibilities include designing for serviceability. Engineers can improve
design-for-serviceability via
- Parts
rationalization
- Self-diagnostics
and remote diagnostics
- Design-for-reliability
- Design-for-ease-of-repair
Parts Rationalization
People
usually think of the benefits of parts rationalization on reducing raw materials
inventory. However, when the same part is used across many different products
AND in multiple generations of the same products it also greatly reduces
the amount of inventory required in the service chain and simplifies the repair
technician's job (fewer parts to carry on-site).
Self-diagnostics and Remote Diagnostics
Although
self-diagnostics do not belong in all products (e.g., low-cost consumer electronic
devices are basically disposable), the more complex, expensive, and mission
critical a product is, the more that built-in-diagnostics makes sense. And as
the cost of embedded computing and sensors continues to decline every year,
on-board diagnostics makes sense in more and more products. Built-in-diagnostics
help tremendously by
- Predicting
failure before it happens and thereby eliminating or reducing expensive downtime
-
Letting the repair technician know ahead of time exactly what parts they should
bring, often saving a trip
-
Enabling the skilled technician to guide the end user through simple repair
procedures remotely, resulting in instant correction of problems and eliminating
the technician's travel altogether
-
Reducing catastrophic failures that could result in extensive or irreparable
damage to the equipment and safety hazard to operators
Reliability
The
need for service is reduced when products are designed to be inherently more
reliable. The science of designing for reliability is quite mature, with proven
methodologies for analyzing, predicting, and improving reliability—e.g., analysis
(thermal, worst case, finite element, fault tree, etc.), simulation, and testing
(e.g., accelerated life testing), analysis of field failures to improve future
designs, etc.
Ease of Repair
Ease
of repair should be an explicit design goal, but it is often overlooked unless
A) the active involvement of service personnel early in the design process is
institutionalized and B) a mechanism for regular feedback from the field is
maintained. There are many methods to achieving it:
- Rationalize
and reduce the number of different repair tools required across products
-
Simplify replacement procedures
-
Use quick fasteners, as well as "fool-proof fasteners" and "fool-proof connectors"—designed
so that only the correct connections can be made when reassembling
-
Positioning the parts with greatest replacement frequency in the easiest to
replace places
-
"Hot swap" components—that can be replaced while the equipment is in use
-
Reducing or preferably eliminating the need for calibration and adjustment
Changes Required
The
methods for design-for-serviceability are not hard to understand. But they will
not be implemented unless design engineers are measured not just by the usual
metrics (budget, schedule, spec) but also on their contribution to serviceability
and the total lifecycle costs of a product. Very few companies do that today.
In
addition, the design process must be made very cross-functional. This means
moving to an "integrative organization" that has sourcing or procurement, manufacturing,
service, and suppliers all involved early in the design phase. This is part
of a broader philosophy of cross-functional cooperation that must be driven
from the top. It is difficult for champions to work across boundaries, even
if they are motivated, when the leaders are territorial and fighting turf wars.
Reaping the Benefits
It
may be true that the life of an engineer used to be a lot easier. But the life
of a customer was a lot harder. In an exceptional service organization, the
tables are turned and engineers put a lot of effort into designing for ease-of-use
and serviceability.
The
benefits of designing for serviceability are enormous. Warranty costs are lowered,
profitability rises, and customer satisfaction and loyalty increase. Over the
long term, highly reliable products and rapid service build a very strong brand
(think Mercedes and Toyota) that translates into increased competitiveness and
growing market share. Designing for serviceability is a great investment with
great monetary rewards, but also the satisfaction of knowing you've made life
easier for others.
This article is from
Parallax View, ChainLink Research's on-line magazine, read by over 150,000 supply
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About
the Author
Bill
McBeath, Chief Research Officer of ChainLink Research, leads ChainLink's
research efforts, as well as the procurement, strategic sourcing, design collaboration,
and on-line marketplaces practices.
Bill McBeath
can be reached at: bill.mcbeath@clresearch.com.
ChainLink
Research is a bold new supply chain research organization dedicated
to helping executives improve business performance and competitiveness.