Managing Automation - September 2008 - (Page 32)

SPECIAL REPORT CO-HIGH ACHIEVER: CUSTOMER MASTERY JUNIPER NETWORKS High-tech manufacturer slashes costs and improves customer satisfaction by automating and integrating service parts management processes. BY JEFF MOAD J uniper Networks’ customers depend on the company’s routers, switches, software, and other networking equipment to run and secure the wide-area networks that they use each day to communicate with partners, staff, and employees. It’s not surprising, then, that most of its customers expect that when a piece of Juniper’s equipment stops working, it will get fixed Juniper Networks Revenue: $2.5 billion Location: Sunnyvale, CA Industry: Internet Protocol networking hardware and software Project name: Global Service Parts Planning Project leader: Steve Blaz, vice president, global service operations Core technology: Servigistics Service Parts Management software ROI/Business benefit: $3.5 million savings in parts reallocation, 13% reduction in operating expenses, 15% improvement in on-time parts delivery, 27% improvement in on-time service parts delivery STEVE BLAZ Vice President Global Services Operations quickly. Almost all of Juniper’s customers have signed service contracts that require failed equipment to be fixed or replaced the same or the next day. Some of Juniper’s customers have service-level agreements (SLAs) in place that require replacement or repair within four hours. Unfortunately, until fairly recently, Juniper too often failed to live up to all of its SLA commitments. That’s because the processes and systems that Juniper used to plan and requisition the repair parts needed to fix field units were largely manual and unable to keep up with its rapidly growing business. Juniper’s customer satisfaction ratings were mediocre, and the company was having trouble selling premium service contracts. Two years ago, however, Juniper decided to replace the manual processes for planning, tracking, and requisitioning service parts with a new system that integrates with the company’s order management, call tracking, and contract management applications, and allows Juniper to do a better job of spare parts planning, procurement, and allocation. The Service Parts Management system from Servigistics initially allowed Juniper to recoup $3.5 million worth of inventory through proper reallocation in 2006. Since then, the system has helped Juniper cut operating expenses 13%, increase material availability by 15%, improve on-time spare parts delivery across all levels of service by 27%, and reduce customer dissatisfaction by 40%. Those results persuaded Managing Automation Progressive Manufacturing Awards judges to bestow the High Achiever award for Customer Mastery on Juniper Networks. “I was impressed that they did all of this in just four months and that they were combining information from a lot of different areas in the company to improve customer ser vice,” says Chris Knuffman, engineering project manager at Quincy Compressor, a 2007 Progressive Manufacturing Award winner and 2008 awards program judge. Before Juniper implemented the Servigistics application, the company’s Global Ser vice Organization had attempted to plan and track service parts using shared spreadsheets. As the service network, installed base, and product list grew, errors began to creep in. The company, for example, runs 182 service parts depots around the world, maintains 40,000 different service parts, and services 40,000 active service contracts. “With the spreadsheets, we often couldn’t keep up with what parts had been consumed in a given location,” says Steve Blaz, vice president of global service operations at Juniper. “The system was error-prone and, as a consequence, we missed SLAs.” Now, when a customer calls Juniper’s technical assistance center or goes to the company’s Web site to get service help, the request is entered into Juniper’s calltracking system, which is integrated with the Servigistics tool. The system automatically checks order management and contract management systems, and determines how many needed spare parts are available at that moment. Support engineers can use the system to schedule spare shipments and repairs, and to inform customers when a technician can be expected. Servigistics is also integrated with Juniper’s field service dispatching application and UPS package shipment scheduling system. With the new system contributing to improved SLA performance, Juniper is finding it easier to sell customers on premium service packages. “When things aren’t working well, word travels pretty fast through the sales team and partner base, and that becomes a hindrance to selling,” Blaz says. “Thankfully, we’ve gotten beyond that.” ma September 32 2008

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Managing Automation - September 2008

Managing Automation - September 2008 Contents Take 1 Letters Tech Vendors Defy Economic Slump by Plugging into Developing World Growth New E2open Chief Outlines Plan to Accelerate Growth Is This Marketing as It Used to Be or Something New? The OMAC Group Attempts to Widen Its Influence Automation Federation Names Chief, Plots Growth Notes Cover story: The Innovation Gap Special Report: Meet the Progressive Manufacturing High Achievers Progressive Manufacturer of the Year Business Model Mastery Innovation Mastery Customer Mastery Supply Network Mastery Data & Integration Mastery Education & Training Mastery Leadership Mastery Operational Excellence Mastery Special Report: Catching the Wireless Wave Part 1: No Clear Infrastructure Winner Part 2: Wireless Apps Take Wing Part 3: The Human Side of Wireless Product Scan Advertiser Index Next

Managing Automation - September 2008

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