Manufacturing Executive - November 2008 - (Page 31) ments for current issues, preESOURCE CENTER emptively solve future issues, and also influence the next iterARTICLES: ation of the product design. Keeping Your Customers Waiting? As par t of its initiative, GE www.managingautomation.com/service5 Fanuc has revamped its automaInnovating the Service Chain (Beyond tion suppor t Web site, which Repair and Replace) involved replacing its legacy backwww.managingautomation.com/innovation5 end systems and centering the If It Ain’t Broke, Fix It? new solution on InQuira’s natuwww.managingautomation.com/warranty ral language search, knowledge COMPANIES MENTIONED: management software, and inteBaxter Planning Systems grated analytics. The new supwww.managingautomation.com/baxter KNOWLEDGE HARVEST por t site features self-ser vice InQuira GE Fanuc Intelligent Platforms, part of GE Enenhancements, including a knowlwww.managingautomation.com/inquira terprise Solutions, has taken Smith’s service data edge-base repository for docuOracle management message to heart. mentation and downloads, as well www.managingautomation.com/oracle3 “The benefits to managing service data are many as online case management Servigistics and include a deeply satisfied customer base that features, user forums, and conwww.managingautomation.com/servigistics stays with the product throughout the entire lifetent ratings. cycle,” says Scott Duhaime, product manager for InQuira’s knowledge manageGE Fanuc Intelligent Platforms’ GlobalCare techment software provides GE Fanuc with content nical support and maintenance service. authoring, publishing, and approval workflow GE Fanuc uses the InQuira tool to collect valuprocesses. InQuira’s integrated analytics will able “voice of customer” data from various eventually provide closed-loop feedback to ensources, including case data captured in each sure that both relevant and current content is service request. If, for example, a customer or available to meet customer needs. A closed-loop systems integrator requests a feature or function feedback system is critical for capturing and harthat is not supported in the current GE Fanuc vesting data. product, InQuira records the request. Then, as Using such a system, a manufacturer can take part of its new product introduction process, GE the information gathered and put it to work by Fanuc reviews information from InQuira when creating feedback that loops to service, proddeciding what new features to include. uct marketing, and product development in a “Obviously, every request cannot be included, continuous and systematic way. The closed-loop but those feature/function sets that make the process will be supported by GE Fanuc’s Siebel most sense to improve the product are included call center software, the online vBulletin service in the next release cycle,” Duhaime says. from Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd., and InQuira. The GE Fanuc project is expected to be com“Those [customer-suggested] feature/ pleted within the next five years, and the comfunction sets that make the most sense to pany anticipates payback on the initial implementation in 18 months or sooner. improve the product are included in the During the current, initial phase, which next release cycle.” — GE’s Duhaime consists of re-engineering the company’s automated support Web site, GE Fanuc expects InQuira’s system is capable of collecting an array customer satisfaction to improve and mainteof service information data — such as problems nance renewals to increase. According to the that customers may be encountering — by harcompany, there is anecdotal evidence to indivesting knowledge from sources such as call cencate that these things are already happening. ter calls, self-help interactions, and chats. InQuira As the implementation continues, the company can then set up analytical reports, and the knowlexpects to discover new and innovative ways to edge harvested from these reports can be fed into use InQuira’s software — using customer feedInQuira’s product quality index and a manufacturback to make future product enhancements. er’s product or service design processes. It doesn’t take the inductive reasoning With this type of ser vice data at its fingerprowess of Bacon to understand the power that tips, a manufacturer can determine exception GE Fanuc and other like-minded manufacturroot causes, such as what’s driving product failers have unleashed as a result of acquiring ure or quality problems, and then make adjustknowledge from service data. s talk to other customers about product and service exceptions and allows customer-to-customer interaction, customer-to-partner interaction, and customer-to-moderator interaction,” he says. “The system acquires knowledge by capturing this activity and feeding it into the product or service design process.” Manufacturers can use the product to put customer service experience into a product design knowledge base and then apply that knowledge to product management and development engineering change processes, Smith says. R November 2008 31 http://www.managingautomation.com/service5 http://www.managingautomation.com/innovation5 http://www.managingautomation.com/warranty http://www.managingautomation.com/baxter http://www.managingautomation.com/inquira http://www.managingautomation.com/oracle3 http://www.managingautomation.com/servigistics
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