Effective and efficient aftermarket service & logistics activities are of prime importance to OEMs as creators of high value products and equipment: extending the ability to enhance ROI for the final customer, maximising ongoing service as a multiplier of equipment/product benefit, ensuring customer satisfaction, and enhancing overall brand experience.
Optimise customer experience, service costs, quality & lifetime value
Aftermarket service & logistics provision involves the return up the supply chain process from the final point of use to further capture value, or for proper disposal/replenishment of goods. The services we provide to our OEM clients can be classified into three main areas: reverse logistics, repair & refurbishment, and spares & maintenance.
Reduce servicing costs, and providing efficient inventory management with a wide range of service provision:
— Asset recovery (including pallets, bins, kits)
— Excess inventory processing
— Seasonal goods conciliation
— Damaged goods/returns
— Restocking
— Salvaging
— Obsolete equipment disposition
— Inventory Control & Traffic
— Shelf-life management
— Re-working
— Re-packing
— Re-labelling
— Testing
— Product recall management
— Product life cycle/recycling programmes
Aftermarket service areas
Service and support take centre stage in the customer experience let OEM products shine after they have been delivered to the end user. This post-sales support service for OEMs provides their own clients with excellence in ongoing equipment usage, and customer support. This return movement of goods from final point of use includes the managing and mapping of parts needs, planned/anticipated returns and the accompanying warehousing/kitting services.
— RMA (return material authorisation due to defect) servicing
— Return to vendor
— Recycling
— Asset recovery
— Returns inspection and disposition
— Replacement/warranty check
— Return parts verification
Combining warehousing, transport, procurement, and expert staffing functions allows faster, more resilient service provision of returns, whether repairing, refurbishing, or recycling. They allow OEM customers to extract the most value from high value and long lifespan products, while providing greater customer retention and service levels. The management of product life cycles are key to customer satisfaction, for retaining business, building company reputation, and increasingly important environmental and sustainability criteria.
— Screening & quality testing
— Mechanical and visual inspection
— Module replacement
— Technical inspection
— Dismantling
— Refurbishment
— Parts upgrades
The scope of this service activity includes all supplier functions from: identification/parts coding, procurement, quality inspection, stocking, kitting, and supplier management.
Managing the service level of maintenance is a fundamental factor in the lifetime operating performance of high value OEM products and equipment, and key to providing the best value in spares provisioning.
Unavailability of key spares, whether due to lack of accessibility or timing, has serious implications for service disruption to clients, along with negative impact on product use and equipment availability. It may have serious impacts on reducing the goods quality (supply of sub-standard parts), cause danger to operators/users, and cause other environmental hazards.
Efficient provision of a maintenance and spares inventory system reduces downtime and inventory costs, and improves safety and working capital supply.
— Stock transparency
— Consolidation of parts delivery & transport
— ISO-certified warehousing
— Kitting and parts assembly
— Quality control & inspection
— Re-working, re-packing, re-labelling
— Extensive supply network for parts provision
— Just-in-time field delivery
— Expert logistics personnel
A highly proficient aftermarket solution transforms a company from equipment provider to that of an ongoing end-to-end agent of client needs, providing a wrap-around service that establishes customer service excellence. This ongoing servicing and client support can provide up to 35% of OEM revenues. Inexperienced and inefficient reverse logistics is seen by over a fifth of companies as the main blocker to aftermarket service profitability (*IFS research).
In the same way it makes sense to outsource other inventory and supply chain processes to an outside specialist, this applies to the aftersales process. Smaller OEMs especially can focus on primary product development, production and marketing while leaving parts and inventory management, repair, refurbishment and maintenance to a quality logistics specialist such as Acorn. Explore with us about how we can contribute to an amazing aftersales solution for your company.
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