ASSIST

Global After-Sales Service Management for International Swiss Mechanical Engineering and Plant Construction Companies (CTI 7247.1 ESPP-ES)

Researchers:

A. Nobs, A. Minkus, Prof. M. Baertschi

Partners:

Academic:

ETH Center for Organisational and Occupational Sciences (PdA)

Industrial:

ABB Schweiz AG, High Voltage Products
Bucher-Guyer AG, Municipal Vehicles
Bystronic Laser AG
Gallus Ferd. Ruesch AG

Funding:

partially financed by CTI 7247.1 ESPP-ES

Web site:

www.assist.ethz.ch

Motivation

The mechanical engineering and plant construction industry is experiencing increasing competition. The progressive standardization of products is resulting in continuous erosion of margins. The reaction has been to provide additional services related to a particular product line: these provide manufacturers with a greater differentiation potential and thus a flexible revenue source. However, the efforts are mostly isolated as yet, which makes it difficult for a company to control the attached resources and processes – especially in the global provision of product-related services. An important aspect in this area is the management of relevant information for the provision of service products.

Objectives

The aim of the ASSIST project was to develop a set of concepts, techniques, and tools to foster and support the exchange of information in globally decentralized service organizations. On the one hand, this affects the flow of information from the technical departments such as R&D or assembly to the service units, where they build an important resource for the effective provision of the service offerings. On the other hand, the project examined the feedback of market knowledge from service contacts in order to develop and improve the company's value proposition to its customers.

Results

The project applied a combined action and case study research methodology in order to holistically analyze the current situation of the information exchange within the service organizations of the industrial partners. Besides the company-specific findings, the situation analysis produced general procedures to analyze and structure the relevant information in the context of their operational use and origin, respectively. Special emphasis was placed on the barriers that inhibit the proper exchange of information according to the different functional needs. Based on these findings, the project developed solution concepts for the acquisition, compilation, transfer, and retrieval of service-relevant information. The concepts are not restricted to technical tools but rather take into account the organizational aspects (i.e. the setup of effective information transfer processes with the corresponding responsibilities) as well as human aspects (e.g. motivational factors) in order to ensure a sustainable implementation of the planned information exchange.