Written by: Fernando Dominguez Ramos and Ricardo Herrera pictured above
The sheet metal industry continues to grow at a rapid pace, driven by continuous technological advancements and the introduction of new manufacturing and automation options. These innovations aim to maximize productivity, enhance flexibility to meet enduser requirements and reduce human intervention for safety purposes while minimizing or eliminating waste. Despite these advancements, there are instances where the rapid availability of spare parts and efficient service support fail to meet customers’ needs, thus jeopardizing the collaborative relationship between customers and manufacturing solution providers.
SUPPORTING EXCELLENCE
As new technologies are developed worldwide and globalization progresses, machinery imports to North America continue to increase. It is imperative to work together and recognize that success requires collaboration. It has become essential to establish a local customer support team to provide optimal service and application support promptly whenever required. This ensures customers can meet their manufacturing demands and achieve growth in sales and profit.
It is widely understood that although the sales department secures the initial sale of machinery, the service department ensures repeat business. Even if the machinery provided is world class, inadequate customer support and lack of spare parts availability will lead users to seek alternatives that fulfill their immediate response needs.
UNDERSTAND NEEDS, BUILD LONG-TERM TRUST
The process should be transparent from start to finish, understanding the customer’s needs and adapting the offered solution to align with their budget, production requirements, growing expectations and the machine’s honest capabilities. This is followed by providing necessary training programs and routine maintenance and responding promptly to service and spare parts requirements in case of machine downtime. Building trust with business partners takes significant time, and it can be easily broken with a single mishandled situation.
ELEVATING FIELD SERVICE
While local service can provide a quick response to customer issues, the effort is futile if the problem cannot be resolved within a reasonable time frame. Knowledge and persistence must drive the culture within the service department, and continuous training is necessary to develop understanding and foster talent within the industry. Being able to understand and troubleshoot the complexities behind the scenes is key to reliably resolving issues.
Companies should aim to set a new standard of excellence in field service through ongoing internal training and ensuring efficient communication between customers and internal departments, including spare parts, applications, service and sales. By building bridges to facilitate rapid information flow, a phone support specialist can gather initial information and provide a first possible solution in seconds. Remote and virtual support is available within minutes of a failure’s occurrence, and with an increasing number of localized service engineers, on-site service visits can be scheduled more promptly.
LOCALIZATION
China-based HSG Laser has seen firsthand how the establishment of local service networks can significantly impact manufacturers’ success. HSG is currently dedicated to create a talented team of professionals who will excel in meeting the demands of this highly competitive and rapidly evolving market.
HSG also is expanding its local spare parts inventory in North America, and plans to establish new training, solution and manufacturing centers in the region. HSG Laser U.S. is located in Addison, Illinois. Ongoing localization efforts and continuous expansion will build trust with the machinery builder’s business partners. As HSG’s reputation grows, the company will continue to focus on providing quality machinery and offering strong customer support, ensuring reliability and access for many years to come.
HSG Laser USA, hsglaser.com.
