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At a recent ARC Industry Forum during the “Service Performance Management by OEMs with Industrial IoT” session, we saw a case study presentation for improved field service by an OEM. Emerging technologies – especially IIoT and analytics – have opened an opportunity for higher customer satisfaction with repeat sales.
Ron Zielinski, Service VP at Coherent, Inc. provided insights for remote equipment servicing using IIoT. Coherent has 12 business units providing lasers and laser-based technology for the scientific, commercial, and industrial markets. Particularly for the industrial applications, the laser provides a critical part of material processing for which downtime is a key factor in determining customer satisfaction. Mr. Zielinski reminded session participants that, “It is five to ten times more expensive to acquire a new customer than to bring back a previous customer.”
To improve customer satisfaction, Coherent’s goal is higher uptime by avoiding needlessly sending the laser back to the factory, avoiding unnecessary field visits, and increasing the first-fix rate. The products are intelligent and often connected for remote health assessment. Guiding the customer through a repair reduces downtime by eliminating the need to wait for a technician to arrive on site or return to the factory. Mr. Zielinski covered two scenarios:
What's Next
In the future, Coherent will offer a condition monitoring and predictive maintenance service built on Microsoft Azure. The laser equipment will be attached to a PC that runs diagnostics and then sends the results to Azure. Analytics in the Azure cloud assesses condition and, when an issue is identified, notifies the assigned people among Coherent’s customer service, distribution channel, and/or the end customer.
Ron Zielinski, Service VP at Coherent, Inc. provided insights for remote equipment servicing using IIoT. Coherent has 12 business units providing lasers and laser-based technology for the scientific, commercial, and industrial markets. Particularly for the industrial applications, the laser provides a critical part of material processing for which downtime is a key factor in determining customer satisfaction. Mr. Zielinski reminded session participants that, “It is five to ten times more expensive to acquire a new customer than to bring back a previous customer.” To improve customer satisfaction, Coherent’s goal is higher uptime by avoiding needlessly sending the laser back to the factory, avoiding unnecessary field visits, and increasing the first-fix rate. The products are intelligent and often connected for remote health assessment. Guiding the customer through a repair reduces downtime by eliminating the need to wait for a technician to arrive on site or return to the factory. Mr. Zielinski covered two scenarios:
- Call response: Declining laser power output provides a good indicator of a pending problem. Coherent service people used this indicator to initiate a process to remotely assess condition and remotely recover performance or guide local personnel through the repair.
- Condition Monitoring: A “health check” using software running on a PC connected to the laser provides an assessment of its condition. Again, the company guided a local person through the repair.
What's Next
In the future, Coherent will offer a condition monitoring and predictive maintenance service built on Microsoft Azure. The laser equipment will be attached to a PC that runs diagnostics and then sends the results to Azure. Analytics in the Azure cloud assesses condition and, when an issue is identified, notifies the assigned people among Coherent’s customer service, distribution channel, and/or the end customer.