Sustainability in Aftersales & Service

Best practices for greater sustainability

Sustainability requires a rethink from machine and plant manufacturers. As employees in aftersales and service are the interface between internal departments and customers, they have the opportunity to actively shape this change. We present some specific approaches.

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In our “Greater Sustainability in Machine Construction with Aftersales and Service” blog post, we addressed sustainability dimensions in machine and plant manufacturing (ecological, social and economic), and the question of the role played by aftersales and service.

But what specific sustainability measures can aftersales and service employees implement, and what tools do they need?

Dimension 1: Ecological measures

Both energy-saving measures and service digitalization help to reduce the carbon footprint. For example, if your customers have a digital spare parts catalog for seeing at a glance which spare parts they need and whether they are in stock, their return rates and shipping emissions will be reduced.

Predictive maintenance and digital operational planning also increase sustainability – because they reduce the travel activity and associated emissions of technicians to a minimum.

Implementation: Digital service

Digital tools are available to help you implement ecological measures. You use them to digitalize and consolidate spare part information and technical documentation, and both you and your customers enjoy the benefits that sustainability provides:

Spare parts catalogs with a shop link make it easier for customers to order spare parts. Orders can be combined, to cut CO2 emissions.
Field service management software enables the service department to plan maintenance with more foresight, and improve the first-time-fix rate. Precisely planned maintenance also reduces expensive downtimes for operators.
Online service portals, digital step-by-step instructions, and remote maintenance give your customers the freedom to carry out simple activities on their machinery and systems themselves, and make many of the trips unnecessary.
Sustainable technical documentation, e.g. having digital manuals with an intelligent search function and efficient version management, reduce paper and energy consumption, and help to minimize the ecological footprint. This is easily done with a professional content management system, for example.

Dimension 2: Social measures

Sustainable practices put the focus on people – an important aspect due to the shortage of skilled workers. The social measures should therefore take the needs of service employees into account.

These include:

flexible working hours,
remote working, and
professional and personal development.

To ensure that new employees can be trained more quickly, and that the company retains the know-how of departing colleagues, the knowledge must be organized in such a way that it is interconnected, digital and transparent.

Implementation: Central knowledge platform

Information about servicing and repair, as well as spare part information and technical documentation, are well organized in a central knowledge base. This pool of knowledge benefits both your aftersales team and your customers.

Example: If step-by-step instructions are directly linked to the technical documentation and spare parts, it reduces the workload for the employees of manufacturers and customers.

Dimension 3: Economic measures

Your aftersales employees support customers beyond the actual machine purchase. Long-term thinking is part of their job – as well as being essential for economical business practices. By optimizing the customer experience, repair services or retrofit measures, service teams improve the long-term profitability of their company and their customers.

The VDMA also sees service-based business models, such as product as a service, pay-per-part, or leasing models and deposit systems, as drivers of economic sustainability in machine construction.

According to the VDMA guide to circular business models, retrofitting and refurbishment – that is, the modernization and general overhaul of used parts and machines – are another important lever for sustainability.

Implementation: Durable products

Maintenance and servicing measures extend the service life of your machinery. Your company has less need to restart production, and uses up fewer resources. Although this does mean a drop in revenue.

Aftersales & service make up the deficit by monetizing new business models, for example, by coordinating refurbishment, retrofitting, or remanufacturing: Used machines and spare parts do not end up on the scrap heap, instead they are repaired, partially renewed, upgraded or re-used as second-life products.

Implementation: For these so-called R-measures, manufacturers have to know exactly where their products are being used, and what maintenance has already been performed. Digital twins can provide this information.

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How do manufacturers and their customers benefit from sustainability in service?

Sustainability measures reduce your carbon footprint and improve your image. There are also many other benefits for you and your customers to enjoy:

sustainable service compensates for the fall in the new machine business
more attractive to job applicants
assured implementation of statutory sustainability requirements
a better customer experience
greater process efficiency – internally, and for your customers
cost savings due to digital processes
fewer resources are consumed
digitalization in aftersales & service counteracts the shortage of skilled workers

What challenges must you overcome now?

Machine and plant manufacturers are aware of the importance of sustainability. But despite this, not all companies pursue a comprehensive sustainability strategy. After all, according to an IDC sustainability study, the lack of skilled workers and specialist knowledge is the problem. Obsolete IT systems are an additional obstacle.

Digitalization allows you to overcome these challenges and attract new talent to help you achieve the desired sustainability targets.

Graphic based on the study.

Overcoming obstacles on the path to sustainability with Quanos InfoTwin

A joint sustainability project requires a shared knowledge base created by Quanos InfoTwin: The cloud solution links product documentation with spare part and service information, and provides all the necessary data for efficient aftersales and service processes.

Manufacturers and operators are also given valuable insights into the status of their assets, which enable them to optimize the entire product lifecycle.

With Quanos InfoTwin, both sides achieve improvements in various areas:

Digitalization of spare part information and technical documentation
Displaying and monitoring important service KPIs
Knowledge platform for aftersales & service
Maintenance support through the “Service Activities” capability
Application engineering efficiency
Avoiding errors that cost resources and money
Saving time on training employees
More precise spare part identification by incorporating 3D models

Digital twins in aftersales & service reduce the workload for employees and give them more time to develop and improve sustainable business models.