Effective Warranty Management

Most manufacturing organizations are very sluggish in detecting and correcting product failures and operational problems. In some industries corrective actions may lag 6 to 12 months behind the first occurrence of product failure, generating massive losses in unnecessary warranty claims, bad production, and customer dissatisfaction. Many factors contribute to this challenge, including technological complexity, elaborate supply chain, outsourcing of manufacturing and support operations, and fragmented end user-manufacturer-data processes.

Warranty data is one of the few vital information sources about product operation and failures as well as an indicator to customer dissatisfaction. Yet, most organizations do not have a process to exploit this data to improve their ability to detect and respond to product problems in an effective manner and to ensure that these issues are not carried from one product design to the next.

Manufacturing Insights describes a complete product lifecycle approach where warranty data serves a key role in driving the product quality lifecycle of current and future products. The thrust of this approach is to create an agile organization that can detect product problems quickly and respond to them effectively and efficiently, minimizing warranty costs and incorporating the appropriate corrective actions into the supply chain and manufacturing processes.

This approach positions warranty as a critical component of product quality lifecycle management instead of as the supply chain accounting function it is in many organizations. It ensures that warranty drivers are incorporated into the manufacturing and supply chain execution strategies and that it uses a data-driven approach to product improvement opportunities that yield the highest return .

Manufacturing Insights will highlight the key drivers of product lifecycle costs, present how to use warranty data as a powerful tool for early detection of product problems, and how to reduce warranty costs and improve product quality throughout the product lifecycle.

Associated Advisory Services:

Emerging Manufacturing Agenda
Product Development Strategies

Related Research