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Preventive Treatment of Non-Quality in Aftersales

In order to prevent non-quality in Aftersales, the Aftersales Manager has to:

  • monitor every week the FRFT indicator
  • read customer verbatims for uncompleted interventions at first time
  • identify, with the support of his/her team, the  root causes of reworking or workshop return
  • define and implement action plans

 

Continuous Monitoring of the FRFT Indicator

Based on the results obtained, the Aftersales Manager  deepens the key processes that have a direct impact on possible reworks or returns to the workshops, following an approach based on a field survey, with the support of the “Key Risks of Workshop Returns in the Aftersales Customer Journey” tool.


Catalogue
See Section “Main Aftersales Indicators/ Fix Right First Time”

Identify and correct root causes of reworks and workshop returns

For each "return to the workshop" or "rework", a person (Workshop Foreman or Quality Controller) identified by the Aftersales Manager creates a tracking sheet to characterize:

  • defect
  • the categorization of the defect
  • frequency of this kind of rework or return (same complaint, defect) and Severity level (having a strong impact on Customer satisfaction, costs, security)
  • the “rework” or "Returns to the workshop" impact level

All the tracking sheets created are listed each week in a workbook that allows the Aftersales Manager to identify recurrences and action plans if applicable.

These tracking sheets must be classified by:

  • frequency (i.e. all "rework" or "Returns to the workshops" having a common root cause)
  • severity level (i.e. having a strong impact on Customer satisfaction, costs, security, ..)

For more recurring and/or more severe reworks / returns, the root cause must be identified and formalized.

To identify a root cause, the "5 Whys" method is helpful. For a given problem, the "why" question should be asked 5 times in order to identify the defect root cause. Don’t be limited to the identified 1st cause which can be the consequence of another cause.

For more information, see the "5 Whys" Method Explanation sheet“ and the following Link to a video showing the “5 Whys” method application: 

 

Disclaimer
The Aftersales Manager must be systematically informed of every return to the workshop or needed rework

Define and implement preventive Action Plans

At least once a month, the Aftersales Manager:

  • Deepens the analysis through the workshop rework and return tracking sheets
  • Define action plans for recurring or high Customer impact causes
  • Control the effectiveness of action plans:
    • Ensuring that the problems identified do not re-appear
    • By monitoring the improvement of quality results.

Each action plan must be formalized with:

  • The description of the action
  • The pilot and the contributors of the action plan
  • The necessary means or made available for the implementation of the action plan
  • The defined period for the implementation of the action plan
  • The criteria for success, if specified

To track these action plans and monitor their effectiveness,  you can use the “FRFT Action Plans Follow-up” tool, including:

  • A prioritization table of action plans, where you will indicate, for each root cause, its wording, frequency of occurrence and severity (tab 1)
  • A chart of action plans, where you will automatically find the wording of each root cause and define the pilot, contributors and the time frame for the action to be completed continuously (tab 2)
  • A table allowing you to track and control the non-reappearance of a root cause (tab 3)

This table can be shown and commented during the quality briefings. 


Disclaimer

Note each month the number of recurrences that may occur in the FRFT Action Plans Follow-up:

• if it reappears too frequently, the action plan is not effective in eliminating the problem and other actions need to be defined and implemented

• if it does not reappear after several months, consider that the action plan has been effective in solving the problem

Animate Action Plans and share results

The Aftersales Manager organizes:

  • a daily quality briefing in the early morning from 5 to 10 minutes with all the workshop staff
  • one meeting on action plans with Workshop Foreman or Quality Controller and Service Advisor each week
  • presentation of new action plans following analysis
  • follow-up of action plans in progress until their closure
  • a meeting to comment quality results with my Booking Operator, Service Advisor, Quality Controller and Workshop Foreman each month
  • every 3 months, a results synthesis meeting with all Aftersales staff

In addition, the Aftersales Manager has to set up a visual animation area that serves as a support for the team(s).

The items that can be displayed are:

  • The tracking table of "reworks" and "returns to workshop”
  • The action plan and root causes non-reappearance tracking table
  • The workshop performances referred to the quality KPIs (FRFT, NPS, evolution of the number of returns and reworks, anomalies by root cause, return and rework financial costs, etc.,…)

The "Rework" and "Return" Workshop Tracking table allows to report all the tracking sheets created and must be enriched daily according to the observed "reworks" or "return" of the workshop. 


Associated tools