Changing from a product to a process perspective for service improvements in a manufacturing company

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate service improvements in a manufacturing context.

Design/methodology/approach

Action research at the gas turbine manufacturer Siemens was performed during a five‐year period. In addition, 336 fault reports sent to the service division concerning severity, cost, and occurrence were analyzed.

Findings

When moving from a fire‐fighting culture to a proactive culture, a company needs to change from a product to a process perspective. The benefit of changing from a product to a process perspective is the change in focus from reduction of internal costs to value creation through service delivery.

Practical implications

This paper shows how feedback from dissatisfied customers can be used as a driving factor in process improvements. Based on this knowledge, a company can select the most important Six Sigma projects to improve their service processes. The change from a product to a process perspective shows that traditionally the severity of almost 50 percent of all faults is underestimated.

Originality/value

The paper provides a number of fruitful insights on how to work with service improvements in manufacturing companies.

Citation

Cronemyr, P. and Witell, L. (2010), "Changing from a product to a process perspective for service improvements in a manufacturing company", The TQM Journal, Vol. 22 No. 1, pp. 26-40. https://doi.org/10.1108/17542731011009603