You can also see this blog on our Avidyne Live site.
Improving the overall satisfaction of our customer
experience has been a high priority for Avidyne over the last eighteen
months. We started the process by
looking at the data around our failure rates and repair turn times. The failure rate of the integrated Entegra
system was in line with industry benchmarks for avionics and on average a pilot
would experience an equipment failure once in a 3.5 year time span. If we only looked at that data we would feel
pretty good about the average customer experience in the fleet, but we knew the
reality wasn’t quite that positive. We
then looked at our repair and upgrade processes and the turn times to get
product back to our customers. In early
2008 our average repair & upgrade turn times started to grow beyond 14
working days, our phone lines were swamped and we were in a deteriorating
situation. We had to focus our attention
on getting airplanes back in the air and in the spring of 2008 and we assembled
a small team to figure out how we could recover from the situation.
In June of 2008 we were completing the transition of our manufacturing
capabilities from a contract manufacturer to an in house operation. The system-level testing, repair and final
assembly processes for avionics equipment are very specialized and we needed to
directly manage this part of the manufacturing process. With the transition complete in mid 2008 we
had the required infrastructure necessary to drastically improve our customer experience.
With direct control of our repair process we could better
manage our service exchange pool enabling us to launch the Platinum Service
plan in the United States. Under this
plan we have guaranteed a two day turn time on both exchange and advanced
exchange units. This has made a
tremendous improvement in the downtime experienced by our customers and we have
not missed on a single Platinum exchange since launching the program. We have also improved our repair and upgrade
turnaround times for customers who want their exact unit repaired and we have
also improved the turn times for our international customers.
There is no shortage of material in the business literature
about how to create a “customer focused culture” with examples that generally
start with lofty goals and a top down approach.
We instead focused at the ground level by tracking key metrics like
turn-around times, stock levels of the exchange pool, how many calls were going
to voicemail, and how long it took for us to resolve a customer’s issue. This allowed us to focus on the processes
that most affected the customer experience and drove us to respond quickly to
gaps in our processes. I have worked in
larger organizations where these initiatives get kicked off with lots of
fanfare and discussion of the lofty goals. The program then spends too much time defining
the high level goals instead of improving practical things at the customer
level. I like the way we did it –
focusing on the areas that are closest
to the customer. This not only drove
faster results, it also resulted in a culture that is always trying to put the
customer first. I am impressed with what
this team has done and how we are all aligned with creating a positive customer
experience.
We aren’t stopping here though. There are still too many customers that have
less than stellar service experiences with Avidyne. We are analyzing those failures, creating
action plans and continuing to push the bar higher. If anyone reading this article feels that we
are still falling short in our service efforts you can post your comment on
this blog or you can email me directly.
We are working hard to close our service gaps so if you see one please
do let us know. I will comment in a
later post about our AOG initiatives and how we think that will play a big role
in our goal for increasing the utility of Avidyne equipped aircraft.
Patrick Herguth
COO, Avidyne Corp
pherguth@avidyne.com
Posted
25 Sep 2009 13:49
by
Patrick Herguth