Abstract: High automation, high flexibility, and high added value represent the current development trend of the machine tool industry. Due to its high-tech content and complexity, the machine tool industry encompasses a comprehensive application of high technology, from product research and development, technical standards, and manufacturing to final use. This rapid development also brings a new and significant challenge to the machine tool industry: product technical consulting and services. This article discusses the noteworthy product technical consulting and service system in the machine tool industry through the application of high-tech products.
Keywords: Machine tool industry product technology consulting service system worthy of attention
Chinese Library Classification Number: C931 Document Identification Code: B
The machine tool industry products and technology consulting and services system
YAN En-gang
(Tianshui Spark Machine Tool Co., Ltd.,Tianshui, Gansu 741024,China)
Abstract：High automation, high flexibility and high value-added products represent today's machine tool industry's development trend, as it is the high-tech content and high complexity of technology, whether from the product development design, manufacturing, technical standards, to end use, form one of the machine tool industry of high-tech integrated applications; change rapidly development in at the same time, also for the machine tool industry has brought a new task that can not be ignored, both products of technical advice and services. This article through the machine tool industry of high-tech product application, discussed the concern of machine tool industry products and technology consulting and services system.
Keyword: Worthy of attention Machine tool industry Product Technology consulting Service system
I. Introduction
Numerical control (NC) technology has become the latest technological application field in modern manufacturing, serving as the foundation and core of modern advanced manufacturing technology and an inevitable trend in the machine tool industry. The successful development and application of new technologies such as next-generation NC systems, frequency converters and DC speed controllers, grating digital displays, and PLCs in machine tool products have not only made NC machine tools increasingly popular but also improved the performance of ordinary machine tools. It has not only increased work efficiency but also brought progress in changing work and production patterns. However, due to the limited availability of high-tech and high-value-added products, many enterprises still lack understanding and awareness of the performance and applications of new machine tool products, resulting in significant gaps in their self-application capabilities. Users increasingly rely on manufacturing enterprises, making product technical consultation and services particularly prominent and important. Years of practice have shown that inadequate product technical support and consultation, and untimely service, have affected the normal use of machine tools, preventing them from functioning effectively and impacting the fulfillment of purchase and sales contracts, leading to numerous examples of economic losses. Therefore, technical consulting and services are also important issues that cannot be ignored in the development of the machine tool industry today.
II. Product Technology Consulting and Service System Worthy of Attention
The successful development of a high-tech new product requires a highly skilled and dedicated service team, along with the support and cooperation of the entire enterprise, to ensure its successful application. With the continuous emergence of high-tech machine tools, a large number of engineering and technical personnel have been deployed to technical service teams, handling installation, commissioning, training, acceptance, technical support, and consultation. However, especially when faced with promises of one-year warranty and lifetime service, gaps have emerged between service capabilities and actual application, leaving users frustrated, unable to file complaints, and feeling helpless. This also reveals inadequate technical support and consultation, failing to effectively resolve practical problems. Furthermore, internal communication channels within enterprises are not smooth when dealing with product-related issues, hindering timely and effective resolution of customer concerns and leading to inter-departmental buck-passing. It is undeniable that in recent years, the machine tool industry has seen a year-on-year increase in customer complaints and disputes due to problems with product technical consultation and service.
1. Inadequate product technical support and consultation mechanism
Early machine tool products were simple and not very technically complex. They generally did not require technical support or consultation in their application areas. This was especially true in the highly automated machine tool industry.
In today's rapidly developing world, providing related technical support and consultation for high-tech products such as CNC systems and CNC machine tools has become an essential bridge between manufacturers and customers. This places even greater emphasis on the service capabilities and application skills of professional technicians. Due to CNC system issues, program and machine tool data loss, coupled with inadequate technical diagnosis and support, leads to excessively long equipment repair periods, affecting customer product delivery times and causing losses for the company. These examples demonstrate that customers who purchase expensive equipment often find themselves helpless when problems arise; such cases are numerous in practice. Providing accurate, fast, and reliable technical support and consultation to customers during product development and application has become a crucial task for machine tool companies. Furthermore, establishing a product service system centered on technical support and consultation, and building an expert team, are inevitable trends and requirements for the development of the machine tool industry.
2. Establishing a comprehensive product and service system is imperative.
Faced with the rapid development of the machine tool industry, some companies are still using their existing product service systems, which are proving inadequate. Other companies categorize machine tools into different service types such as CNC, general-purpose, and heavy-duty. Even within the same company, service models and systems differ, leading to a lack of basic understanding of service systems among management personnel. Service personnel only provide service for the products they are responsible for, neglecting products unrelated to their jurisdiction and refusing to address issues outside their control. This is particularly problematic for manufacturers who purchase multiple machine tools, as the lack of timely service often increases conflicts with the manufacturers. For example, a general-purpose machine tool with a DC speed controller malfunctioned due to a speed controller system failure. The inability of qualified technicians to arrive promptly and resolve the problem affected delivery dates for overseas purchase contracts, resulting in significant economic losses for the company. In today's era where efficiency is paramount, such service is insufficient to survive and succeed in the fierce market competition. Who will buy our machine tools in the long run? Therefore, establishing a sound and feasible product service system is urgent and cannot be delayed; the hard-won achievements in product development need to be carefully maintained and cherished.
3. A comprehensive technical consultation and service system is an important guarantee for winning the market.
Enterprises need to establish appropriate technical consultation and service systems to meet the evolving needs of the market. From the moment machine tool products leave the factory to their final acceptance and use, a service process is involved at different stages, requiring close cooperation between internal and external stakeholders. Therefore, an external liaison window should be established to handle product technical services, collect customer feedback, suggestions, and technical consultations, and submit issues to relevant departments for processing. The process should be monitored and tracked, and the results communicated to the customer. This ensures that customer issues are addressed and problems are resolved. Furthermore, professional and experienced engineers should be available to resolve technical problems raised by customers, determine solutions based on the type of fault, and diagnose problems, which can be handled remotely or on-site. A comprehensive technical consultation and service system permeates all stages of product application. A robust system provides customers with fast, proactive, and high-quality service, allows for insight into market reactions and changes, timely identification and correction of problems in products and services, and further improvement and refinement of products based on market demands. This is a crucial guarantee for winning in the market and will become a trend in the development of the machine tool industry.
4. Make full use of modern means to provide customers with comprehensive product technical consultation and services.
Currently, the high-end technology application field of the machine tool industry still faces a widespread shortage of professional and technical personnel and insufficient service awareness and capabilities, making it difficult to meet the needs of the rapidly developing machine tool industry. Fully utilizing advanced information technology and applying network resources to establish a technical support and consultation platform for enterprise products, implementing a networked management system for customer fault reporting, and providing timely, comprehensive services and remote consultation and maintenance will open up new avenues for the machine tool industry's technical consultation and service system. This is also the most effective method and means to effectively resolve, communicate, and alleviate problems encountered with customers. Currently, some leading domestic enterprises have already taken the lead in building internationally aligned technical consultation and service systems. As shown in Figure 1, a modern information technology support system is established using a call center. Through the comprehensive integration of service hotlines, technical support, consultation hotlines, customer business management systems, knowledge base systems, SMS service platforms, and multimedia data, a comprehensive information technology consultation and service system is formed, centrally handling and rapidly responding to customer needs. Customers can access the customer service center through various means such as telephone, mobile phone dial-in, fax access, computer and m-odem connection, and Internet access, and obtain various technical consultation and information services by accessing the customer service center's database.
III. Conclusion
The machine tool industry needs to establish a comprehensive product technology consulting and service system, and create a combination of products and technical services that meet market demands. With the continuous emergence of high-tech products, the transformation from a simple manufacturing enterprise to a manufacturing and service-oriented enterprise has become an inevitable requirement for the development of the machine tool industry. Enterprises must win the market with their new service concepts, solve problems for customers in the shortest possible time, maximize response speed, and enable customers to truly recognize the overall solution of machine tool products from manufacturing to application. Only in this way can high-tech machine tool products achieve comprehensive development and promote long-term win-win results.
