Service Swap Process - Medical Device Manufacturing Company

Challenge
The client was experiencing a number of difficulties around services swaps. A service swap is primarily used when a piece of equipment malfunctions and cannot be repaired in the field. In this case, a new unit is sent out. Rasdal Associates was engaged to do the following:

• Define and implement a process and approvals for service swaps
• Reduce cost/expense of service swaps

Action
The first step was to review the current service swap process:

• How many, how often and what regions
• Reason for service swap
• Shipping cost of replacement unit
• Current procedure and approvals to obtain service swap replacement unit

The next step was to determine the ideal process:

• What should be done before a service swap is performed?
• What approvals should be required?
• Whose budget should this cost hit?
• What time frames are needed to meet customer expectations?
• What gaps would be eliminated by automating the manual process?

Results
The project team automated the service swap process and put approvals in place. The team also conducted training for the customer support and field service organizations to increase the percentage of units that could be repaired in the field. The project resulted in a 50% decrease in service swaps for a savings of $3 million dollars.