Logistics Quality Management--The Key to Customer Satisfaction

As a corporation, our top priority is customer satisfaction. Worldwide customer satisfaction requires that we engineer, manufacture, and market the highest quality information systems in the industry. It also requires that we provide prompt efficient service in the field to these systems. Field Service is a strategic competitive asset that contributes almost a third of the corporation's revenues. Field Service Logistics supports, worldwide, both our Field Service engineers and our original equipment manufacturers (OEM's) with necessary preventive and remedial spare parts. These parts ensure that our customer's investments in our hardware and software remain as accessible as possible. This paper considers the logistics and repair opportunities in the computer and electronics industry, both present and future, based on our knowledge of how technology is changing. The concept of fieldreplaceable units (FRU's) having a planned quality life cycle is introduced. Thus, customer needs can be translated into a set of systems designed to ensure that the preventive and remedial materials provided are fit for use.