‘Designed with servicing in mind’ Manufacturing’ thought leadership blog copywriting, IFS. Committing to product performance and uptime through a lifetime service agreement has far-reaching implications. One of a three-part thought leadership series, this blog, briefed by the Global Industry Director for Manufacturing, considers the implications of delivering a cradle to grave service-based model in an increasingly circular economy.
- COPY: Ian Castle, Freelance Copywriter
- CLIENT: IFS
Manufacturing design thought leadership blog copy sample, IFS (US English)
[Excerpt]:
DESIGNING FOR SERVICEABILITY
Selling a product-as-a-service, as opposed to simply making and selling goods, has several implications. First and foremost, it means products need to be designed for serviceability at the outset. Gone are the impenetrable glued casings and ‘non-replaceable’ components. Servicing products efficiently requires design simplicity that increases accessibility and service speed, uses fewer, more standard interchangeable parts, and, if possible, leverages IoT monitoring to reduce the risk of unexpected failure.
Simplifying design also has business benefits for servitized manufacturers. Using fewer and more standardized service parts means that field technicians can be less skilled –a major advantage in today’s challenging employment market. With a smaller interchangeable inventory, component production costs are also reduced due to economies of scale. Technicians attending field service calls can be confident that the most frequently required service or repair items needed will be held in stock on the van.