What role does service play at TRUMPF?
Marcella Montelatici: Service is crucial for TRUMPF. We believe in the saying 'The first machine is sold by the sales department, the second by a good service department'. When buying a machine, the customer weighs up exactly what they get for their money. They want their machine to run reliably for many years, to be retrofitted and to receive regular updates. Their expectations of the service go far beyond simple repairs.
Thomas Fehn: TRUMPF doesn't sell everyday products, but capital goods. It's clear that the customer expects excellent service. Services contribute a significant share of our sales and revenue in Laser Technology. And the trend is rising.
Marcella Montelatici: “For TRUMPF customers, good service means having a reliable partner.”
Thomas Fehn: “TRUMPF employees play a crucial role when it comes to service.”
So the customer not only buys a product, but also the promise that it will work permanently...
Marcella Montelatici: Absolutely. A machine without good service is not a solid investment. At TRUMPF, we take care of our customers' problems. We also know how difficult it is for most people to find and keep qualified operators. With our digital Remote Control Center, we gain access to our customer’s machine and do a lot of tasks ourselves. We also do security updates remotely. This is something that is getting more and more important these days.
Thomas Fehn: We can set ourselves apart from our competitors by promising that TRUMPF lasers are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week with the help of condition monitoring, predictive maintenance and other tools, and that there are no unscheduled production stoppages – in other words, selling availability. This requires a close partnership, such as the one we at TRUMPF maintain with our customers.
What is good service in your opinion?
Marcella Montelatici: Good service means that TRUMPF customers have a reliable partner – not only when they make a purchase, but throughout the entire life cycle of the machine. Our service engineers are on site, provide expert advice, solve problems and understand the customer. Our organizational structure is well prepared for any eventuality. We have local service engineers who are close to our customers and can be on site quickly. If necessary, they are supported by our specialists in the regions. These specialists also work closely with the relevant development department. Following the “follow the sun” principle, we are available 24/7, worldwide.
What makes TRUMPF service special?
Marcella Montelatici: Our customers can contact us in their own language and we will understand them. No matter where the customer is, they will receive support in their native language – whether by phone, email or Visual Assistance. When it comes to understanding problems, troubleshooting or providing machine instructions, communication must be flawless. After all, when I visit a doctor, I also want to make sure that the doctor understands me and vice versa. Otherwise, I don't feel comfortable and it could even lead to incorrect treatment.
At the EuroBLECH 2024 in Hannover, TRUMPF is presenting new machines and solutions, including some for the digital service condition monitoring.
With condition monitoring from TRUMPF, customers can see the condition of their machine at a glance.
What role do digitalization and artificial intelligence play in service?
Marcella Montelatici: AI already plays an important role for TRUMPF and is not a vision for the future for us. It helps us to identify fault patterns more quickly and to provide solutions for them.
Thomas Fehn: AI offers significant added value at both the societal and the value-creation level. It really does make work easier by bringing together information and combining it in new ways. Above all, it enables the development of new solutions. We already use AI in our products. And we are currently working hard on how we can use AI in technical customer service and in application support.
What exactly are you working on?
Thomas Fehn: With the help of AI, we can automate routine tasks in technical customer service, diagnose errors, personalize customer care, make resource planning more efficient and provide information in a more targeted manner. Taken together, this not only increases efficiency, but also significantly improves customer satisfaction. AI will make our service engineers' work significantly easier, but it will not replace them.
What role does TRUMPF staff play in the area of services?
Thomas Fehn: A crucial one. Our service and application engineers represent our company, often in difficult situations. When a machine is defective, the customer is tense or nervous. Whatever the cases, the engineer must react correctly and keep a cool head.
How will services develop in the coming years?
Marcella Montelatici: There are many areas in which we want to intensify our activities. For example, in the case of tools, retrofits, software updates, consulting, production support and training for customers. This wide range of services is designed to make the customer faster, more profitable and more competitive. Our main goal remains to support our customers in all these challenges.
