Service Planning as Support Process for a Lean After Sales Service

Abstract

Many producing companies increase their focus on the After Sales Service. In this business sector, companies can generate high margins compared to the primary product business. This is based on the fact that the After Sales Service is responsible for only 20% of the turnover of producing companies, but the After Sales Service is able to generate around 80% of the company's profits. To ensure that After Sales Service continues to be a profitable business area for companies, it is necessary that the After Sales Service processes are geared to the customer. The use of principles, methods and tools of Lean Production Systems can be suitable for this purpose. The use of these principles should already be taken into account during the service planning. Therefore, a literature review of existing service planning processes and a methodological approach is presented in this paper (based on a research project funded by the German Research Foundation “Systematic adaption of Lean Production System Principles to After Sales Service for Customer focusing and Waste reduction” (DO 750/25-1)) how the principles, methods and tools of Lean Production Systems can be integrated into the After Sales Service by means of service planning. With the help of this methodological guideline, companies can be enabled to integrate Lean Production System principles into the After Sales Service.