I spent the latter part of last week
in Branson, MO, being brought up to date on new initiatives by the CNH Parts
& Service (P&S) and Fiat Powertrain Technologies (FPT) designed to
strengthen customer service activities. Chief announcements included the
formation of a partnership between P&S and FPT, a joint venture between
P&S and SRC Holdings Corp. (SRC), and plans for a new P&S distribution
facility in Portland, OR.
Details on each of these initiatives
can be found on our Web site as part of the Latest
section.
While each of these is significant in
terms of P&S’s customer service, the one I found most intriguing was the
P&S/SRC joint venture, which (in my eyes) heralds a significant change in
CMH’s approach to customer needs.
SRC has provided P&S with
remanufactured components for a number of years, so the relationship is not new.
Rather, it is CNH’s recognition of the growing importance of remanufacturing as
a means for its customers to extend the life of expensive equipment that
reflects change. If this vision is correct, it will be interesting to see how
CNH promotes reman to its customers and how in the future its customer
acceptance might affect engine and drive-train engineering design.