PETpla.net Insider 11 / 2014

PETPLANET AWARD 2014 36 PET planet insider Vol. 15 No. 11/14 www.petpla.net PETplanet award 2014 – Service performance, developing countries Based on the After Sales study whose first part we pub- lished in our October issue, PETplanet insider has identified clear winners. We look forward to presenting them at Brau Beviale 2014 in Nuremberg, Germany. The award ceremony will take place on the first day of the trade fair, November 11, at 10 a.m. on our booth 7A-203. You are cordially invited to join us at the ceremony! The diversity of regional brands in particular, which are not significantly represented in the highly industri- alised lead markets, stands out in rapidly developing markets. Subse- quently a direct enquiry was made about preferred suppliers (fig. 5) and, linked to this, a question was asked about a wide range of services and how satisfaction with these services is viewed as far as the preferred suppli- ers are concerned (fig. 6). One of the striking features is that a number of services are rated as Very Good or Good but, in some sectors, there is still room for improve- ment – including where the preferred manufacturers are concerned. Here retrofit/overhaul services, spare parts consignment stock systems and 24/7 remote hotline support all deserve specific mention. The latter may well be attributable to the distance of the markets from the main suppliers, how- ever, it certainly emphasises the need for a local presence in rapidly growing and highly diversified markets. Subsequently, participants were asked to “marry up” their preferred suppliers with the best equipment in their company’s own factory (fig. 7). It is interesting to note that sup- plier preference is not completely in alignment with the machines deemed to constitute the best equipment. As anticipated, the “global brands” The training facilities assessment will come as a particular surprise as far as the manufacturers are concerned. There appears to be a high potential for improvement as far as services of this kind are concerned, something which should not actually be surpris- ing bearing in mind the characteristics of the markets surveyed and is slightly underestimated by manufacturers domiciled in the highly industrialised countries. The response to the final question in the results which are presented here in concise form should not be quite such a surprise. The aim of this ques- tion was to establish the criteria on which purchasing decisions (fig. 9) are based. Naturally, and this is reassur- ingly clear, “equipment performance” and “service performance” rank roughly the same when it comes to the highest level importance. It is good to find that there are fewer machine buyers buying purely on “price” - which is naturally important overall but is not categorised as pivotal. PETplanet A w a r d 2 0 1 4 as dominant suppliers and ”valued equipment” are represented in equal measure in the ratings, but with a relative shift. It is, however, interesting to assess which services are actu- ally being purchased from the OEM machine suppliers who provide the best equipment (fig. 8). A further notable feature is the fact that the level of satisfaction is pre- dominantly good but the potential for improvement is nevertheless increas- ing. There is a tendency for the ser- vices specified in fig. 6 to be assessed as even weaker. In addition to this there are incidental “Spare Parts, Maintenance and Repair Services”. Fig. 5 Which is your preferred equipment supplier?