Riddle me this.... Omega Service

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gwells
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Re: Riddle me this.... Omega Service

Post by gwells »

Richard B wrote:
akirk wrote: perhaps they need to build up a stock of spare parts
And which section of the balance sheet of a company does "stock" get added to?
which section do you add it to for other industries? does xerox have a place for it for copier parts? a dealership for auto parts? whirlpool for refrigerators/washers/dryers?

if you have a lucrative business repairing the product you make, does that make you immune from stocking repair parts for watches you made (at least in the past 5-10 years)?

i'm not sure your question really makes sense, richard.
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Re: Riddle me this.... Omega Service

Post by Richard B »

It does, because it's the same category no matter what the business.

Working capital.

Which is always bad. Anyway, as it happens, I worked for a copier and office equipment dealership for a number of years, and their service strategy was based around reducing parts stock and reduce parts spend. The management thought that if they stocked less parts, then magically the engineers would order and use less! Just-in-time ordering was implemented, which of course means just-out-of-time ordering (management response - the software has to let the stock run out so it knows how many to order :lol: )

Anyway, holding stock is always bad for a businesses balance sheet. And always will be. That's just the way it is. That's why the Chairman's new Lexus (leased!) will always come before buying stock.
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Re: Riddle me this.... Omega Service

Post by downer »

^^^^ I can confirm that not all businesses take this approach. In my business, inventory is a competitive advantage - so long as it's the right inventory. :)
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Re: Riddle me this.... Omega Service

Post by Richard B »

Ahhhhh... Key terminology - inventory and not stock!

Agreed, you can run increase costs exponentially by running the business the way the copier dealership was run. It was a farce, and they only survived because business was booming through the 80s and set them up nicely. They're no longer in existence, of course!
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Re: Riddle me this.... Omega Service

Post by gwells »

if it's the same for all businesses, then i'm not sure why it's important to ask "which." :)

of course it's a balancing act. and with something like servicing, it's an imprecise balancing act. but there should be *some* level of stock. particularly for items you know you will use. i mean, it's one thing if we're talking about an older watch that has an long out-of-production movement. it's another thing if omega is doing a repair on a 2500 or 8500 and replacing parts that are more common failures.

but should it take months to source a part? maybe if it's for a part that doesn't break much on an out-of-production movement. but if that's not the case, months seems a bit over the top.

i had xerox tell me once that it was going to be a month on a part (one of those "gee, those never break" parts). i told them to cannibalize one of their machines if they had to, but we weren't going to wait a month. thankfully i have the leverage of coming from a firm that has about 40 docucolor 252/262s and a 4000 or two and somehow they "managed to find a part" the next day. funny that.
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Re: Riddle me this.... Omega Service

Post by Richard B »

gwells wrote: i told them to cannibalize one of their machines if they had to, but we weren't going to wait a month. thankfully i have the leverage of coming from a firm that has about 40 docucolor 252/262s and a 4000 or two and somehow they "managed to find a part" the next day. funny that.
An, it brings it all back! Yep, the big customers with the buying power. The service manager hated going grovelling to the sales manager asking for a part from one of his demo machines, he had to choose the sales manager who's account the customer was, and tell him he was in danger of losing his prized customer!
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Re: Riddle me this.... Omega Service

Post by Lamps »

I'm guessing here but I doubt your watch is waiting for a part, its much more likely its a man power problem. But no big watch company will even want to admit that, because the customer will just demand their watch goes to the top of the pile
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Re: Riddle me this.... Omega Service

Post by gwells »

yeah, when i was the little customer, all i could do was withhold a month of service cost and a promise that we'd never buy from them again. it didn't carry much weight. i didn't get much groveling from anyone. and that was konica-minolta, who always over-promised/under-delivered instead of the other way around (and who the people with the purse strings bought from against my recommendation because they were "cheaper").

honestly, i normally get/got pretty good service responses from xerox or canon resellers. the only time it's really become an issue is when i got stuck with an FM (facilities management company) between us.

seriously, though, a month with a machine down was more than a little unacceptable. they ain't cheap and we put out 2-3 proposals a week (plus the rest of the stuff we use it for). that wasn't an option.
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Re: Riddle me this.... Omega Service

Post by akirk »

it would be fascinating to know their internal processes - though I doubt we ever will... ;) but I am sure it is not straight-forward and unlikely to be first come - first served either...

I know the camera business better, and with Nikon there is a standard minimum turn-around of c. 3 weeks for repair in the UK (and they may have to wait for bits from Japan), but if you are an NPS member (their top pros), and you talk to the right person, the turn around can be within a day or so - and if you are in the right place geographically to make it worth while / at an event, they will lend you kit while yours is being repaired / serviced - they will also clean pro kit free of charge for NPS members / lend them new kit to evaluate / etc.

I am sure that business-wise there are similarities, and the point is simply that the service is variable based on a number of factors...

so shout loud and long and it will probably come back faster...

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Re: Riddle me this.... Omega Service

Post by james80 »

Is it that a watch is seen by its own industry as a non essential or at least an item the owner can live without for a time?

As we can airfreight and courier things around the world in mere days it seems ridiculous to say "we're waiting for parts from Switzerland" so I have to agree it's a labour issue. If service is looked at as a potentially profitably part of a business as opposed to a necessary evil maybe they'd hire more repair personnel and improve the turn around time. If on the other hand customers are happy I wait three months, they are happy with an ever increasing back log and it's not hurting the brand then why increase staff expenditure.

Last thought which most likely doesn't apply to any of us here, good thing to have more than one watch.
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Re: Riddle me this.... Omega Service

Post by akirk »

james80 wrote:Is it that a watch is seen by its own industry as a non essential or at least an item the owner can live without for a time?

As we can airfreight and courier things around the world in mere days it seems ridiculous to say "we're waiting for parts from Switzerland" so I have to agree it's a labour issue. If service is looked at as a potentially profitably part of a business as opposed to a necessary evil maybe they'd hire more repair personnel and improve the turn around time. If on the other hand customers are happy I wait three months, they are happy with an ever increasing back log and it's not hurting the brand then why increase staff expenditure.

Last thought which most likely doesn't apply to any of us here, good thing to have more than one watch.
agree - but I think that ultimately it does affect the brand - it allows space in the market for those who can offer better - if CWL didn't provide good customer service I am sure that they would not have the same market share, and while the cynics will rightly point out that a company of CWL size won't bother Rolex / Omega / Swatch / etc. - actually it should, because they are only one of a number of such companies who have appeared in the last decade, and overall, even if the market is in growth they are taking market share from the big companies...

it is interesting to compare against the car market - how many people buy a car without some understanding of the quality / reliability - yet watches are bought on looks / features / price / brand

Also with a car - when you get it serviced you are often offered a loan car - maybe that is needed in the watch world!

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Re: Riddle me this.... Omega Service

Post by Kip »

This is the general process used by most manufacturer facilities and major service centers.
Watches are generally repaired in the order received. Parts delays takes a watch out of order until parts received. It is then reinserted in order based on date received.

Preapproval of a repair up to a given amount can save 1-2 weeks on a repair.

Time involved - shipping in each direction depending on proximty and method chosen can be a total of 4 days to 3 weeks.
Delays awaiting estimate approvals can be hours to weeks depending on customer.

Time through the system depends much on the volume and time of year. Which is why repair times of 4-8 weeks are generally given.

1. Watch received
to
2. Facilitator who enters (sometime photos) into system and initial inspection.
to
3. Estimator - inspects and creates estimate who forwards estimate to customer (must now wait for approval) or if determined under warranty sends ..
to
4. Parts or facility department. They gather necessary parts if in stock or order. If parts ordered from Switzerland a notice of delay (usual 2-8 weeks) goes to facilitator who notifies customer.
When/if all parts are available watch goes ...
to
5. Watchmaker - disassembly of unit and distribution for cleaning and/or polishing followed by repair and assembly. Usually have watchmakers dedicated to warranty work.
to
6. Quality control - what is tested for 2 -10 days depending on MFG for adherance to specs and work quality.
to
7. Shipping
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Re: Riddle me this.... Omega Service

Post by Richard B »

Kip - what about security and record keeping?

This is an overhead that slows down many business processes.

They have the same traceability issues as maternity wards - like newborn babies which must be identified to their mothers, it would be (almost!) equally unacceptable to re-unite a watch to an incorrect owner once the service procedures are complete.
And the high value of small items on their premises make for a security nightmare, both for internal and external threats. If the typical asset value is circa £3500 then one might presume that there are rigorous procedures for booking items out for work and then booking them back into the locked area afterwards.
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Re: Riddle me this.... Omega Service

Post by Kip »

Richard B wrote:Kip - what about security and record keeping?
Major service centers assign a work order/reference number and tag a watch with a bar bode when received and entered into the system. It is then scanned at each step so location is known and work done can be entered into the system at each step. This tells the center how the process is moving and who has the watch plus who did the work.
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Re: Riddle me this.... Omega Service

Post by gweilgi »

james80 wrote:Is it that a watch is seen by its own industry as a non essential or at least an item the owner can live without for a time?

As we can airfreight and courier things around the world in mere days it seems ridiculous to say "we're waiting for parts from Switzerland" so I have to agree it's a labour issue. If service is looked at as a potentially profitably part of a business as opposed to a necessary evil maybe they'd hire more repair personnel and improve the turn around time. If on the other hand customers are happy I wait three months, they are happy with an ever increasing back log and it's not hurting the brand then why increase staff expenditure.

Last thought which most likely doesn't apply to any of us here, good thing to have more than one watch.
Hiring personnel is tricky if you're looking for watchmakers. The economic crisis largely passed the industry by, and there is a clear shortage of qualified workers. In Glashutte, for example, nine out of ten apprentices have a full-time job waiting for them before they even graduate. A couple of smaller firms I have personal contact to report similar problems in finding qualified personnel, so I don't see why bigger outfits might not experience similar difficulties.
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