<div>The country’s largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki has bagged the prestigious JD Power Customer Satisfaction Index for the 17th consecutive year. In a free-wheeling conversation with DH, Maruti Suzuki Service Head Pankaj Narula shares what it takes to be numero uno year-on-year, retaining its leadership position.<br /><br />Congratulations on this feat, how does it feel? Also as I understand you are perhaps the only automaker in the world to win this accolade for 17 consecutive years (with your kind of high volumes)<br /><br />Yes, its tough, challenging and inspiring! Just to give you a sense of scale our service network on an average services over 15 Lakh cars per month & over 1.8 Cr. cars per annum. The winning mantra is ` create devoted customers’. Let me explain with a few examples; We introduced concepts like express service bays and Early morning service to deliver vehicles in time. Express service bays are operational in over 1,600 cities and offer quick service in 90 minutes. Workshops are pro-actively communicating these concepts so that customers can benefit from them. <br /><br />Concept like Maruti Mobile Support that offer door step service is being widely appreciated. After their success in upcountry markets we are scaling up in metro cities. There are over 1490 MMS operating all across India. These are all new age convenience services which customer value as it connects with their increasingly busy lifestyle. We keep innovating and finding opportunities on these lines. <br /><br />Besides, we are conscious that if we take good care of the customer at the workshop, there is higher probability of getting recommendation of the brand / dealership. Service gives us an opportunity to promote brand loyalty. <br /><br />Share some of your recent initiatives, which you think have contributed to your success.<br /><br />In recent years, we have been working on creating devoted customers by offering delightful service experience. From reducing waiting time for service initiation by bringing tablets, to operating some of our workshops 24X7, we have been walking an extra mile. By empowering our service advisors with hand held tablets we have been able to enhance transparency as well as reduce Service Initiation time to optimum level. <br /><br />Most of the service stations now boast of a decent lounge which lends visibility to the customer’s car being attended. Some of our workshops operate seven days a week to offer flexibility to customers and offer home pick and drop of the service car. In today’s life, where every customer is hard crunched for time & has to also take care of his car, pickup & drop facility comes as a huge delight for customers, especially working professionals, female customers etc. We have also introduced “Maintenance Cost Protect (MCP)” program for customer which helps in maintaining low cost of ownership for Maruti vehicles. <br /><br />Today customer wants everything digital on their fingertips; “Maruti Care” mobile service app fulfills all the requirements of customer. Customer can book appointment for service through app, he can check his vehicle repair history along with cost incurred, he can get accurate cost estimate for Periodic Maintenance jobs, he can receive auto service reminder through app, he can share his feedbacks to Maruti, he can locate nearest Maruti workshop anywhere across India & can directly contact Emergency On-road service (MOS) 24X7 through app. Over 2.0Lac customers are connected to us through “Maruti Care” app. <br /><br />We believe in total transparency with customers, and hence keep customers posted through SMS alerts to inform on Service due date, Start of work at workshop, Cost & time estimate, completion of work etc. Notification is send through mobile app to customers on service tips, mileage tips, new updates etc to have better engagement with customers.<br /><br />Timely delivery of vehicles to our customer post repair in workshop is most important focus area for us. For this we are also introducing Automatic Vehicle Tracking System in our workshops to track & analyze vehicle movement inside workshop & reduce idle time between stages, so that vehicle can repaired & delivered to customer on time.<br /><br />Customers are very demanding thesedays. How do you address their expectations?<br /><br />Customer expectations have been growing and we are conscious about it. Our effort is to strive for excellence. We want every customer to be a delighted customer and every delighted customer to move towards becoming a devoted customer.<br /><br />Right from the first interface where the service advisor greets the customer with a tablet everything is integrated backwards. Small gestures like clearly explaining the expenses, scheduling appointment reducing waiting times, express maintenance have been appreciated by customers. <br /><br />In addition, we have an extensive customer engagement calendar in place for eg with the onset of monsoon all our service centers connect with customers under “Monsoon Fit Checkup camp”. Over 60,000 cars are checked and prepared for coming monsoon other customer connect initiatives are pollution check-up (around world environment day), Freedom Carnival to celebrate India’s Independence day with customers etc. in FY 2015-16 we were able to connect with over 700,000 customer through several customer connect initiatives. <br /><br />What about service costs, how do you keep them competitive?<br /><br />Costs in my view are a measure of efficiency at work. To improve workshop efficiency we have introduced several concepts like two-technician bay. Here two technicians work on a car to optimize service load of the bay. This technique enhances turnaround time. The learnings from Maruti Suzuki shop floor like using natural light, use of gravity for movement of parts, tools have been successfully replicated at workshops. Concepts like mechanized car wash and dry car wash for faster cleaning of vehicles have brought down water consumption / car. Concepts like paintless dent removal (also called dry denting) have been deployed where minor dents can be removed without stripping the paint leading to economical costs to customers. Automated oil dispenser helps prevent oil spillage and precision in servicing. Kaizens or constant innovations keep us striving for competitive pricing. <br /><br />What are the challenges faced? How are you addressing them? <br /><br />Customer expectation always moves up and we have to delight them always!. Amidst soaring customer expectations, we face severe talent crunch. Good quality technicians ensure good quality service and long life of your car. To meet this expectation, we are building capacity right at the ITI level. We are working with over 105 ITIs throughout the country to bridge this talent gap.<br /><br /></div>
<div>The country’s largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki has bagged the prestigious JD Power Customer Satisfaction Index for the 17th consecutive year. In a free-wheeling conversation with DH, Maruti Suzuki Service Head Pankaj Narula shares what it takes to be numero uno year-on-year, retaining its leadership position.<br /><br />Congratulations on this feat, how does it feel? Also as I understand you are perhaps the only automaker in the world to win this accolade for 17 consecutive years (with your kind of high volumes)<br /><br />Yes, its tough, challenging and inspiring! Just to give you a sense of scale our service network on an average services over 15 Lakh cars per month & over 1.8 Cr. cars per annum. The winning mantra is ` create devoted customers’. Let me explain with a few examples; We introduced concepts like express service bays and Early morning service to deliver vehicles in time. Express service bays are operational in over 1,600 cities and offer quick service in 90 minutes. Workshops are pro-actively communicating these concepts so that customers can benefit from them. <br /><br />Concept like Maruti Mobile Support that offer door step service is being widely appreciated. After their success in upcountry markets we are scaling up in metro cities. There are over 1490 MMS operating all across India. These are all new age convenience services which customer value as it connects with their increasingly busy lifestyle. We keep innovating and finding opportunities on these lines. <br /><br />Besides, we are conscious that if we take good care of the customer at the workshop, there is higher probability of getting recommendation of the brand / dealership. Service gives us an opportunity to promote brand loyalty. <br /><br />Share some of your recent initiatives, which you think have contributed to your success.<br /><br />In recent years, we have been working on creating devoted customers by offering delightful service experience. From reducing waiting time for service initiation by bringing tablets, to operating some of our workshops 24X7, we have been walking an extra mile. By empowering our service advisors with hand held tablets we have been able to enhance transparency as well as reduce Service Initiation time to optimum level. <br /><br />Most of the service stations now boast of a decent lounge which lends visibility to the customer’s car being attended. Some of our workshops operate seven days a week to offer flexibility to customers and offer home pick and drop of the service car. In today’s life, where every customer is hard crunched for time & has to also take care of his car, pickup & drop facility comes as a huge delight for customers, especially working professionals, female customers etc. We have also introduced “Maintenance Cost Protect (MCP)” program for customer which helps in maintaining low cost of ownership for Maruti vehicles. <br /><br />Today customer wants everything digital on their fingertips; “Maruti Care” mobile service app fulfills all the requirements of customer. Customer can book appointment for service through app, he can check his vehicle repair history along with cost incurred, he can get accurate cost estimate for Periodic Maintenance jobs, he can receive auto service reminder through app, he can share his feedbacks to Maruti, he can locate nearest Maruti workshop anywhere across India & can directly contact Emergency On-road service (MOS) 24X7 through app. Over 2.0Lac customers are connected to us through “Maruti Care” app. <br /><br />We believe in total transparency with customers, and hence keep customers posted through SMS alerts to inform on Service due date, Start of work at workshop, Cost & time estimate, completion of work etc. Notification is send through mobile app to customers on service tips, mileage tips, new updates etc to have better engagement with customers.<br /><br />Timely delivery of vehicles to our customer post repair in workshop is most important focus area for us. For this we are also introducing Automatic Vehicle Tracking System in our workshops to track & analyze vehicle movement inside workshop & reduce idle time between stages, so that vehicle can repaired & delivered to customer on time.<br /><br />Customers are very demanding thesedays. How do you address their expectations?<br /><br />Customer expectations have been growing and we are conscious about it. Our effort is to strive for excellence. We want every customer to be a delighted customer and every delighted customer to move towards becoming a devoted customer.<br /><br />Right from the first interface where the service advisor greets the customer with a tablet everything is integrated backwards. Small gestures like clearly explaining the expenses, scheduling appointment reducing waiting times, express maintenance have been appreciated by customers. <br /><br />In addition, we have an extensive customer engagement calendar in place for eg with the onset of monsoon all our service centers connect with customers under “Monsoon Fit Checkup camp”. Over 60,000 cars are checked and prepared for coming monsoon other customer connect initiatives are pollution check-up (around world environment day), Freedom Carnival to celebrate India’s Independence day with customers etc. in FY 2015-16 we were able to connect with over 700,000 customer through several customer connect initiatives. <br /><br />What about service costs, how do you keep them competitive?<br /><br />Costs in my view are a measure of efficiency at work. To improve workshop efficiency we have introduced several concepts like two-technician bay. Here two technicians work on a car to optimize service load of the bay. This technique enhances turnaround time. The learnings from Maruti Suzuki shop floor like using natural light, use of gravity for movement of parts, tools have been successfully replicated at workshops. Concepts like mechanized car wash and dry car wash for faster cleaning of vehicles have brought down water consumption / car. Concepts like paintless dent removal (also called dry denting) have been deployed where minor dents can be removed without stripping the paint leading to economical costs to customers. Automated oil dispenser helps prevent oil spillage and precision in servicing. Kaizens or constant innovations keep us striving for competitive pricing. <br /><br />What are the challenges faced? How are you addressing them? <br /><br />Customer expectation always moves up and we have to delight them always!. Amidst soaring customer expectations, we face severe talent crunch. Good quality technicians ensure good quality service and long life of your car. To meet this expectation, we are building capacity right at the ITI level. We are working with over 105 ITIs throughout the country to bridge this talent gap.<br /><br /></div>
