Digitalization of the after-sales assistance in the automotive sector-The case study of FPT Industrial’s Remote Master

In the last decades there has been a shift from product-centricity to customer-centricity and an increasing digitalization of all the sectors but this is evident particularly in the after-sales assistance services in the automotive industry. In the era of digital transformation, predictive maintenance, data analytics, and privacy protection are pivotal in after-sales operations, necessitating investments to maintain competitiveness. Furthermore, the integration of Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality technologies has revolutionized training and assistance processes in the automotive sector. In order to maintain its market share FPT Industrial is developing a platform for virtual assistance named Remote Master. This system connects a technician present on field near a damaged machine and a remote expert. The latter is able to guide the operator step by step to the resolution of the issue as if he/she was present on field. This is possible thanks to the streaming of video and audio, the connection of diagnostic tools, the real time sharing of their data and the integration of AR’s elements. Particularly a stakeholders’ analysis of the project has been performed and has been identified and described four main stakeholders: the seller of the Remote Master (FPT Industrial), the suppliers of the hardware and the software, the customers (Dealers and OEMs) and the final users (field technicians and remote experts). In addition has been analyzed all the problems that the Remote Master aims to solve and the possible solutions to implement; has been described its Business model and some indicators to be monitored in order to understand if the project is going in the right direction. Furthermore, to have quantitative results on what are the best implementation to focus on, has been constructed the House of Quality and the Kano model using the data extracted from a survey and some interviews. From these activities has emerged that many customers are reluctant to the changings, for this reason it is important to engage them and increase their participation through the setting of a proper price and gamification activities as well as marketing campaigns and trainings. In order to understand which new features to implement, it is necessary to make a trade-off between what stakeholders want and what is effective for FPT Industrial. To automatize these choices has been realized an algorithm that based on some criteria and on the information derived from a survey, it is able to define the best combination of features that the Remote Master should have. Moreover, given its innovative characteristics, it is important to protect the product and the brand patenting it and registering the trademark. Since the Remote Master uses some elements of the AR, it can be considered as a tool of Industry 4.0 and it can have access to some measures that the Italian Government has exposed in its National Plan Transizione 4.0. In conclusion, the Remote Master increases the quality of the service providing faster intervention and higher uptime, this rises customers’ satisfaction and brand loyalty that lead to higher market share and sales. In addition it permits to drastically decrease the number of business travels saving money and decreasing the amount of CO2 emitted. These two aspects, and the reduction of stress and improved work-life balance for the expert that doesn’t have to travel anymore, follow the principles of ESG and Industry 5.0, contributing to a sustainable industry and world transformation.