 |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
KOPEN introduction meeting at Komatsu Vietnam JSC (KVN)
|
|
|
 |
|
|
Service engineer meeting held on Monday morning at Me Linh office
|
|
|
 |
|
|
KVN Me Linh office
|
|
|
Komatsu Vietnam JSC (KVN) is a Komatsu distributor that covers Vietnam as a whole. With the country undergoing economic development, Komatsu’s sales volume of construction and mining equipment has been dramatically increasing for the past few years.
Established in January 2004, KVN is a relatively young distributor. As such, rapid improvements particularly in terms of product support and customer support are required in order to appropriately respond to this significant change and raise the level of customer satisfaction. In response, since 2009, Komatsu Ltd. in Japan has started dispatching personnel to KVN on a business trip basis to make improvements in daily business activities.
Engaging in Daily Kaizen (Improvement) Activities
1. Visualization of information
To effectively visualize product support efforts at KVN, the KOPEN distributor resource management system was introduced in 2009. In the beginning, there were instances where all of the data was not input accurately since mechanics and engineers were not familiar with the system. Currently, however, their mindset has changed and accurate data are accumulated and utilized as part of daily routine work.
2. Data analysis
Analysis of the above data revealed a number of areas that warranted improvements. Since dealing with these aspects required Komatsu to check how the mechanics and engineers worked at respective job sites, Komatsu staff from Japan went back to Vietnam to conduct a time study of their work.
3. Time study
Komatsu members rode with local KVN staff in their service car to conduct a time study of their work at customer sites. One time, on the way to a customer site, there were landslides in many places because of torrential rain, cutting off several roads and thus taking half a day to get there. Also, even though a weekly schedule is made to visit customers and personnel are allocated accordingly, urgent visits to customers are sometimes required.
A team of three staff members usually visits a customer site: an engineer, who devises work plans, examines the shop manual and provides guidance on what needs to be done; a mechanic, who assists the engineer; and a driver. At a customer site, Komatsu staff members strive to examine what the actual situation is and analyze the results to make specific improvements. In a country such as Vietnam where the concept of finely tailored service hasn’t firmly taken root yet, it is necessary to differentiate Komatsu’s product and customer support from that of other competitors and used equipment dealers by carrying out such field activities as an ongoing process. This in turn demonstrates Komatsu’s unwavering dedication to customers.
After conducting a time study, Komatsu staff found out that almost half of the overall work time was devoted to transportation. Despite Vietnam’s expansive size spanning 1,700 km (1,056 mi) north to south, KVN lags in establishing branches in remote areas of the country. With the analytical data Komatsu members compiled, a credible, specific case could be made to KVN’s chairman for setting up more distributor branches.
Vietnam is projected to register significant growth for the foreseeable future. Komatsu will spare no efforts to contribute to the economic development of the country through its product and customer support activities.
|
Terms and Conditions