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The green page p.
15
• Innovation networks p.22
*AMX
bounces back p. 64
www.my-esm.comMAY 2005
Electronics
Supply&Manufacturing
FOR
OEM
AND
EMS MANAGERS
WITH GLOBAL INFLUENCE
VOLUME 2 •
I
E
Wtt'd'l
o China's
environmentalms
mean for your
company
UPS gets intomanufacturing
page 28
Winning in the
medial
market
page 56
I
<^
 
••••••
What
can Brown do for yog? How about take over yourafter-sales repair and inventory management operation?
A
happy
lliance
BY
ARIK
HESSELDAHL
ast year, Toshiba America Information Systemslaunched a new program to streamline its repair andcustomer service processes and came up with an unlikely solution: Outsource the job. That in itself wasn'tso unusual, but the company it picked to do the job
was:
shipping giant United Parcel Services.UPS was a logical choice for handling Toshiba'sshipping and other logistics operations. Asking"Brown's" nattily dressed couriers in theirsignature trucks to take on after-sales repairand warranty fulfillment for a computer maker seemedsomewhat less straightforward.But in enlisting UPS' help, Toshiba was only extendingthe barriers of outsourcing and following other electronicscompanies that have taken often unorthodox steps to solvesometimes purely manufacturing problems as they race tokeep costs down and maintain a competitive edge.Toshiba's after-sales service problem began with anempty box, the first step in a hugely inefficient and frustrat-
ingly
slow process that Toshiba notebook owners had tonavigate in order to get their notebook PCs fixed.The empty box would arrive at the customer's home sothat the broken machine could be shipped to a Toshiba repair facility in Memphis, Term. Once the notebook wasboxed, the customer would have to wait for a shipper,maybe UPS or its competitor Federal Express, to pick up thecomputer.In Memphis, technicians servicing the PC might have toorder replacement parts from another Toshiba facility acrosstown. But if a major part in the machine required repair, it
B3
I ELECTRONICS SUPPLY & MANUFACTURING | MAY 2005
 
AH -'-:.,
A UPS technician fixesa Toshiba board.
of 00

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