Diagnostic methods and after-sales services, a key challenge for the automotive sector
After graduating from Business School, I joined the Group in 2006 as a junior Business Manager in the AIT division. For the next four years, my work focused on after-sales services as well as diagnositc and embedded-system solutions for car manufacturers.
At present, I am Head of an AIT development unit and work closely with the NSI teams on projects for PSA and Renault. These projects are generally carried out on a performance-guarantee basis for service centres and a fixed-price contract basis for diagnostic solutions.
What are the main features of the automotive sector and what are the challenges for carmakers related to after-sales services ?
The challenge facing car manufactures today is two-fold in that they must maintain their brand image while controlling costs. At the same time, carmakers are having to keep abreast of the significant progress being made in the field of technology and the increasing complexity of car models requiring more sophisticated onboard systems. In addition, market cycles in the auto industry are becoming shorter given the need to constantly update product plans.
For carmakers, therefore, the after-sales service has become a major issue. In order to preserve the brand image, car manufacturers in Europe are offering longer automobile guarantees, although these are still considerably shorter than the warranties offered by their Asian competitors. The after-sales service is also challenging in terms of profitability. Asian carmakers, whose warranty-related costs have shot up over the past years, are having to ensure car quality and are thus expending considerable effort on cost-cutting.
How does Altran help car manufacturers address this issue ?
Today, Altran is a major player in the after-sales services segment of the automotive market. For the last three years, we have been playing a very active role in the transformation of diagnostic solutions for European car manufacturers.
These solutions have emerged from the desire of European carmakers to classify diagnostics as an upstream activity in the development of automobiles and to foster a co-design based approach with engineers.
Thanks to the expertise of our teams, we have been operating on the two main sub-segments related to diagnostic services: the diagnostic tool and related methods.
Our diagnostic tool activity involves application deployment and up-dating across the various carmakers’ networks, as well as technical support designed to link network platforms worldwide. We operate as a services centre in this business where a fifth of the activity is carried out offshore; a level that could well rise.
In the field of method engineering, over the last three years, we have overhauled the guided diagnostic solutions for each of the components and sub-systems of vehicle interiors and powertrains. The concept is based on the co-design process involving the simultaneous development of diagnostic methods and automobile design, while addressing the two-fold « brand image/cost optimisation » challenge. Once developed, these solutions are integrated in the diagnostic tool and validated to optimise the efficiency of the network in terms of diagnostic ability. Our services in this domain, which are based on fixed-price client contracts and partly effectuated on the Group’s premises, are carried out by Altran’s diagnostic and method-engineering experts specialised in the field of automobile component design.
Will technological development and the use of increasingly complex embedded systems have an impact on the after-sales services of car manufacturers?
European car manufacturers have made sufficient progress to be able to address the « brand-image/cost-optimisation » issue. The challenges for the years ahead are much more focused on after-sales services and « intuitive » diagnostics.
We are already working on several projects linking diagnostics and multimedia. Although we cannot go into too much detail for confidentiality reasons, we can say that the vehicle of the future will be equipped with mass multimedia products allowing users to download a number of applications and services related to car maintenance and upkeep and, in the longer term, remote-repair systems.
Intuitive diagnostics is also an interesting topic with regards the future. The idea is to give vehicles, with or without on-board diagnostic systems, connectivity access for self-diagnostic purposes so that any malfunctioning in the vehicle can be identified and automatically corrected. This means that as soon as a malfunction is detected, an alert is triggered from within the vehicle and picked up by the network operator. An order is automatically put through for the replacement of the faulty car part and for the operators « guided diagnostic » solution. The entire process is managed from the vehicle.
Having helped client projects over a good number of years in the fields of « after-sales and diagnositc solutions », Altran has attained a high level of expertise in these activities. Every day, the Group works to develop innovative services and products that will become standard components.
