Handling product repairs, Inventory Control & Warranties

As our technology evolves more each day, devices become increasingly difficult to repair as needed through normal daily use. Without an ease to repair, users are forced to purchase a brand-new item, although their original only needs a quick fix. While for one item this may not seem so bad but considering the number of devices used in one’s daily life this can add up quickly.

Many manufacturers of technological devices offer consumers a warranty that includes details on provided repairs within a specific time frame. Customers in need of a repair may also seek out third-party companies to fix their devices if possible. 

From the perspective of the manufacturer or third-party repair business, managing repaired inventory can be challenging if not done correctly. Luckily, Order Time’s new Repair feature has all the tools needed to get the job done!

Reliability and Repairs

It has become increasingly apparent that customers will expect quick, reliable service on demand. For manufacturers this means they have to completely optimize their after-sale service. There are three key aspects to focus on when you are setting up your business to service customers for repairs.

• Completely optimize your service part inventory management.
  • Excess stock, obsolete parts, and lousy part availability can plague a manufacturer who repairs inventory.
• Service Part price levels that are fair.
  • Now with Right to Repair bills looming, you have to think about setting price levels for service parts that you can sell and ship out. 
  • They need to be competitively priced so that you can beat out the competition and provide them in a quick manner.
  • Use a powerful cloud-based inventory management tool like Order Time to track service parts and predict when new parts are needed via purchasing Reorder Analysis.
• Consider utilizing a subscription-based model for break-fix service.
  • You can still have it set as warranties, but create a monthly or annual subscription.
  • This establishes a cash-flow for future repairs, and creates a relationship with the customer that can last for decades.

Repair Orders

Order Time’s repair tool allows you to set up Repair Orders easily within the cloud-based platform. From there, you can easily create and edit repair item groups like processes already used within the system. 

Similar to a Bill of Materials, Components make up the Repair Item, so the system knows exactly what to do. Order Time also gives visibility into doc statuses so you can know the progress of the item being fixed at any point in time.

Repair Order Types

There are two types of Repair Orders that manufacturers and third parties may want to use, either Internal or External.

This repair is easily manageable within Order Time and can be customized to include all the necessary details (parts required, time to repair, and validation every step of the way) for a seamless repair process.

External Repairs are useful in a variety of situations. For example, a customer may send you a broken item or unit to be fixed and shipped back to them. Customers may also send in a broken unit that you just replace for them. Then you repair and return it to stock as a refurb. External repairs are also used in scenarios where customers submit a broken unit, and you replace the broken item after inspection when it is under Warranty.

Establish Error Codes and Warranty Types

As the item being repaired moves through the process, we recommend using Error Codes to detail the root cause of the problem and/or how to identify it. This ensures a seamless process so that repair time isn’t delayed. An error codes can be as simple as an item having a broken track, missing LED, etc. It helps the repair tech know how to implement the repair, and what parts (if necessary) must be used to complete the repair.

Warranty Types are used to track warranties and the total length of time that a product is covered. Order Time’s tool allows these warranty types to be set up and later assigned to items on ship docs/invoices with the click of a button. Warranty Types can be marked as active or inactive, and include crucial details such as warranty name, description, length, and more. As stated above, if you are creating a subscription based service-on-demand model you can utilize warranties as a means to organize products serviced for those specific customers.

Quick Explainer for Price Levels

Price level control is very important if you're going to follow Right to Repair rulings and sell service parts competitively for customers to repair their own products.

In Order Time you can set up a multitude of price levels for markups or discounts. 

Here is a list of the different types of Price Levels we offer:

• Company Wide - Discount that applies to all customers and all items
• Customer Discount - Discount from the standard price
• Customer Markup - Markup on the standard cost
• Customer Item Price - Specific prices per item
• Item Markup - Markup from the standard cost per item
• Volume Discount by Percentage - Prices that change depending on quantity
• Customer Item Group Discount - Discount from the standard price per Item Group
• Currency Price - Price for a specific Currency
• Customer Item by Percentage - Modify Item Prices up or down based on a percentage per item. Assigned on a customer by customer basis
• Customer Pricing Group - A set of price levels in aggregate. Assigned on a customer by customer basis
• Customer Stacked Percentages - A set of percentage-based price levels in aggregate. Assigned on a customer by customer basis
• Volume Discount by Price - Prices that change depending on quantity
• Vendor Discount - Discount from Standard Cost
• Vendor Volume Percentage Discount - Costs that change depending on quantity per Vendor
• Vendor Volume Cost Discount - Costs that change depending on quantity per Vendor
• Customer Item Group Markup - Markup over standard cost per Item Group

As you can see there is a plethora of options depending on how you want to discount your items or mark them up from their Cost! Giving you a fine level of control over your pricing is the strongest feature we have for selling competitively in 2022.

Don't sleep on these elements of your business, you need to keep a steady pace in order to wade through the ever-changing economic atmosphere!