USE* have developed an entirely digital methodology for the production of Workshop Manuals which uses CAD to determine the repair method, labour time and create photo-realistic illustrations in USE*’s own authoring software. Without the need for physical vehicles the efficiencies gained from the methodology have reduced the cost of authoring and enable USE* to deliver workshop manuals before vehicles are ready to ship which is crucial for supporting dealers.

USE* will now be responsible for production of all Technical Publications and will have a team of authors based at Aston Martin’s Gaydon Headquarters

The time differential can function as a penalty to dealers, who may be unable to claim the full cost from the manufacturer in terms of hours spent following the proscribed sequence of tests and repairs as defined by the diagnostic sequence.

For a prestigious household name OEM client, USE* have begun to help address this problem by working collaboratively between our customer’s Dealers, and their in-house Service Engineering and Diagnostics communities. The goal will be to identify ‘high hurt’ instances and, in these cases, devise means to revise diagnostics processes that will empower them to function on a ‘Pareto Logic’ basis; i.e. ensuring that for identified popular repairs or frequent faults, the first 20% of the possible diagnostic steps fully diagnose or resolve 80% of symptoms or faults.

Understanding how dealers are performing in terms of warranty costs paid by the OEM is a key metric in an automotive industry where warranty costs for manufacturers amount to hundreds of millions. Our client’s Dealer Warranty Performance Analysis programme will rank dealers in terms of the efficiency of their warranty-funded business and allow closer and more profitable business collaboration between our OEM client and its best-ranking dealerships.

Analysis of dealers’ warranty performance will consider factors such as proportion of warranty repairs per 1,000 vehicles fixed or serviced by the dealer; turnaround time from customer delivery to fix and collection; or dealer training statuses. Further analysis will be undertaken with high performing dealers to understand how they deliver best in class results. On this basis, best practices can be disseminated across the wider dealer network, while high-ranking dealerships can be inducted into collaborative programmes that streamline warranty processes to deliver better returns for the OEM and the dealership.

This initiative has been proactively supported by USE* engineers with two OEM clients, and in both cases the results have been extremely beneficial: for example, powertrain engineers are sometimes unaware of the configuration of or method for the utilisation of service tooling used for powertrain repair and maintenance in the aftermarket cycle, or even of the need for the same. In this case, USE* engineers have succeeded in ensuring viable design that supports existing tooling or eliminates the need for special tools altogether. Many other aspects of engine package have also been influenced with a view to creating engines that are more serviceable in multiple installation modes across a range of products.

j*Time is an online tool that allows USE* employees to record the time they have worked against both routine tasks (for example, attendance or management of package reviews) and individual deliverable items (for example, authoring a given Owner Handbook Procedure).

As such j*Time fulfils three key functions for USE*: it fulfills an HR function by providing a record of how every employee in the business has spent her or his time; it fulfills a Project Management function by allowing USE* to derive precise metrics that can be tailored to suit any situation or customer; and it fulfills a Finance function by providing billing information that can be approved by the customer and serve as a basis for invoice generation.

Metricated data is especially important: j*Time allows USE* to understand how much time is spent creating every single deliverable provided by each member of the team, and it even facilitates the identification of deliverables as stages, with more granular reporting showing time spent per employee per deliverable stage.