Pushing worldwide aftermarket support of manufactured goods

In the modern global marketplace, failure to respond to customer requirements can have dramatic effects on the success of manufacturing companies. Supporting customers after the “market” is a key element of such a response. Communication systems can be slow, unresponsive and expensive for large, distributed customer networks. Here a more proactive Internet‐based model is proposed. It uses push technology to provide greater visibility, improve inter‐company relationships, and lower costs. The model was developed at a leading UK manufacturer and a case study illustrates the developmental stages in terms of different types of communication media. This paper contends that information transfer, delivery and control is crucial for the effective management of extended aftermarket supply networks. A CD‐ROM‐based solution (developed by a UK diesel systems manufacturer) is documented, but it is further argued that such solutions may well already be insufficiently inflexible. The paper argues that manufacturing companies should adopt more information‐intensive solutions (such as webcasting, or push technologies) in order to manage the challenges emerging from Internet‐based business and communications.