For enhanced customer-responsiveness

Krones magazine talked to the executives responsible for the Krones Life-Cycle Service, Markus Tischer, Head of LCS and Anton Schindlbeck, Sales Director LCS.

• Revamped Life-Cycle Service

  Krones magazine: Herr Tischer, what does the abbreviation “LCS” actually denote?

  Markus Tischer: LCS stands for the Krones Life-Cycle Service. It refers to our entire after-sales operation, meaning the relationship between Krones and its customers that exists after the kit has been commissioned.

   
• Taking a service commitment fully on board

  Krones magazine: Follow-up business then, but why was Life-Cycle Service then introduced as an autonomous business unit?

  Markus Tischer: The processes involved in aftersales operations are significantly different from those applying in new-machine business. We operate here with a rigorous service focus, not least since we’re right at the customer interface.
  The response speed required, too, is considerably higher: in the event of line malfunctions, for instance, the service work involved has to be carried out at very short notice, so as to offer the requisite support to the client concerned and his line.

  Krones magazine: Herr Schindlbeck, to phrase things a bit provocatively, what’s so different about Krones’ own Life-Cycle Service compared to the customary after-sales service operations at our competitors?

  Anton Schindlbeck: Krones is a powerful can-do partner. We supply holistically conceived systems and complete lines, not just individual machines.
  Krones is the original equipment manufacturer, and so LCS can tap into all of the group’s corporate expertise and can access all the design drawings.
  Internally, LCS at Krones possesses a well-ordered structure. Externally, as perceived by the market, LCS is in fine shape. With a worldwide service support network, and with a strong regional focus, our continental bases have enabled us to create clear preconditions for enhanced closeproximity customer-responsiveness. None of our rivals on the market, then, is able to provide such meaningfully efficacious service support as can Life-Cycle Service at Krones.

   
• Proactive product management for LCS

  Krones magazine: Herr Tischer, could you please briefly outline for us the structure of the Life-Cycle Service operation at Krones.

  Markus Tischer: In all parts of the value creation chain at Krones, there are LCS executives to be found. In close cooperation, the product portfolio and the processes are regularly reviewed here, and options for optimisation formulated. This begins in the specialised LCS sales department, and is continued in the Handling Parts Division set up specifically for retrofit jobs, with its remit for quotation formulation and design. And a special production operation for handling parts and spares has been set up. So the parts concerned are obtained speedily and flexibly from the entire production structure in Neutraubling for dispatch to the client. After this, the specialists from LCS Service take over, who’ve been specifically trained to handle the needs of machinery and lines during actual operation.

  Krones magazine: So does LCS need its own product management?

  Markus Tischer: In the past, the LCS products were simply there. There was no proactive product management of the kind we have for new machines. When LCS was introduced, we began to firm up definitions for the numerous existing products to emphasise comprehensibility from the client’s point of view, and to introduce appropriate product management. This monitors where a product stands in relation to its market, what potential it has, whether it will be added to the product range in the long term, and who is responsible for it. Nowadays, the LCS products are managed like new machines, under their own brands, and with their own structure. The advantage involved for the client is that in future he will receive more innovative and reliable products and services.

   
• New services

  Krones magazine: A whole series of new products and services have been developed. Please outline some of them briefly for us.

  Anton Schindlbeck: From the traditional products of service support, spares and handling parts, further products have been created, which we have divided into two categories: Services and Parts&Software. Services, for example, include LCS Maintenance, our preventive maintenance capability. It involves far more than merely replacing wear parts; LCS Maintenance focuses on maximising line lifetimes, and provides the requisite modules for this purpose.
  Another segment is LCS Productivity, which looks after systematic upgrading of productivity levels on an existing line. There we use line tuning to analyse and objectively assess the production line as a holistic entity, enabling us to formulate, offer and implement appropriate concepts for eliminating the weak points detected.
  The traditional handling parts business has meanwhile evolved into LCS Retrofitting in the Parts&Software operation, where upgrades and handling parts are the salient products.
  Existing Krones lines can reduce their downtimes at product change-overs by as much as 30 per cent if they are retrofitted with new handling parts, like the Raptec series. Upgrades enable machines and lines purchased many years ago to be brought up to the current state of the art, simplifying operator control and optimising machine efficiencies.

  Krones magazine: What else do you offer besides the products?

  Anton Schindlbeck: In addition to our LCS product range, we also organise increasing numbers of LCS symposiums on particular machine categories.
  These are aimed specifically at clients who actually own these machines, for whom it’s of interest to find out more about any relevant innovations and technical improvements for their machines and lines.

   
• Concentrating on core capabilities

  Krones magazine: Do clients want and need all this?

  Anton Schindlbeck: The response from our clients answers this question with a resounding “They certainly do!” It’s quite simple: with our individualised LCS solution, the client gets precisely what he needs. Either he selects and buys the individual products he requires in the usual manner, or he opts for a time-defined package, such as an inspection or maintenance agreement.
  In particular, the rising level of demand for maintenance agreements reflects a definite trend towards customised solutions, in preference to a predefined package “out of drawer A, B or C”. The client (each one of them is unique) is keen to concentrate on his core competence, and for a defined time period transfers responsibility for the line to Krones. The money invested here pays for itself very quickly. In addition, he gains in terms of enhanced planning dependability for his budgeting and higher levels of line availability into the bargain.

  Krones magazine: Who bears the responsibility in relation to the client, and who provides the interfacing support?

  Anton Schindlbeck: For each line delivered worldwide, an action plan is drawn up that begins with erection of the line concerned and accompanies the client over the entire lifetime of his line. LCS providers keep in regular contact with our clients and inform them of any innovations relating to our capabilities in terms of Services and Parts&Software. They are also at hand to advise if a client has any problems with his line. But please don’t think of the LCS providers as traditional- type representatives. We’re talking here about LCS specialists with in-depth technical backgrounds, most of whom have already gained experience with Krones in the firm’s service support and field sales operations. The clients really appreciate this experience, since they know that their LCS provider will find out precisely what their machine or line actually needs and in particular when it needs something.

   
• Global presence

  Krones magazine: I suppose clients benefit particularly from Krones’ worldwide organisation.

  Markus Tischer: Of course! The secret behind the success of LCS is our close-proximity customer- responsiveness. The creation of regional LCS bases enables Krones to satisfy our clients’ needs within a minimised timeframe. We speak the same language, have the same mindset, work in the same time zone, and are thus the optimum partner for our clients and their needs. Continental LCS bases have already been successfully installed at company headquarters in Neutraubling for Europe, at the LCS Base Krones Inc. in Franklin/USA for North America, Canada and Central America, in São Paulo for South America, and at Krones Taicang near Shanghai for China and parts of Asia. Others are set to follow. Spare parts production and warehousing, plus handling part supply, are already being assured in our LCS bases. In the future, we shall primarily be expanding our service capabilities and the LCS training centre, enabling us to operate more effectively in the region concerned. Rapidresponse on-the-spot assistance, the concomitantly rigorous punctuality of deliveries, detailed know-how on the market and clients concerned, sustained personal contact during the utilisation phase are just a few of the advantages, which is why we are also continuing to invest worldwide in expanding our LCS infrastructure.

   
• Benefits for the client

  Krones magazine: What does the medium-term future look like? In the sector, as you know, one of the major visions being promulgated is that the client will no longer actually buy a line, but just run the bottling on it and pay the unit costs. Is this a topical issue, or is it more something for the future?

  Anton Schindlbeck: Maintenance agreements are already moving in this direction, and can be paid for in terms of unit costs. The next stage will be production support. Krones is already providing clients with staff who look after the machines and lines in the production process over a lengthy period.

  Markus Tischer: Krones has evolved from a machinery manufacturer to a complete-system supplier, and the future will be centred around consultancy and service business. It’s no longer iron and steel we’re selling, it’s concepts. This is a strategic thrust that Krones will stick with.

  Krones magazine: So the vendor-client relationship is then going to be different?

  Markus Tischer: A new relationship between clients and vendors has already been created. We speak here of a strategic partnership. What used to happen was that the client came to Krones, the specifics of a particular order were discussed, parts ordered, and only then was consideration given as to whether a particular service was required as well. Nowadays, we aim to arrange these things in consultation with our clients, and arrive at agreements that go beyond buying and selling as such and offer additional benefits for the client. The Krones Life-Cycle Service has to reliably assure the client’s production process, year in, year out, round the clock, for the line’s entire lifetime. That’s what Life-Cycle Service means.