Express service bays, min. 3 month spare parts stocks, better hospitality among Proton Operational Excellence aftersales improvement programme

• Spare parts stocking
• Express service
• Reward / penalty system for dealers

Conversations about aftersales services are not always easy to have, but in the interest of both the brand and its customers, remain absolutely vital. The Proton Operational Excellence (POE) initiative, mooted late last year by the carmaker, is their way of improving their aftersales performance.

Speaking at Proton The Apple Auto Bangi recently, Proton's Deputy Chief Executive Officer Roslan Abdullah shared about the programme's progress thus far, which spans facets like network rationalisation and expansion and streamlining of parts warehouses, among others.

Also read: Proton acknowledges spare parts shortage problem, reaches out to customers in need

The first step to that is expanding their footprint. Proton now has Malaysia's largest 3S/4S network, with 155 outlets (up from 152 last year) nationwide. Depending on the size of the state, each region currently has at least 1 3S or 4S centre to serve the local catchment.

Addressing the availability of spare parts, Roslan also touched on the company's current situation on its warehouses and their subsequent plans surrounding them. "To date, we have increased our warehouse capacity, which is also a crucial step.

We have opened up an RPC (regional parts centre) in Kuching last year, which is triple the size [of its predecessor]. On top of that we also have additional space in Glenmarie and Batu Tiga, to ensure the parts availability is ready," he explained.

Also read: Proton constructing regional parts centre in Kuching to support East Malaysia sales increase

Roslan also highlighted the POE's six focus areas that guides the programme, namely performance, service process, parts management, customer management, manpower, and compliance. However, Roslan shared that the "most important" is in parts management, and specific steps have been taken in respect to that.

"To ensure adequate stock levels, a monthly average demand system has been implemented to maintain sufficient stock at outlet level. Last year, we made it a fixed order to keep three months' stock at outlets and our parts centre," said Roslan. This move is still continued among certain dealers, and Proton parts centres still keep 3 months worth of spare parts.

In the areas of customer management, Roslan reiterated on the importance of making service appointments with dealers to better manage parts and time needed for a particular job. Along the lines too, Proton has implemented a centralised dealer management system that allows monitoring of service schedules, inventory, and customer data, among others.

Meanwhile, other initiatives that have come up from this programme include the introduction of fast service bays that reduces the waiting time for simple jobs, as well as support in terms of advanced equipment, in which Proton provides its dealers with items such as ADAS calibration tools.

Also read: Insurance body: Windscreen replacement for cars with ADAS costs 4x more, improper calibration post-repair a concern

The service improvements also extend to better hospitality and comfort areas for customers, as well as encouraging dealers to undertake more convenient services for customers like having tyres in stock, body and paint repair, as well as trade-in programmes.

Tangible improvements from the programme

Beyond improved stock numbers, the company also says there's been improvements in customer response. Wan Hazran Wan Mustafa, who once led UMW Toyota Motor's industry-leading after-sales, and is now Proton's Director of Aftersales, says there's been an uptick in almost all aspects.

"Big improvements are we can see our internal scores improve, service intake improvements, and reduce in customer complaints," he explained. Part of that comes from monitoring the performance of dealers, in which there are incentives for good performance, and a penalty of RM 1,000 for each complaint from unsatisfied customers.