Revolutionizing the Aftermarket: Empowering customers with knowledge using technology at thirty thousand feet

Whilst settling into your seat and buckling up there is a certain comfort in hearing from the co-pilot that we will be travelling at thirty thousand feet whilst avoiding the expected weather over the Bay of Biscay. The captain has a co-pilot, with dual hands on the controls.

More on copilots later.

Much has been written about the many changes we have been through and yet to face in the world of Service & Aftermarket. One change that has largely gone unnoticed took me by surprise with just how many manufacturers (over three thousand sites) were quietly adopting this technology and revolutionising how they deliver knowledge at point of service for engineers, technicians, and in turn their customers own operatives.

My article explores how innovative solutions like Artificial Intelligence based Knowledge “copilots” are empowering customers and revolutionising the aftermarket experience.

Industrial equipment follows a defined life cycle, encompassing purchase, configuration, installation, calibration, operation, maintenance, and ultimately, decommissioning. Unplanned repairs and routine maintenance are crucial for optimal performance throughout this journey. The pandemic accentuated the potential of customer-led interventions, such as basic checks and component replacements. However, this approach highlighted knowledge gaps and lack of experience that often hinder effective execution.

I have met many leaders and spoken at conferences about Design for Service and Service Design; plus my colleagues have written a superb handbook for Smart Service Design; I digress back to practical and focused knowledge delivery.

There are actually two terms that sound similar but have different meanings: “service design” and “design for service.” Before we delve into the technology, it’s crucial to differentiate between two key concepts:

Design for Service focuses on designing products that are easier to service and maintain. It aims to reduce the cost and effort of repair, maintenance, and upgrades by integrating serviceability features into the product design from the beginning. Examples include modular smartphones and self-servicing cars.

Whilst Service Design focuses on creating optimal experiences for users of a service. It aims to improve the quality and usability of the service by considering the entire service journey from the user’s perspective, including touchpoints, interactions, and outcomes. Examples include redesigning hospital visits and simplifying online banking.

As a Service Leader and a service technology specialist I had the opportunity to work with technologists and service innovation design team on systems that push published knowledge, videos and articles as raw learning objects on a mobile or tablet device to the field technicians, engineers and maintenance operatives. Most of this material is dull, flat, text based essentially the digital version of the printed manufacturer manual, wiring guide or sub assembly component map.

As a Service leader working in service design, we focus on creating optimal experiences for users of a service. By improving the quality and usability of a service. Considering the entire customer service journey, from the user’s perspective, including touchpoints, interactions, and outcomes an example might be designing a more user-friendly website for an online booking, streamlining the process of obtaining a part or user manual that solves a problem or guides step by step through a solution or calibration.

Equally in design for service, in supporting our own workers, teams in the field and plant we focus working with R&D, product engineering on designing products that are easier to service and maintain with an aim to reduce the cost and effort of repair, maintenance, and upgrades, reducing the MTTR or MTTI.

I spend a lot of time helping organisation leverage and integrate technology and serviceability features into the product design from the beginning. Examples being designing an asset with easily accessible components, making equipment modular for easy repair of specific parts.

So, in short, service design is about user experience, making the service itself work better and design for service is about the product itself, making it easier to service and maintain.

Back to my copilot analogy and the emergence of the need for better knowledge at point of service and combining my earlier points on design for service.

The term “copilot” can have a few different meanings depending on the context. I already mentioned in aviation a co-pilot (also called a first officer) is a licensed pilot who assists the captain, who is the legal commander of the aircraft.

In some high-performance cars, a copilot is an additional seat equipped with controls that allow the passenger to assist the driver with certain tasks. While in software development, a copilot can be a tool or feature that assists users with tasks, such as writing code, designing graphics, or translating languages. Some examples here include Microsoft Copilot, which suggests code completions and generates text, and GitHub Copilot, which uses AI to help developers write better code.

Thus, for us in Service & Aftermarket the Knowledge “Copilot” Concept signifies a new approach to empowering users with knowledge and dynamic real time assistance.

InSkill was the first enterprise-ready platform utilising GPT technology to create and distribute industrial Copilots for equipment and devices. These AI-powered assistants connect workers with a wealth of device-specific information and data, enabling them to ask questions and receive real-time answers. This empowers them to operate, service, and maintain machines more effectively.

By integrating user needs into product design and leveraging knowledge-powered Co-pilots, companies can deliver a truly empowered and revolutionise the aftermarket experience my colleague Dr Howard Lightfoot, Co-author of Made to Serve recently coin the phase the AI Technicians a new class of engineer.

Industrial & service Copilots benefit both technicians and customers but also unlock significant opportunities for growth and efficiency within the entire industrial ecosystem. Please do reach out to me if you would like to learn more or indeed be introduced first hand to the technology. Sit back, relax its going to be a safe, enjoyable, and interesting flight…