Shaktiman, ag machinery manufacturer from India, has stretched its global reach to 105 countries. With every new country added to the list comes the same systematic commitment to customer service, accessed via an extensive service network. This is safeguarded through the Shaktiman Technical Assistance Center (STAC).
“Farmers around the world can make a confident choice to bring Shaktiman’s farm equipment onto their farms, safe in the knowledge that they’ll always have access to a dedicated global service network supplemented by genuine spare parts,” says Ashwin Gohil, Chairman of Shaktiman.
“Investing in ag machinery is a big decision. It’s vital for farm productivity and increasingly instrumental in optimizing a farm’s sustainability,” he says. “But in making that decision, growers need to look beyond the glitzy tradeshow stands and the polished social media performance.”
“A machinery’s only worth its investment when it’s working and doing the job it was designed to do. While every machine will eventually need spare parts and essential maintenance, what really matters is this: when you need that service or spare part, how easy is it to access it, and how soon can you get hold of it?”
Shaktiman has created a trained and responsive service team, setting up the L.S. Gohil Learning Academy to provide all learning and development needs across its entire ‘service ecosystem’: not just employees, but other stakeholders including suppliers, vendors and distributors.
By applying the Academy’s vision: “Leading Transformation through Learning and Development” across all its operations, Shaktiman says it can ‘design in’ quality and service across the board. “Ultimately, to reach our customer service goals, it’s important that every machine that reaches a customer’s farm is designed not only with productivity and sustainability in mind, but that its design incorporates what’s needed to achieve those benchmark levels of service.
“It is a Design for Service,” he enthuses, “a customer-centric process that starts with a complete tear-down and assembly of the product during prototyping.”
The prototype is measured against a trio of parameters: ease and speed of repair, accessibility to parts, and ease of maintenance and operation. Only when all three are satisfied, and any critical problems solved, will the prototype receive sign-off for production and launch.
“Even after launch, Design for Service continues,” he says. “Constant intelligence and observations from our engineers in the field allows us to continuously tweak and improve our designs to optimize product performance and thus avoid or minimize downtime and the need for remedial work.”
Dealers and service personnel also have access to STAC, the Shaktiman Technical Assistance Center, a 24-hour service that aims to resolve field queries quickly and efficiently. Coupled with a comprehensive warranty of up to two years, the approach aims to build customer confidence in Shaktiman’s products.
“Confidence in the product is vital, which is why we also insist that our dealers complete a comprehensive customer onboarding process,” he adds. “By explaining all the product features, policies, maintenance and operations, on-farm with the customer, we can ensure customer satisfaction from the start: a smooth start to Shaktiman ownership and usage, which can be further reinforced through an annual maintenance contract.”
