Who hasn’t heard of IoT? Who doesn’t know about Cloud Computing? Everybody, right!
It is everywhere — in our homes, cars, home assistants, and phones. But did you know that it’s what organizations are using to improve their processes, their productivity and their profits? Probably not.
With the advent of the steam engine came the first industrial revolution — the 1.0, so to speak. When we found the assembly line production technique, mass production became the foremost manufacturing process — the 2.0 of the industry. The invention of computing and computer-based machinery was the third revolution of industry, which was, until very recently, the dominant feature in manufacturing and many other industries.
The current and ongoing revolution in the entire industry is the Industry 4.0, which is the culmination of Cloud Computing, IoT, Analytics and Cyber-Physical processes to automate, improve and manage entire businesses and manufacturing processes.
A selective case of applying all these technologies and perspectives to the aftermarket and warranty is “Aftermarket 4.0”.
Let’s say you own a brand-new BMW i8 with all its bells and whistles. It’s only natural that you would have a mobile app to manage your car. You have sensors in all the nooks and corners of the car to measure the speed, check if your seat belt is fastened, check the tire pressure and balance, know the number of people in the car, check the parking sensors, check the fuel mix sensors, and even check if you’re sleeping at the wheel. All these sensors would collect data and pass it on to an intelligent machine that would make a decentralized decision on what should happen next. And you would see all the collected data in a report in your mobile app.
Then, when you take the car for a service at your dealership, which, by the way, was notified to give you a discount, for routine maintenance. Because the dealership has data about your good use of the car, you get an additional 5% off. Feels good, doesn’t it?
Through this process, you’ve used cloud computing and mobile technologies to access the car details and take actions. You’ve experienced IoT with the full set of sensors in your car, and the analytics on the data, which provided actions you needed to take. There were cyber-physical processes that were managing the whole thing for you with little intervention. Welcome to Aftermarket 4.0!
Imagine every need that you can regarding your vehicle. Fuel? Check! Engine Health? Check! Part Change? Check! With intelligent systems and sensors, the manufacturers and dealers can proactively help with any and every need of the vehicle.
This doesn’t just start and end with servicing your car. Warranties, replacements, returns, trading, bartering and much more can be accomplished with standardized and identifiable sensors and nodes of a IoT. Not only does it create a much easier way to identify assets, estimate the value and trade them, it also creates a better environment for transparency for the customer and an experience that is much easier for purchase, repair, and return of vehicle necessities.
