With the emergence of Tech companies in the Vehicle industry, the Customer Experience is changing from Sales to Service. Vehicle enterprises are now adapting, and even competing, in the high-tech, software industry. In this presentation, Ashok will open the discussion on this technology service evolution and then a panel of industry experts will discuss how they are preparing for these Warranty and Service delivery changes and what they see coming in the not-so-distant future.

Key discussion points will include:
• Higher margin revenue opportunities with Subscription Services, Servitization and Product-as-a-Service
• Retooling dealers globally, and service technicians, with the knowledge needed to work with the rapid technology advancements  
• How to build stronger customer relationships by leveraging IoT and Connected vehicle data to deliver proactive customer service.

Ashok Kartham, CPO Syncron, CEO Mize

Paul Rogers, Senior Manager, Warranty – Nissan Group of North America

Joe Werth, VP, Integrated Warranty, Total Cost of Ownership and Uptime – Navistar

• Improving retention through an integrated support suite for parts, tech support, claims and information
• Smarter and more accessible mobile application
• Providing after-sales customer support through scheduled maintenance insights

Andrew Conville, Director of Aftersales Dealer and Customer Support – Mahindra

We are at the cusp of a new era in the automotive industry. Vehicles are getting more connected, electrified, automated, and redefined. Leading manufacturers, their suppliers, and channel partners are focused on connectivity and the ecosystem required to support the connected vehicle of today and tomorrow. Connected Vehicle data coupled with AI and ML technologies can enable real-time decisions based on accurate in-service data down to the component level.

During this session, leaders from Kubota, Tavant, and Salesforce will discuss the new opportunities and challenges emerging from connected vehicles and building effective warranty and service strategies that ensure a seamless aftersales service and customer satisfaction.

Key discussion points:

• The intersection of connectivity, mobility, and sustainability
• Role of a robust next-gen platform
• Service transformation at Kubota

Samantha Horton, Senior Business Analyst – Tavant

Scott Mattoon, Director, Industry Advisor – Manufacturing and Automotive – Salesforce

Chuck Carman, Director, Training and Warranty – Kubota Canada

• Categorizing warranty repair/patches/bug fixes or recall
• Who pays for them?
• Is it a trackable warranty repair? Does it count as a Lemon Law countable repair?
• Reporting best practices
• Security concerns/global complexities
• Protecting driver’s privacy preferences

Mike Roberts, President – MR Insights

Eric Gillanders, Global Warranty Systems Manager | Service Engineering Operations | Customer Service Division – Ford Motor Company

Ed Roberts, Chief Operations Officer – Bozard Ford Lincoln

• Preparing the integration strategy with the new group brands
• Reaping the combined technology benefits in areas such as electric and autonomous
• Leveraging best practices in services and warranty
• Forming new partnerships in purchasing and cost savings

Joe Werth, VP, Integrated Warranty, Total Cost of Ownership and Uptime – Navistar

• Recognizing where we were and where we wanted to be
• Evaluating our priorities and how to successfully apply it in our warranty strategy
• Planning the transformation of our business

Luis Gerardo Mendez, Warranty and Service Engineering Leader – GKN Automotive

Roland Seeger, Central Quality Manager – GKN Automotive

NTF issues continue to adversely affect warranty, quality and service efforts. When the trouble remains unidentified, there is little that can be done to rectify problems especially where individual components function and test out as designed. Nandit and Jossey will discuss:

• Benefits and limitations of data-driven techniques such as: ETL & data preparation, Data mining, AI-based machine-learning
• Suggestions for using more readily available electronic and sensor data
• Successful case studies where companies are already leveraging available data

Jossey Bertollini, Lead Product Engineer – Magna Seating Systems Engineering

Nandit Soparkar, Business and Technical Development – Ubiquiti, Inc.

Cloyes backs its products with an unparalleled level of knowledge, expertise and clear understanding of today’s technicians and vehicles. John to discuss the impacts of his lifetime warranty strategy and benefits of his established contract manufacturing strategy.

John Hanighen, Chief Executive Officer – Cloyes Gears and Products

• Knowledge capture and sharing approaches to enable real-time access to other teams such as Product Management, Sales, Service…
• Moving from segmented to integrated warranty processes to reduce costs of repair
• Increasing collaboration and sharing between OEMs, Suppliers, Contract Manufacturers and Dealers to improve processes
• Sharing responsibility for potential product liability, warranty and recall claims
• Quality differentiation for competitive advantage

Jennifer Jones, Global Warranty Spend Manager – Ford Motor Company

Jose Clemente, Warranty Performance & Parts Review Supervisor – General Motors

John Hanighen, Chief Executive Officer – Cloyes Gear and Products

Jason Payne, Founder & Chief Intelligence Officer – JPSI Warranty Strategy & Intelligence

• Leveraging the digital Failure Mode & Effects Analysis (FMEA) methodology to ensure warranty related updates are shared across all processes
• Providing a robust methodology to creating product designs and processes
• Paving the way for Quality 4.0

Brian Martensen, Senior Program Manager, Quality Products & Services – AIAG

• Data needs and ease of communication across the entire value stream
• Role of front-line service technicians and diagnosis methods
• Data mining trends for early identification of design/manufacturing issues

Jeff Sutter, Global Director, Innovation & Continuous Improvement Methodologies, Warranty – Nexteer Automotive

• Creating a gang of women who would mention your name is a room full of possibilities
• Getting out of your own way so you can form and maintain a network of women who work to elevate each other

Jill Trotta, Vice President/GM of Industry, Sales, and RepairPal Express – RepairPal

Using technology, automation, and process innovation to better manage warranty claims.

Tariq Hafeez, President/Co-Founder – LegalEase Solutions

• Managing complexities of multiple projects simultaneously
• Achieving buy-in from all your stakeholders
• Integrations: Challenges – Best Practices

Antonietta Polsinelli, Global Warranty New Business Strategy Manager – Ford Motor Company

• Risk and benefits
• Finding a balance between dealer empowerment and control

Paul Rogers, Senior Manager, Warranty – Nissan Motor Corporation

• Reshaping and equipping dealer aftersales service departments for CASE
• Collaborating to support tech recruitment
• Driving profit and long-term retention with better ownership processes
• Ensuring satisfied dealers through clear and consistent policies

Robert Lecznar, Senior Director Service Operations & Warranty – Audi of America

Lauren Wehrly, Manager, Warranty Cost Management and Claim Administration – Audi of America

“Cost of ownership” is typically based on a combination of guesses on top of assumptions. But what does it really cost to keep a vehicle in top working condition – safe, operational and on the road – once it’s sold and as it ages? We Predict’s Deepview True Cost report analyzes data from over 83 million repair orders for 19 million vehicles covering $20 billion in service costs to answer that question and many more, including:
• What are the trends on maintenance, unplanned repairs, and campaign-spending?
• How does brand service spending compare over time?

Electric vehicle performance has been of particular interest with the flood of new all-electric plug-ins in just about every auto manufacturer’s pipeline. We Predict Vice President Renee Stephens will share insights on actual dollars spent on EV repairs compared with gas models, look at the most frequently replaced parts, how labor time and cost is affected by the new technology on these models, ultimately answering the question: do EV’s really cost less to service?

Renee Stephens, Vice President, Competitive Quality Benchmarking – We Predict

• Changing service plans
• Changing policy coverage
• Diagnostics – at the repair facilities, at the manufacturer or supplier
• Labor time variance
• Over-the-air vs. in-facility software updates
• Communication with the customer – new approaches

Renee Stephens, Vice President, Competitive Quality Benchmarking – We Predict

Ed Roberts, Chief Operating Officer – Bozard Ford Lincoln

Jeff Miller, CEO/General Manager – Mark Miller Subaru

Robert Lecznar, Senior Director Service Operations & Warranty – Audi of America

• Selecting the right claims to review
• Reducing warranty over repair

Discussion to include insights from:

Dan Hulkower, Senior Vice President – After, Inc.

Lauren Wehrly, Manager, Warranty Cost Management and Claim Administration – Audi of America

• Understanding today’s customers and their online behavior around pricing
• Using the fair priced estimator to your advantage to create a transparent experience
• Changing consumer perception and behavior by embracing price transparency

Jill Trotta, Vice President/GM of Industry, Sales, and RepairPal Express – RepairPal

• Driving service retention: Focusing on customer experience
• Challenging the service model for warranty repairs
• Leveraging data aggregation for predictive maintenance and repairs

Brian Crossin, Academy Instructor, Dealership Academy – National Automobile Dealers Association

• How can OEMs easily provide their dealerships with actionable intelligence for improvement in each department?
• Which retail opportunities are key for OEMs and dealerships to monitor using competitive composites?
• Why is it so important that retail analytics be connected to training for dealership users to drive real change?

Clayton Thompson, Account Manager – Jackson Dawson

Threading the needle between meeting customer demands (with a low-friction experience) and meeting regulatory requirements around data collection, record retention, licensing, and product design requirements can be a delicate balance. Join Frost Brown Todd’s experienced attorneys as they analyze several case studies, exploring the tension between innovation and compliance requirements in the industry, and provide insight on how to navigate those competing interests while maintaining focus on the customer experience.

Greg Mitchell, Member – Frost Brown Todd

Aaron Brogdon, Member – Frost Brown Todd

Every business industry is under tremendous pressure on whether to handle the tasks in-house or outsource or go for a hybrid approach. This session will include individual customer warranty journey short presentations and will identify certain elements they chose to insource versus outsource and the reasons why. After the individual presentations, Mark will engage the speakers and audience in a round robin of Q&A.

Mark Nagelvoort, President and CEO – PCMI

Andrew Peterson, Financial Products Manager – Polaris

Doug Bell, Principal – Extended Warranty & Service Contract Consulting

Gregory Myers, Executive Managing Director – Beecher Carlson