Socrates Says

We comment on a series of subjects related to the capital goods industry supply chain; from parts to service to management and to my take on filosophy. I am introducing a new one this week – Technology. I will attempt to address various areas of the use of technology in the capital goods supply chains […]

I receive comments to my posts – thank you all – and I would like to address one of them more completely than a comment response. Technicians, in the field, should be able to leave an invoice with the client upon completion of the work! This is a subject that is near and dear to […]

One of the elements with significance in the New Reality is Technology. This vast subject I narrow down to cover the following points:-  VoIP CRM Electronic Catalogues Drag and Drop Processes Technician Scheduling Systems Marketing Analytics Signature Pads Online Payment Processes We will delve deeper in each of these in the coming days. The time […]

Let’s review the New Reality. I recently discussed this with a group of executives and highlighted six of the elements that I think are important in the New Reality. Market Coverage Buying Habits Inventory Management Expediting and Logistics Transportation Technology We will cover these six elements in the weeks ahead. The time is now.  

Recently I was in a room with a large group of dealer executives. We got around to a short discussion on the merits of talking to the technicians on the shop floor while they were working. There was a short misunderstanding regarding how serious that was for the efficiency of the technician. Interruptions kill efficiency […]

It is intriguing watching dealers’ worldwide continue to do what they have always done. Why do we assume we know what we are doing when their market capture rate for the parts business is typically less than a third? More importantly many of the dealers have half or more of their parts business coming via […]