Search results

Warranty service plays a critical role in sustainability and service continuity and influences customer satisfaction. Considering the role of social networks in customer feedback channels, one of the essential sources to examine the reflection of a product/service is social media mining. This paper aims to identify the frequent product failures through social network mining. Focusing on social media data as a comprehensive and online source to detect warranty issues reveals opportunities for improvement, such as user problems and necessities. This model will detect the causes of defects and prioritize improving components in a product-service system based on FMEA results.

Ontology-based methods, text mining and sentiment analysis with machine learning methods are performed on social media data to investigate product defects, symptoms and the relationship between warranty plans and customer behaviour. Also, the authors have incorporated multi-source data collection to cover all the possibilities. Then the authors promote a decision support system to help the decision-makers using the FMEA process have a more comprehensive insight through customer feedback. Finally, to validate the accuracy and reliability of the results, the authors used the operational data of a LENOVO laptop from a warranty service centre and classifier performance metrics to compare the authors’ results.

This study confirms the validity of social media data in detecting customer sentiments and discovering the most defective components and failures of the products/services. In other words, the informative threads are derived through a data preparation process and then are based on analyzing the different features of a failure (issues, symptoms, causes, components, solutions). Using social media data helps gain more accurate online information due to the limitation of warranty periods. In other words, using social media data broadens the scope of data gathering and lets in all feedback from different sources to recognize improvement opportunities.

This work contributes a DSS model using multi-channel social media mining through supervised machine learning for warranty-service improvement based on defect-related discovery to unravel the potential aspects of social networks analysis to predict the most vulnerable components of a product and the main causes of failures that lead to the inputs for the FMEA process and then, a cost optimization. The authors have used social media channels like Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, LENOVO Forums, GitHub, Quora and XDA-Developers to gather data about the LENOVO laptop failures as a case study.

To provide a brief survey of the literature directed towards the analysis of warranty claim data.

For convenience, this survey of the analysis of warranty claims data is somewhat arbitrarily be classified by topics as follows: age‐based claims analysis, aggregated warranty claims analysis, marginal counts of claims analysis, warranty claims analysis by using covariates, estimation of lifetime distribution using supplementary data, two‐dimensional warranty, warranty costs analysis, sales lag and reporting lag analysis, and forecasts of warranty claims.

Emphasis is placed on a discussion of different kinds of warranty claims data selected from reviews and on a comparison of the statistical models and methods used to analyze such data.

Since the literature on product warranty data is vast, more work on this problem is needed.

This review points out why warranty claims data is important and gives a survey of the literature pertaining to the analysis of such data. The emphasis is on the analysis of minimal databases of real warranty data, constructed by combining information from different sources, which can be collected economically and efficiently through service networks. The research is applicable for those responsible for product reliability, product design decisions and warranty management in manufacturing industries.

The paper reviews different statistical models and methods used to analyze warranty claims data. The statistical models and methods presented are be valuable and meaningful tools for product reliability and warranty management and analysis.

In this article we present an application of Gumbel's bivariate exponential distribution model in the context of estimating warranty costs of motor cycles under a new warranty policy. The problem in question is as follows: Under the present two‐dimensional warranty policy, repair costs (termed as warranty costs) of a motorcycle during the age of first six months or within the usage of 8,000 kilometers are borne by the company. To enhance customer satisfaction, the company wanted to bear the repair costs up to an age of one year or a usage of 12,000 kilometers. The problem is to estimate the expected hike in warranty costs if the warranty policy were revised as mentioned above. Using the past data, the problem is solved by studying the underlying renewal process. Gumbel's bivariate exponential distribution function is found to be useful in approximating the renewal function. Some practical difficulties posed by the past data in the analysis are highlighted and tackled in an interesting way.

The purpose of this paper is threefold: first, to analyse the existing work of warranty risk management (WaRM); second, to develop a generic WaRM framework; and third, to design a generic taxonomy for warranty hazards from a warranty chain perspective.

To understand the top warranty hazards, the authors designed a questionnaire, received 40 responses from the warranty decision makers (WDM) in the automotive industry in the UK and then analysed the responses.

The assembly process capability at suppliers is the top contributor to warranty incidents from the suppliers’ and original equipment manufacturers’ (OEMs’) viewpoints. The human error at different stages of the product lifecycle contributes to the occurrence of warranty incidents. The collaboration among parties, particularly, the accessibility to warranty-related data between parties (i.e. suppliers, OEM and dealers), is limited. Customers’ fraud contributes more to warranty costs than warranty services providers’ fraud. The top contributors to customer dissatisfaction relating to warranty are the warranty service time and service quality.

The questionnaires were used to collect data in the UK, which implies the research outcomes of this paper may only reflect the UK area.

The WaRM framework and taxonomy proposed in this paper provide WDM with a holistic view to identifying the top contributors to warranty incidents. With them, the decision makers will be able to allocate the required fund and efforts more effectively.

This paper contributes to the literature by providing the first work of systematically analysing the top contributors to warranty incidents and costs and by providing a WaRM framework.

To show that handling warranty returns is essential in a supply chain for product/process improvement and that the major step in resolving warranty return problems is to correctly classify the returned parts and identify the problem(s).

Demonstrates two classification processes that separate available warranty returned parts into correct categories.

The result of these two processes provides pertinent parties in the supply chain more accurate warranty failure information, so the companies involved can precisely pin‐point the source of the failure cause in the products and improve the product's design and manufacturing. Meanwhile, it also resolves potential conflicts in a supply chain and assigns responsibility to the right party to cover incurred warranty repair cost. Its applications can enhance quality and reliability management in a supply chain and streamline the reverse logistics operations in the chain.

This paper offers companies an effective procedure in reducing wrongly classified warranty returns and makes root cause analysis of warranty returns more efficient.

The housing construction industry is one of the most lucrative sectors for developed countries. However, homebuyers are often vulnerable when left with latent building defects in their new-build house. Many nations have thus implemented new home warranty schemes to protect consumers and stimulate residential production. These warranty programs vary excessively from state to state given the distinct nature of environments. Previous studies have attempted to compare one with another but did not apply a consistent comparative method when doing so. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to identify the characteristics defining a new home warranty and to develop a standardised comparative framework.

After evaluating the characteristics outlined in multiple home warranty programs, a qualitative content analysis method was used to establish coding, categories and themes in order to create the framework. The methodology relied mostly on cross-referencing from academic papers, methodical reviews, government documents and professional consultant reports.

This paper reviewed warranty schemes from six countries: Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, Japan, France and Malaysia. The findings suggest that home warranty programs are defined by five main themes: political involvement; homeowner protection; financial sustainability; quality management; and dispute resolution. At the end, the research created a comparative framework of 101 codes that could be used to accurately measure the efficiency of a home warranty scheme.

Gathering all defining characteristics of new housing warranties into a unique comparative framework rectifies a gap in the literature. Such a flexible tool will aid future practitioners in the field to undertake comparative case study analysis through qualitative research methods.

Research in marketing has extensively examined the signaling effects of product warranties on consumer perceptions. Although this stream of research has focused on initial product warranties offered by the manufacturer, studies of extended warranties, which protect consumers against product breakdowns beyond the warranty constraints of the manufacturer, are relatively scarce. This paper aims to empirically establish the effects of variables which influence the pricing of extended warranties for consumer durables.

Using data on over 8,000 product offers in six durable goods categories, drivers of the annual premiums for extended warranties are empirically identified. Bivariate and multi-level hierarchical linear regression methods are used to establish the effects of factors which may drive the prices of extended warranties.

The results reveal that the standardized annual premiums for extended warranties systematically vary across product categories and brands and are further affected by the retailer’s decision to use odd price endings for the sold product and the extended warranty. The influences of warranty length and price level of the protected product on extended warranty premiums are also empirically established.

The findings indicate systematic variations in extended warranty prices as a result of the factors studied. Future research can extend this line of inquiry by utilizing alternative means of data gathering.

Given that marketers often cross-sell many consumer durable goods with extended warranty policies, and considering the growth in consumer spending in this category, as well as the high retail margins associated with extended warranties, this paper contributes to the understanding of the mechanism by which extended warranty prices are determined in the marketplace.

This is the first study to examine the determinants of extended warranty prices, as past studies have been normative and non-empirical in nature.

The purpose of the paper is to develop a conceptual framework that integrates the technology and commercial issues early at the design stage to minimize warranty costs in the most effective and efficient manner and also to develop a model for optimization of warranty with specific focus on reliability and warranty policies.

The critical issues in warranty are addressed which affect the warranty cost. An optimization model to achieve multiple goals like minimization of the warranty cost and improving the reliability of the product is developed using genetic algorithm as a solution methodology. The model is illustrated with a real case of automobile engine.

The results of the optimization show improvement in mean time between failures (MTBF) which results due to improvement in the product reliability and also the targeted warranty cost is achieved.

The model developed needs to be further extended with inclusion of additional decision variable such as support level offered and more objectives such as attractiveness of the warranty from the customer's view point and spares cost to the customer.

The paper provides the help to the designers at the design stage to take the decisions related to warranty in deciding the warranty parameters.

The purpose of this paper is to develop an attractiveness index-based warranty cost model considering decision variables as design alternatives, warranty duration and support level.

A warranty optimization approach is illustrated using a real life example of an automobile engine with Mean Time Between Failures and Warranty Attractiveness Index as constraints.

It will help to improve the customer satisfaction by giving a more attractive warranty compared to that being offered by the competitors.

Approaches that consider the effect of decision variables on attractiveness of a warranty policy in a quantitative manner have received relatively less attention. The paper attempts to capture the attractiveness of warranty from the manufacturer as well as customer point of view.

The proposed approach will help manufacturers to take appropriate decisions related to warranty parameters and component selection at the design stage.

In today’s academic library, the reference department relies heavily on computer workstations to provide patrons with access to reference sources in CD‐ROM and Web formats. Many reference departments also supervise an electronic classroom which is used to provide hands‐on instruction. Planning for the hardware, software, and peripherals necessary to provide patrons with access and training must be an ongoing process in order to keep up with rapid technological changes, both in computer hardware and software applications. Through the maintenance of comprehensive records of existing equipment, including the purpose, capabilities and maintenance of each item, information will be readily available for use in planning for computer equipment. In this article, the authors discuss various types of records that should be kept for computer equipment and how the information contained in these records can be applied to ongoing planning and decision making for management and maintenance.