Working group members reviewing improvement targets
The Brother Group uses the "product returns and servicing rate" as one of the indices for increasing customer satisfaction. The rate represents the percentage of product returns (including free-of-charge repairs) in the total number of products shipped per month. The Brother Group is committed to improving product quality, with the ultimate goal of eliminating product returns.
The Brother Group also pours its efforts into developing products and a customer support framework to help customers solve problems on their own, without contacting the call center for explanations on operation and troubleshooting methods.
As part of these efforts, the Brother Group upgraded its customer-oriented quality standards in FY 2010 to reflect customers' viewpoints in all aspects of product development.
For example, in-depth investigations and analyses were conducted to identify the details and causes of product returns from customers about black-and-white laser printers that were on the US market mainly from 2008 to 2009. In developing new models, measures were taken to minimize product returns, and new quality assurance solutions were implemented. As a result, product returns were significantly reduced for the new models released in 2010.
Meanwhile, the call center receives many inquiries about initial settings of laser printers and LAN connection. The Quality Management Department (responsible for quality assurance), Customer Satisfaction Department (responsible for customer support), and Software-related Development Department jointly set up working groups in respective domains and developed countermeasures such as revising product specifications and instruction manuals. These efforts have significantly reduced inquiries about the new models.
By stepping up these efforts and other activities to reduce the product returns and servicing rate, the Brother Group remains committed to eliminating product returns and inquiries.
