Spare parts are the engine in the aftermarket. In the interest of their customers manufacturers have to make sure that it does not sputter. However, the complexity of today’s supply chains is susceptible to disruptions caused by events like cyber attacks, economic sanctions, trade wars, or crisis as the COVID-19 pandemic. Monitor Deloitte published a white paper with principles and methodologies, best-practices and learnings that can help design more solid spare parts supply chains.

We are delighted to welcome Alfen as a new member of ISLA. Headquartered in the Netherlands, Alfen is the industry leader in energy distribution. With transformer substations, energy storage systems, charging stations for electric vehicles and a large portfolio of other products, it takes on a central role in the electricity grid. Alfen offers a wide range of services around its products and solutions, and has an extensive service and maintenance organization.

During a countrywide lockdown caused by Covid-19, all non-essential operations and local movements were suspended in India in April. The Karnataka Milk Federation (KMF), one of the largest milk co-operatives in India, was faced with a surplus of thousands of liters of fresh milk. The challenge was overcome as a result of the outstanding cooperation between KMF and GEA, which is a member of ISLA. Through GEA’s Remote Service, the milk could be processed into milk powder.

The technology group Wärtsilä, a member of ISLA, introduces its Assured Operations remote support service for Wärtsilä 4-stroke and 2-stroke engine customers. With global travel restricted because of the Covid-19 pandemic, access to normal field-service expertise is limited. Wärtsilä Assured Operations overcomes this dilemma by enabling technical experts to assess and resolve operational issues via remote connection between the vessel and Wärtsilä’s Expertise Centres.

Reverse engineering at ISLA’s member KSB makes it possible to quickly reproduce spare parts that are hard to find or no longer available. Whether the part to be replaced is a turned part, a casting, a milled or welded component: thanks to reverse engineering the reproduction of valves, pumps and other rotating equipment is straightforward – regardless of the make. All one has to do is provide the exact dimensions or a sample of the part to be replaced.

While the current Covid-19 crisis does represent a very specific external shock and no structural problem, one thing is for certain: Service champions will perform significantly better in the economic downturn. Deloitte conducted a series of global interviews with ISLA members and other manufacturing leaders. Based on the findings, there are several insights that manufacturers can take into consideration when defining and executing their own aftermarket service strategy.

When the 2020 Interpack trade fair in Düsseldorf was postponed until next year due to the COVID-19 crisis, the Swiss company Bühler which is a corporate member of ISLA transformed its physical program into a fully digital digital experience in just in six weeks. Over three days, more than 12,000 people from 132 countries visited the Bühler Virtual World. Due to that positive response and over-subscription of virtual meetings, Bühler kept the digital platform open for all of May.

As today’s workforce ages, companies are finding it harder and harder to recruit service technicians. At the same time, these jobs are becoming more demanding, now often including tasks like data analytics, product advice, and sales. Monitor Deloitte has developed a set of strategies to win the battle for service technicians.

Tetra Pak launched the first virtual market for food & beverage manufacturers. The marketplace will initially host more than 300,000 spare parts and consumables from Tetra Pak, adding an additional 200,000 products for maintenance, repair and operations from vetted sellers, providing customers with access to a large variety of products.

ISLA’s corporate member CLAAS, a world leading manufacturer of combine harvesters, forage harvesters and large 4x4 tractors has opened the extension to its central Parts Logistics Centre in Hamm. After a planning and construction period lasting over two years the new high-bay warehouse has now been commissioned according to schedule.