Why Your Company Should Not Be Investing in 'In-House' Brick and Mortar Repair Depots
How OEM’s improve customer service and their bottom line by outsourcing depot repair services
An Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) core business is to design, develop, manufacture and sell new products that satisfy their customer’s needs. After sales product support and service can become an awkward exercise consuming both time, personnel and profits.
OEMs relying on their own brick and mortar repair depots often spend significant amounts of company time and resources dedicated to servicing equipment that is a critical part of their business, yet the service aspect is often approached as an afterthought as it is not an OEM’s core competency.
These OEMs must invest in key infrastructure components; hire technicians, purchase / rent warehouse space, provide training and more, just to ensure equipment is repaired in a timely and effective manner on behalf of their customers.
Instead, partnering with a provider focused on these services can drastically offload the strain of allocating precious resources to service equipment, freeing up existing personnel to focus more on innovation and customer experience.
What technical expertise does Quest have to support OEM repair services?
Quest is the World Class Technical Service Provider for OEMs, with the skilled technical resources and accredited global repair centers needed to repair equipment with the highest level of quality and efficiency every OEM expects.
Providing repair services for many OEM’s worldwide allows Quest to host multiple OEM tenants within its facilities. Resulting in turnkey, cost effective and readily available infrastructure, which allows rapid scaling of services without all of the unnecessary capital and time investments an OEM would need to make on its own.
At Quest, our global repair depots are fully operational with environmental controls for temperature, humidity, electrostatic grounding technology, expertly trained technicians, and more. We understand OEM equipment and how to handle repairs properly from spare parts testing and repair to whole unit testing and repair services.
Additionally as a supplement to Quests service offerings, Quest can host OEM inventory through our customizable warehousing services:
As OEM’s global business grows and sales burgeon, the consideration of opening local repair depots in multiple locations to satisfy service needs may be required. Take a good hard look at the profitability of brick-and-mortar depot investments before making that leap as the downside is that profit margins can shrink substantially.
How outsourcing repair services helped a healthcare OEM
Take an example of a large Healthcare Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) business providing medical technologies to hospitals worldwide. During the COVID crisis, they were able to supply medical establishments around the world with lifesaving monitoring equipment in record time. Their business exploded and the good they were able to do was felt around the globe.
Rapidly, however, they realized that the 30 bench repair techs who had managed their repairs internally were not able to turn around repairs in 5, 7 or even 10 days. Their clients’ feeling of goodwill dried up quickly and they were deciding how to continue to scale their worldwide presence while not losing sight of building innovative products.
Enter Quest International
Quest has far-reaching locations worldwide to serve our customer's needs. From our headquarters in Irvine, CA or other strategically located facilities we can coordinate depot repair services at any number of locations worldwide, all with the level of quality, value and accreditation OEM’s can rely on.
Meticulous Attention to Quality Control
Since 1982, Quest International has delivered the highest standards of quality in our services, products, and solutions. Our commitment is backed by continuous improvement through education, training, teamwork, and innovation, and demonstrated by internationally recognized quality certifications:
Screening & Testing
Quest's comprehensive evaluation, screening, and testing process provides the essential analysis needed to direct the RMA product into the OEM tailored depot services process flow. Equipped with manufacturers’ test equipment, Quest adheres to OEM standards when performing initial screening.Repair & Refurb
Quest’s suite of services for repair and refurbishment is best in class, including whole unit repair, component & board level repair, refurbishment, and SWAP services.
Product Lifecycle Management
Quest International has the infrastructure, experience, and resources to partner with OEMs and support product lines throughout the lifecycle.
From warranty support (standard and extended), preventative maintenance and end-of-life service, to any type of field service or repair – Quest can offer a cost-effective alternative to resource-consuming programs.
Quest can be the efficient added value solution provider that can enhance any OEM operation. Quest has a variety of World class quality service offerings that will remove servicing headaches and ultimately provide the value as well as the customer satisfaction any OEM can appreciate.
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