Panasonic Improves Tennant's Field Service Ops
SECAUCUS, N.J. --(Business Wire)-- April 18, 2006 -- Panasonic Computer Solutions Company today announced that Tennant Company (NYSE:TNC), one of the world's leading manufacturers of surface maintenance equipment and a company known for its exemplary customer service and factory-trained field support, is achieving significant customer service improvements through a new integrated field service solution called ServiceLink(SM). ServiceLink incorporates durable, reliable Toughbook(R) notebook computers from Panasonic(R) and software and wireless solutions from Panasonic partners.
Built in cooperation with Panasonic software partners, including Dexterra, Afaria, iAnywhere and Persystent Enterprise, ServiceLINK enables Tennant field service representatives in the United States to gain immediate access to past service and support files, parts inventory and availability, service manuals and technical bulletins. They can also price and print repair orders onsite and update customer files in real time. As a result, Tennant field representatives can perform maintenance more quickly and accurately and reduce their customers' labor and overall maintenance costs.
Tennant field technicians access the ServiceLINK solution via the EV-DO wireless network of Sprint using vehicle-mounted Toughbook(R) CF-18 convertible tablet PCs with embedded modems from Sierra Wireless.
Tennant also relied on professional services from Panasonic and Prosys Information Systems--developed based on best practices learned through thousands of enterprise mobile deployments--to ease the implementation and training process for the 370 Tennant technicians involved in the initial roll-out, which took less than 90 days. In addition to Panasonic's core three-year warranty with 24/7/365 support, Panasonic provides disk image management, hot swap management, asset management and on-line service analysis to help maximize uptime.
"Keeping our customers' costs down through rapid, reliable service has always been a cornerstone of Tennant's business," said Ron Everitt, Tennant Company's ServiceLINK project manager. "This is a commitment shared by Panasonic as they and their partners have worked to help us develop a complete solution with durable, reliable notebooks at the center. Through this project, we have already increased the automation of repair order processing and created better inventory management to help control costs. We believe that Panasonic is uniquely qualified, through its complete portfolio of warranty, services and support, to stand behind its solutions for the long haul."
According to Scott Thie, national manager for field automation, Panasonic Computer Solutions Company, Tennant's success is an example of the value customers achieve from Panasonic's solutions-based approach.
"We believe that durable and reliable computers with integrated wireless are at the core of effective field automation and we engineer our products to withstand the risks that come with mobility," said Thie. "While this is critically important, our customers rely on us to help them develop complete solutions through our broad community of industry partners and resellers. Of course, none of Tennant's success to date would be possible without their fundamental commitment to getting it right for their customers."
With its U.S. implementation complete, Tennant expects to roll out the ServiceLINK solution to its Canadian representatives by the middle of this year and globally by the end of 2007.