Boating Industry Canada April 2015 - (Page 25)

WARRANTY SUPPORT Freedom SW Inverter Charger in a test chamber. grow the brand worldwide." While OEM will always be a pillar in Xantrex's business plan, aftermarket sales are very much a target for future growth. "People are looking very closely at their alternative revenue streams; how to make more money," says John McMillan. "They might take a boat that doesn't have an onboard power system and add one. It brings value all the way down the line, adding value to future service work and adding value to future resale business because when the owner of that boat upgrades to a new one, the used boat carries more value because it has a power system installed. So it adds value throughout the chain." Last year Xantrex cut the ribbon on a $13 million quality assurance lab at its Burnaby headquarters, built around various innovative product testing methods including Highly Accelerated Life Testing (H.A.L.T.), Salt and Fog Chamber, Humidity Chamber and other highly advanced test chambers for temperature and stress testing. For example, the H.A.L.T., housed in a sophisticated, stateof-the-art torture chamber, provides Xantrex with a controlled environment where prototypes and individual product components can be subjected to long-term use under extreme thermal and mechanical conditions, so that the company can identify and correct any design issues early in the development stage. "Our products are used in a wide variety of conditions, from rough seas to extreme climate conditions, so it is important to be able to simulate these environments in controlled conditions, evaluate product performance and make necessary design changes for improved reliability and performance," says Richard Gaudet, Vice President of Xantrex branded business at Schneider Electric. "The H.A.L.T. testing chamber provides an opportunity to expose a product to years of hard use in a very short period of time, so we can determine how it will wear after many years of daily use. There really is nothing else quite like it, and it allows Xantrex to deliver new products with proven reliability." Once a prospective new product meets Xantrex's quality Xantrex has adopted a new "destroy in Field" warranty handling policy which enables dealers to immediately take care of the end customer with any warranty issue without prior consultation with Xantrex/schneider electric. this new policy will not only increase the speed of handling any warranty claim, but will also reduce the cost of handling such claims. most Xantrex products are part of this new policy, with a few exceptions. If dealers have the product in stock to replace the failed product under warranty, the goal is to waste no time in offering replacement to customers to get them back up and running right away. Quality and field performance continues to be important for Xantrex. It will monitor field performance by randomly requesting warranty claimed units be returned to us for inspection from time to time. Xantrex manufacturing benefits from the learning gained in the new Burnaby R&D facilities. standards and attains the H.A.L.T. seal of approval, it is also submitted for UL testing, says Gaudet. By the time it is ready to ship, a new Xantrex inverter or charger has been subjected to repeated testing representing several lifetimes of use. The company supports its commitment to quality with an equal commitment toward working with its dealers for both installation and service business with new merchandising programs, improved customer service and technical support, and a variety of dealer training material, including online videos under the Tech Doctor branding. The Tech Doctor series covers a wide range of topics related to product selection, installation and service in an informal, approachable format. Xantrex further encourages its partners worldwide to use material in the series as customer education tools. Tech Doctor videos are available in English, Spanish and French on the Xantrex YouTube channel. In addition, there are installation, troubleshooting and how to videos. This helps dealers diagnose www.boatingindustry.ca 25 http://www.boatingindustry.ca

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Boating Industry Canada April 2015

Insight
Industry News
Ad Nauseam
Impact - John Pfeifer
Propulsion - Mercury's Latest & Greatest
Product Innovation - Xantrex
Made in Canada - Nova Kool
The Boat Shop - NMEA

Boating Industry Canada April 2015