Fixed Ops Journal - December 2021 - F11

FIXED OPS JOURNAL
Prognostics
Although the service writer's position isn't
exactly as endangered as the blacksmith's job
a century ago, the role is likely to change in an
era when vehicles diagnose themselves and
transmit that data to the store.
General Motors, Ford Motor Co. and many
other automakers are embedding technology
in their vehicles that can detect a vehicle-stopping
problem before it occurs. If an alternator's
output begins to drop, a battery starts to
degrade or a starter requires more power than
normal to operate, the vehicle can determine
approximately when these parts will fail and
notify the driver - and possibly the dealer -
beforehand. Th at's called prognostics. And it
is already rolling out on some GM vehicles.
Ford CEO Jim Farley, speaking to investors,
is banking on prognostics to dramatically increase
the company's retention rate and sales
of service parts.
" I think it's completely reasonable to expect
us to double our service share as we get really
serious about predictive failure prognostics, "
Farley said at this summer's Deutsche Bank
Global Auto Industry Conference.
He said the automaker
gets only a small share
of repair work once the
warranty expires.
" We just are not com "
petitive, "
Farley says. " And
by going remote, integrating
the prognostics and
going more aff ordable ...
we have a chance to really
increase dramatically our
parts share. "
Ford's vehicle health prognostics is launching
now with the company's Ford Pro package
available to fl eet operators. It will be part of
Ford's electric vehicles as well. Roche believes
all automakers are eventually going to introduce
vehicle health checks that detect problems
before they cause a vehicle to break
down.
Data, AI, connectivity
and convenience
Illinois-based CDK Global is one of the DMS
suppliers looking beyond prognostics to arm
fi xed ops directors with another way to boost
" I think it's completely
reasonable to expect us to
double our service share as we
get really serious about
predictive failure prognostics. "
JIM FARLEY, CEO, Ford Motor Co.
sales but also help consumers avoid broken
cars. While prognostics relies on sensors
throughout the car to detect potential failures,
there are many parts of a vehicle that still require
visual inspections. Prognostics, for example,
would not catch a severely rusted rear
suspension component on a Rust Belt car.
CDK is mining data from repairs, recalls,
warranty work and other sources, identifying
trends in parts failures and giving that information
to technicians as part of the company's
Neuron data platform.
Mahesh Shah, CDK's chief product and
see FUTURE, Page 12
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DECEMBER 2021 PAGE 11
"
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Fixed Ops Journal - December 2021

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