Contact Details:
Mine Safety Appliances (Pty) Ltd/MSA
Production Park
83 Heidelberg Road
City Deep
Johannesburg
Gauteng
South Africa
Tel: +27 (0)11 610-2600
Fax: +27 (0)11 623 2365
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CUSTOMER CENTRIC SERVICE ON TRACK WITH NEW MSA AFRICA CONCEPT
Company News Tuesday, May 24, 2011: Mine Safety Appliances (Pty) Ltd/MSA
In line with MSA’s value proposition of customer focus and its global service strategy, MSA Africa is placing a high premium on service delivery and customer loyalty.
The voice of the customer is pivotal to MSA Africa, and for this purpose, the customer loyalty programme, that gauges not only product satisfaction levels, but also service, has been introduced. This regular feedback mechanism serves to improve on product design, and has culminated in the development of the innovative MSA ServiceTrack™ software system, to be implemented by the second quarter of 2011.
“MSA ServiceTrack™ provides customers with cradle-to-grave history of their critical personal protective safety equipment. Equipment and user reports can be tailored to suite the individual customer's requirements; or to meet statutory regulations. The software can be applied for a wide- range of MSA equipment, such as emergency escape devices, portable and permanent electronic instrumentation, and fire-fighters’ breathing apparatus. The tracking system utilises bar codes and state-of-the-art radio frequency devices that are robust for even the most severe applications,” says Jerry Todd, MSA Africa’s Director of Engineering and Service.
ServiceTrack™ forms part of MSA Africa’s commitment to implement best-in-class processes that never compromise on safety or quality, drive continuous product improvements and develop best- in-class competencies. “Our goal is to standardise service levels across the board this year to international standards organisation (ISO) certification, as our regional manufacturing and global design centres are already ISO certified,” explains Todd.Although the ServiceTrack™ software is suitable for any application, it will be of special interest and use in the African mining industry, where MSA Africa is particularly active. For this industry, subject to stringent regulatory control, accurate service records are of the utmost importance.
Once a piece of personal protective equipment is placed on a test rig, it automatically recognises and calls up the lifecycle history of that particular piece. This provides for valuable record-keeping for internal and external use. The historic information is stored in central servers at MSA Africa’s Johannesburg facility, which are routinely backed-up to ensure the integrity of the information.
MSA Africa provides service and maintenance support to customers across sub-Saharan Africa. It has formal service level agreements in place with certain customers, but provides support and service back-up for other customers upon request. Service is delivered both on-site and in the field, depending on the location of the customer, the logistics of its operation and the skills set available inthe field. For remote customers who are far from central service facilities, in-house training by certified technicians and engineers is provided, to ensure the customer gets the optimum benefit of high-end and capital intensive equipment.
“We aim to support our customers with total ownership and to provide the best value for their money over the product’s lifecycle by way of world-class sales and technical support, as well as superior maintenance, repair and service offerings,” concludes Todd.
