Warranty Entitlement Without The Headache

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How can you address warranty entitlement that results in printed circuit board repair — without the headache?

Managing complex printed circuit board repair programs is not for the faint of heart. The more teams involved, the harder the playbook.  Renova supports world-class manufacturers, contract manufacturers, integrators, and enterprise end-users. In some situations, we often play “referee” between the contract manufacturer overseas and the OEM here in the US.   We are the domestic repair provider in North America for the OEMs of many brands you know that are manufactured overseas. Here are two important steps we follow in “referee” situations to ensure a successful project delivery:

Key Steps: Gathering Requirements & Achieving Consensus

Renova often has to make tough calls. The first step in optimizing the technical, logistical, and administrative processes is understanding the customer’s challenges.

Visualize this situation:

Say a Fortune 500 electronics manufacturer is experiencing up to six different types of field failures in one particular model of their newest product.  This is after their large contract manufacturing production overseas.  Some of these failures are the fault of the contract manufacturer.  Some are the responsibility of the OEM. Moreover, the faulty parts need to be tracked by a range of serial numbers for proper reimbursement from the contract manufacturer.  The above situation is a real example of projects that Renova addresses and a case study we put together for a Fortune 500 OEM Scanner Scale. Understanding the requirements of all parties and getting them to a consensus on wherein lies the responsibilities are key to signing the playbook for success.  Let’s say it really cuts down the finger-pointing and overtime.

Number 2: But You Gotta Have the Data!

Collecting Data in all steps of the processes is critical to developing a controllable, fair, and economic solution for all parties. Usually, a pilot project must proceed with the finalization of the statement of work, to which all parties must buy in. As the supply chain disruption persists, the above challenge is not unique and even more nuanced with inflation and the supply chain challenges- even with a seasoned internal repair team.  Analyzing the data throughout the service delivery enables the adjustment of the programs to compensate for these market variables – which are not precisely controllable. For example, the availability of parts, components, lead time, and complex printed circuit board repair capabilities that need to be further specialized — can all exacerbate the problem.

Keep Data Clean

In addition to tracking faulty parts by serial number and other areas for proper reimbursement by the right entity. This particular program required replacement parts and repair at the component board level – in multiple variations. Some repairs fell “under warranty.”  Others did not.  Only the collected data could prove the “which ones” and the “why” – with utmost confidence.

Use Data To Drive Repair

Implementing a proper repair program involves addressing all aspects of failure types. In the case above, Renova also developed a customized billing system to determine which failures were attributed to customer abuse, out-of-date, incomplete assembly, and no fault-founds.  Therein was again – another wrinkle.

Game on! Is the Service Provider up to it?

Ultimately, the hypothetical situation described above was a real one.  And Renova has been administering variations of this program for these same entities for over 10 years.

The first few years were, suffice it to say — “painful”. But, we perfected it over time as a result of addressing all board-level repairs, harnessing the data, and getting to the root of the product failure types—as well as being completely transparent to all the stakeholders.  It is a win-win.  

Learn more about our programs.

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