If we are indeed moving from the age of products to the age of services, it is becoming increasingly important, even for the tyre dealer, to make customers understand the need and value of service and maintenance. This is the goal Hunter has set itself in designing not each of its equipment, but all of it. HunterNet is in fact a new workshop concept, which allows data and information on all the operations carried out by the various machines to be collected via the web and presented to the customer in the most effective and comprehensible way.
“Hunter offers the tyre dealer an overall improvement in services, on the one hand by increasing them and on the other hand by managing them on the network and not from individual locations,” explains Giancarlo Bianco, training and customer service manager of the Padua-based LMV Commercial, which last year acquired the exclusive distribution of Hunter throughout Italy.
LMV’s show room in Due Carrare (PD) is just a representation of the ideal Hunter workshop. Wheel alignment, for example, is integrated with tyre tread reading and everything is managed not only from the workstation, but from a sort of cloud or web platform, thanks to which all data is no longer stored on a single, local hard disk, but on a network. This makes it possible to communicate effectively with the customer and, above all, to improve performance and thus also the profitability of the workshop.
Once the car enters the workshop, Quick ID quickly identifies the characters and numbers on the licence plate, even while on the move. Quick Tread, on the other hand, measures the tread depth, calculating it for each groove and displaying the tyre and the results of the measurement in 3D, all just by passing
over HD cameras without ever stopping the vehicle. Next comes the Quick Check, an automatic inspection that takes less than two minutes and checks the tyre wear angles. The result of all these operations is recorded and archived, before and after alignment the Road Force Elite data is also sent to Hunter Net.
In practice, operator activity is greatly reduced and all staff have access to a vast collection of information about the individual vehicle, which they can use, together with easy-to-understand videos, images and animations, to help customers make correct and informed decisions about the maintenance required for their vehicle. In short, in one step, it is possible to create work and make the customer aware and motivated.
Moving on to operations, Hunter offers the fully-automated Revolution tyre changer, which greatly reduces the workload of the operator who, while the machine is working, can switch to the balancer. “Thanks to the Revolution tyre changer and the Road Force balancer, time is reduced by up to 25 per cent compared to working with traditional equipment and all functions and procedures can be kept under control, including vibration and draught issues,” explains Bianco.
“HunterNet makes it much easier to sell additional services to the tyre shop, as the checks are faster and centralised,” continues Bianco. “Hunter’s concept is to transform the traditional workshop from a classic setup – great aligner, great balancer, great scanning system, etc. – to a modular and versatile package of services and functions. – to a modular and versatile package of services and functions. In practice, it is a true system, no longer localised, but complex and shared”.
With HunterNet, workstations are therefore no longer fixed; all machines can communicate and data is stored on the network and viewed by the customer, even via email or browser, without the need for or downloading ad hoc programmes.
“It’s a new way of working,” Bianco continues, ” which allows you to increase your business by investing in services. HunterNet is a valuable opportunity, especially in this day and age, when margins in some sectors are shrinking significantly. The system also allows the garage operator to collect and analyse statistics, based on which he can decide on a possible increase in new services.
The objective is therefore the same for LMV and Hunter: to offer customers the opportunity to make a quantum leap in the way they work by adhering to an innovative and modern workshop concept.
In this regard, in order to let people experience these important and significant innovations at first hand, the Padua-based company has launched the ‘LMV Italian Tour 2018’ initiative, which envisages a series of stops throughout Italy, where the Open Doors event that is usually held at its headquarters will be replicated. On these occasions, the company will bring its equipment fully operational, so as to simulate all working processes.
The first stage will take place in Metaponto at the Hotel Platinum on 19-20 May.
Source: PneusNews.it