Since the seventies, Menarini understood the importance and the value of the After Sales Service in the Customer relation. The years on demonstrated that the initial intuitions were basic conditions for the bus sale. The bus infact is a very complicated entity and its lifetime is 15 or more years; for this reason a careful monitoring and support is necessary during all its lifecycle.
Therefore it is mandatory to set up the structures for a fruitful collaboration between User and Manufacturer in order not only to intervene in case of faults, but also to introduce on the bus, after its service start, upgradings and improvements coming from joint experiences and natural technological evolution.
This activity is by far more important today because the warranty period on the entire vehicle or on its important parts, (structure, engine, powertrain), are by far longer than in the past.
Having this in mind many years ago the Company created the After Sales Service unit endowed with good autonomy, but strictly linked, with the other company departments, first of all the Design and Quality departments.
In order to ensure a wide diffusion on the territory as well as a quick intervention time, the After Sales Service implemented a network of Authorized Shops (more than 130), well spread all over the Italian territory, training their personnel and coordinating their work through a staff of own Inspectors and qualified technicians. At the same time further structures, appointed by the Central Service, have been identified for sale and distribution of the Spare Parts all over Italy.
The system as described above, allows a high speed and flexibility in the intervention since the Customers, in case of need, can be in touch with the Authorized Shops of their area, and/or directly with the After Sales Service for the most important problems.
Furthermore BredaMenarinibus is developing new and advanced monitoring techniques for the vehicles on service, simply by transfering via GSM the bus parameters controlled by the Multiplex System onboard, to a remote centre of operations.
It is also important to underline that the After Sales Service records and files the information coming from the buses on service in order to build that precious data logs which are continuously transfered to the Company technical departments. These data infact form a precious store of knowledge which can be used during the design of new products which will get benefit from the users' experience.