Bangkok--16 Nov--Ford Thailand
Ford Thailand serves as a regional hub in Asia Pacific and Africa for the company’s innovative Parts and Accessories Computer System (PANDA) — an advanced IT system designed to order, track and manage the distribution of spare parts to customers, in an efficient, cost effective way.
Through the customized PANDA system, Ford Thailand currently handles some 750,000 spare parts transactions per month throughout the Asia-Pacific and Africa region.
The PANDA system makes use of best practices from the Ford global network and consists of a central database containing details and availability of spare parts, allowing specialists at Ford authorized service centers nationwide to order genuine spare parts within 24 hours. This system also allows Ford to maintain a leading spare part fulfillment rate of 95 percent.
“When customers take their cars for servicing, they naturally want them back as quickly as possible and with any spare parts guaranteed to be absolutely genuine and of the highest quality. The PANDA system allows us to meet and often exceed our customer’s expectations in providing them with an unprecedented level of service that is both timely and cost effective,” said Wichit Wongwatthanakan, Ford Thailand’s vice president of Customer Service. “Acting also as our distribution hub for Southeast Asia, Thailand is playing a crucial role in the efficient distribution of spare parts to 130 countries around the world, highlighting the importance of Ford Thailand in this vital area of customer service.”
The PANDA system has been designed to source and provide alternative sources, when spare parts are ordered, ensuring customers not only get the required parts quickly but also at the lowest price. Accessible by all 843 Ford dealers across the 11 key markets in the Asia-Pacific and Africa region, the implementation of the PANDA system was made possible by a Baht 200 million investment by Ford, with an annual maintenance cost of around Baht 66 million.
A specialist team from Thailand played a key role in the system’s development and ensures that it can be easily accessed and operated by all 90 Ford Thai dealers. The program has a Thai language interface as well as other regional languages including English, Chinese, Bahasa and Japanese. Ford Thailand ensures its dealers are fully conversant with its operation by implementing a comprehensive, regular hands-on training.
“At Ford Thailand, we are absolutely committed to providing excellence in customer service and the PANDA system is a proven and effective means to enable us to do just that for all our customers throughout Thailand,” added Ford Thailand’s vice president of Customer Service.