Powertrain Process to Translate Customer Perceptions into Technically Driven Database

Focus on customer as a top priority, and the need of initiatives to leverage improvements on customer satisfaction regarding Powertrain products, has lead to several revisions of past methods to address handling of customer perceptions. Previous processes and benchmarks did not present optimal usage of detailed inputs from field, focusing on Powertrain, neither overcome resource limitations on reviewing and addressing databases.

This paper presents the process that was developed and implemented in Ford Motor Company Brasil Ltda - Powertrain Operations, during the launch of a new Powertrain family in 1999. It has shown a simple yet highly effective and data consistent tool to achieve clear understanding of customer perceptions (up to 12 months in service) related to Powertrain, considering local market and cultural aspects, with no additional resource allocation (people, systems or surveys), and proven very consistent over time.