ABOUT ZEISS SERVICE TOOL
7. Semester / Bachelor thesis
The Zeiss Service Tool is the result of a cooperation project between students of the HfG Schwäbisch Gmünd and ZEISS IMT (industrial measurement technology). We worked on this project for the ZEISS Service department in the main study course of the 4th semester. Therefore we did intense user research, analysis, conception and design for this new service platform.
Briefing
Our cooperation partner ZEISS IMT was looking for "novel assistance solutions for the ZEISS "service and support" at the customer's premises" (excerpt from the briefing). The IMT division is developing measuring machines for quality assurance, which are used by big companies e.g. in the automotive industry or aerospace technology. The "Service and Support" division is responsible for maintenance and repairs of these machines.
Research
We kicked off this project with a Skype call, followed by a personal meeting at the ZEISS office in Oberkochen. Afterwards, we collected all our learnings and started writing an interview guideline for further research. Through in-person expert interviews we gained insights into the complex workflows and processes of the service area. We then created a detailed process of the service & support process to recognize and show off potential areas for improvement.
Problem
The short problem description is "complex processes and many instances of support". Let's clarify: The support is divided into three areas. A repair or maintenance request from the customer side passes through at least one, but usually all three levels of support. The process from the customer's telephone call to the repair of the machine is very complex and time-consuming. An order passes through an enormous number of instances what makes it difficult to keep track of everything.
Solution
The Zeiss Service Tool shows the head of operations suitable service technicians according to availability, skill and distance to the customer. The tool makes it possible to keep all instances permanently up to date and to see the persons involved in the process. The user can view the complete steps and contact the other instances via the platform as well as receiving all machine data.
Learnings
In this cooperation project we were able to gain a lot of experience in working and cooperating with a large company. We had weekly meetings with our contact and interview partners in Oberkochen, which was enormously important for us to gain as many insights as possible into the complex processes in a short time. The close cooperation also taught us how to share work results with the customer and how to coordinate such a project.
Supervisor: Prof. Jens Döring, Prof. Dr. Markus Weinberger
Partners: Dominik Fink, Robin Deeg
Key Skills: User Research, Concept Ideation, Visual Design