New generation service: REINTJES increasingly focuses on after-sales and has set up a separate spare parts warehouse

From Hameln to the world: this applies to REINTJES in two ways;as a company and in terms of its own products. From its location in the Weserbergland region, REINTJES has developed into a global brand for maritime and industrial drive technology over the past decades.

The long-established company designs and builds gearboxes in Hameln and ships them to customers worldwide. „It is precisely this international character that is also a challenge, of course, because ship owners, shipping companies and charterers who buy our products expect us to maintain, overhaul and, if necessary, repair them. That’s why service is extremely important to us,“ says Thomas Haferkorn, Director Service.

At the customer's premises within 24 hours

How does a company headquartered in Germany manage to guarantee worldwide service? On the one hand, through a network of its own subsidiaries and service partners. On the other hand, thanks to fast decision-making processes.

„We are where our customers are, or at least nearby. We have various service teams that are coordinated from Hameln or via our subsidiaries,“ explains Oliver Schmidt, Product Support Manager. Schmidt knows the customer service business in detail.

„I have been with REINTJES for 26 years now. For ten of those years, I travelled around the world as a technician,“ he says, emphasising his experience in this field. He has since switched sides and has been managing the eight service technicians at the Hameln site for around five years.

„Our subsidiaries and service partners often have their own workshops and technicians. Our technicians in Hameln are therefore, so to speak, the global fire fighters and are on the road 120 to 180 days a year,“ says Schmidt, adding: „Ideally, the customer contacts us or their REINTJES service contact with a scheduled maintenance request or a problem with the gearbox. We then work together to arrange everything necessary for the job so that a technician can be on site within 24 hours. Thanks to short decision-making processes, very little time passes between the report and the work being carried out in the field.“

Development from classic service to after-sales

What Oliver Schmidt describes: REINTJES is close to its customers, quick to respond on site and strong in the area of service when it comes to maintenance, repairs, etc. In future, however, proactivity will become even more important.

That is precisely why the gearbox specialist is restructuring its entire service department as part of a project – towards after-sales; this pris being supervised by Thomas Haferkorn. The director service explains: „We are always close to our customers, but we want to support them even more actively. That’s why we are currently working on many aspects and have already achieved a lot. Nevertheless, we still have a long way to go.“

A dedicated service warehouse has already been set up at the headquarters in Hameln. It stocks frequently requested consumables and important spare parts. The entire REINTJES service network has access to it via the internal web shop. In order to become even more efficient, similar warehouse are to be set up for each subsidiary – where they do not already exist.

Thomas Haferkorn has also taken a close look at the gearbox files: „These files have been available for every gearbox for a long time – including the entire history from delivery onwards. From a service perspective, there is still more to be done. For example, we could store fixed service intervals right away. This would also contribute to the transition from a purely service-oriented approach to an aftersales concept.“