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CASE STUDY

Bridgestone: Enabling the Mobile Workforce for Innovative Service Models

Bridgestone Global leader in tire technology and one of the worldÕs largest manufacturers of tires, employing over 130,000 people worldwide.

Overview

Bridgestone Europe follows a unique tire-as-a-service business model, where customers are charged by usage as well as tire wear and tear. Bridgestone’s business requires their dealers and service engineers to undertake inspections of tires on vehicles at various outdoor locations, often in difficult working conditions. Data needs to be obtained regularly from thousands of vehicles across numerous fleets. Persistent Systems has been instrumental in driving our mobile strategy for Europe. In addition to tangible benefits for increased revenues and better customer service, Persistent has directly contributed to innovation in our business model.

Challenge

Capturing ? the tire usage data (millions of data points) on paper was inconvenient and messy due to the tough weather and working conditions, and often resulted in poor data quality. Lost or incorrect data resulted in high operational costs and loss of revenue. ? Other challenges included ensuring data was captured only for the vehicles validated to ? be a part of the contract. Unavailability of real time data added to Bridgestone’s program management challenges. ? The high cost of operation and risks involved resulted in poor acceptance of the tire-as-a-service business model by dealers, creating a serious business challenge for the company. An efficient solution for easy and error-free data collection during inspections was desired.

Marcel Gottlieb, Manager, CBS & IT, Bridgestone EU

Solution

Persistent proposed an innovative and comprehensive solution that enabled Bridgestone’s dealers and service engineers to efficiently collect and update data from vehicles, leveraging a handheld device. To demonstrate the potential of the solution, Persistent implemented a proof...