Mazda strives to provide comprehensive after-sales service to its customers, from vehicle purchase to disposal, so that they can enjoy the experience of driving their cars with peace of mind while maintaining environmental and safety performance factors such as fuel economy and exhaust emissions.
At Mazda, we offer unique service items, starting with high-quality maintenance performed by nationally certified mechanics using genuine Mazda parts, and packages such as Pack de Mente, a schedule of legally mandated periodic tune-ups at reasonable prices. We also offer valuable information to our customers through outlets such as our online Mazda After-sales Service Information Guide.
We are constantly developing compelling new maintenance products and improving our after-sales service, to allow our valued customers to enjoy their Mazda products as long as possible.
- Ease of after-sales servicing and low-cost repairs and maintenance are taken into consideration when we build vehicles.
- Service personnel are provided with full support for their maintenance and repair operations, including the latest diagnostic equipment and dedicated tools, service manuals, and an inquiries desk for maintenance professionals.
- Mazda gathers quality information from the market through after-sales service and shares it with service outlets worldwide, using the information to improve repair technology and develop better cars.
- To improve service personnel's customer-relations and repair skills, we offer detailed training programs geared to each staff member's level of proficiency.
Mazda reduces the cost burden on its customers from maintenance and repair by designing its vehicles so that parts requiring regular inspection or frequent replacement are easy to access and service.
For example, in the all-new Mazda Axela (known overseas as the new Mazda3), launched in June 2009, the time taken to change the oil filters and air-conditioner filters was cut in half.
Mazda provides two major training programs for its dealership service staff to continuously improve their level of proficiency. The first is a regular training program to cultivate diagnostic skills, tailored to each individual's existing skills and experience. In the second, Mazda provides training whenever new models are rolled out, familiarizing technicians with the model's new features and technologies and how to service them.
In FY2005 Mazda added safety training, a standardized program explaining how various safety features function and key points for servicing. In FY2006, recognizing that improvements in product function and performance required increasingly sophisticated maintenance, Mazda rolled out a revised standard training curriculum filled with more practical tips and information.
In FY2008, some 1,300 service professionals took part in Mazda training programs, and about 80 participants in the new-model training course.
Mazda is pleased to assist its dealerships in developing good customer relations skills among its service staff and improving service management.
One such initiative is the Dealership Management Practical Training Course, a standardized program adjusted for each technician's skills and experience. The course explains immediately applicable ways to instill the customer-relations skills needed for boosting customer satisfaction, expand revenues and bolster productivity. The program attracted some 1,200 participants in FY2008.
In Japan, Mazda operates two Mazda Training Centers for service professionals: one in Taibi, Hiroshima Prefecture, and the other in Yokohama.
In most cases, the service personnel who arrive at a Mazda Training Center have done preparatory study through e-learning. The Center functions as a place for "blending training," where service professionals learn together, spending many hours training on actual vehicles and equipment. Through role playing and group practice, participants also learn professional customer relations. Each course lasts about four days, and the Center trains approximately 1,500 people every year.
At Mazda Training Center Taibi, technicians employed by associations of automobile maintenance operators, among others, learn about new technologies. This Training Center looks beyond the Mazda Group to contribute to the spread of excellent vehicle maintenance techniques.
Competition
Since the first All-Japan Service Skills Competition in 1963, Mazda has hosted skills competitions for dealership sales staff, aimed at improving customer service skills and cultivating a high level of professionalism. Originally confined to the staff of dealerships in Japan, the competition now extends worldwide, with similar regional events held around the globe.
The most recent All-Japan Service Skills Competition was held in October 2008. Overseas, Mazda convened three competitions in 2008: the Middle East Competition in January, the Asia/Oceania Competition in March and the Central and South American Competition in May. The very best from these regional competitions gathered in Hiroshima on July 30, 2008 for the third World Service Skills Competition.
In addition to hosting Service Skills Competitions, Mazda assists overseas dealerships in improving after-sales service by "training the trainers" –providing training on the servicing of new vehicle models to overseas skills trainers.
Another program with similar aims is the Mazda Masters Program. This is a training and certification program that focuses on improving the customer relations, repair, and maintenance skills of service staff. By supporting service staff training efforts at its overseas dealerships, Mazda has built a certification system for Mazda service technicians worldwide, ensuring uniform standards of excellence in after-sales service. Dealerships' motivation is expected to rise as they prosper and service staff take pride in their growing skill sets.
Since April 2005, Mazda has been distributing its service manuals to Mazda dealerships in digital format as "Mazda Electronic Service Information" (MESI). The information is provided online to dealers in Japan and Europe and on CD-ROM elsewhere.
As the equipment installed in any given Mazda model can differ depending on the year and grade, a vast amount of information is required to carry out maintenance work. In FY2007, after gathering and analyzing requests from dealerships, we improved MESI's usefulness by strengthening its search function and other areas. Accordingly, the information needed by a maintenance mechanic working on a customer's car at a dealership can be accessed with unprecedented speed, simplicity and accuracy.
We plan to expand the online distribution in Asian, Middle Eastern, and Central and South American markets in 2009. In the future, we will continue to gather feedback from dealerships to bolster after-sales service to customers by expanding MESI functions.
Mazda developed the Mazda Modular Diagnostic System (M-MDS), a proprietary service diagnostic device for dealerships that enables their maintenance mechanics to provide proper maintenance of the complex, sophisticated electronic control systems used in many of the Company's automobiles. This follows numerous calls from dealerships in Japan and overseas for a system with features that allow efficient diagnoses of the overall primary electronic control systems. We are already supplying M-MDS to almost all Mazda dealerships and dealers in Japan and overseas.
We will continue expanding use of the M-MDS feature in order to provide our customers with better service.
In order to carry out reliable and swift improvements at service centers around the globe, Mazda is supplying specialized tools, developed for specific applications, to dealerships worldwide.
During FY2007, we moved forward with the integration of specialized tools to improve ease of use for dealerships. One such example was the unification of our disparate range of fuel gauge configurations.
In FY2008, Mazda carefully selected a suite of specialized tools and held sessions of detailed explanations on the use of these essential tools. This effort was part of measures to promote wider use of such specialized tools among service technicians, to enhance the quality of service in Japan in anticipation of a worldwide rollout. From FY2009 onward, we will strive to ensure that these essential tools are in place and fully utilized. Mazda will continue to develop specialized tools that are easier to use, in response to feedback from dealerships.
