Archived Copies of Warranty Week

January 1, 2012 to today

Warranty Week 10th Anniversary: Over the past decade, as warranty professionals began to pay more attention to warranty chain management, a publication was launched that paid attention to them. And warranties have never mattered more, or cost their providers less.
December 20, 2012
Computer OEM Warranty Metrics: There are multiple ways to look at the same statistics. And there are multiple ways to gauge cost-cutting, consistency, and accuracy with warranty totals and estimates. In different ways, using different metrics, Apple, HP and Dell are each leading their industry.
December 13, 2012
Warranty Marksmen, Part 2: In high-tech industries, a few dozen companies have apparently learned how to expertly tune their warranty accrual rates and reserve fund balances, so that there's always enough money set aside to pay claims. Here are the top 20.
December 6, 2012
Warranty Marksmen, Part 1: Given the average duration of a company's product warranties and the predicted repair cost, a company should be able to accurately estimate how much they need to set aside. But some companies are better at it than others.
November 29, 2012
Warranty Estimates, Part 3: Companies in the building trades are supposed to carefully estimate the size of their warranty liabilities. But sometimes, their estimates are too low, and the amount they set aside is too meager to pay all their expected claims.
November 21, 2012
Warranty Estimates, Part 2: Automotive companies are supposed to carefully estimate the size of their warranty liabilities. But sometimes, their estimates are too low, and the amount they set aside is too meager to pay all their expected claims.
November 15, 2012
Warranty Estimates, Part 1: Companies are supposed to carefully estimate the size of their warranty liabilities. But sometimes, their estimates are too low, and the amount they set aside too meager to pay all their claims.
November 8, 2012
Most Improved Warranty Metrics, Part 3: While the short-term changes in warranty expense rates have a lot to do with the recession, the comparisons with 2003 and 2006 data have also identified numerous warranty cost-cutters.
November 1, 2012
Most Improved Warranty Metrics, Part 2: Warranty expense rates have been on a downward trend for most of the past decade. And most of the manufacturers are reducing their claims and accrual rates year after year. Some, however, continue to cut costs faster than their peers.
October 25, 2012
Warranty & Mobile Apps: Android and Apple mobile devices, already a huge market for extended warranties and service contracts, are quickly becoming a platform for warranty professionals who spend a lot of time working away from the office.
October 18, 2012
Most Improved Warranty Metrics, Part 1: While many companies manage to reduce the percentage of revenue they spend on warranty, some do it better than others. Rising sales helps. So does building a better product. And then some companies are merely returning to normal after ending a "warranty excursion."
October 11, 2012
Homebuilding Warranty Metrics: The builders of single-family homes were always good at shifting warranty expenses to their suppliers and subcontractors. And though their warranty expenses are down considerably, that has more to do with slow sales than with anything else.
October 4, 2012
Computer Supplier Warranties: Unlike in the automotive industry, computer makers are not trying to reduce their warranty expenses by shifting more of the burden onto suppliers. Instead, both OEMs and suppliers are reducing their costs by increasing product reliability.
September 27, 2012
Aerospace Warranty Metrics: Unlike in the automotive sector, the aerospace OEMs and their suppliers split warranty expenses more equally, and have similar expense rates. But while the suppliers have been reducing their warranty costs lately, the OEMs are not.
September 20, 2012
Automotive Warranty Metrics: While the major OEMs have made great strides with their warranty cost reduction programs and with efforts to use warranty data to improve product reliability, their suppliers are struggling to get back to where they were before the recession hit.
September 13, 2012
Apple's Warranty Data: Warranty expenses began a swift climb at the end of 2009. But so did product sales, as the Mac and iPod gave way to the iPhone and iPad. And so, the share of total revenue spent on warranty didn't soar.
September 6, 2012
Assurant Expert Services: While repairs are a huge part of aftermarket services, so are installations, assemblies, configuration and preventative maintenance. Assurant Solutions is putting them all under a single umbrella that it can offer to its retail clients who can in turn sell service to their end user customers.
August 30, 2012
Large Vehicle Warranties: Claims rates spiked during the recession, but returned to normal soon after. For some of the OEMs, however, rates continued to drop as warranty processes were improved. The result is some of the lowest expense rates ever in the first half of 2012.
August 23, 2012
Homebuilding Warranties: The data has yet to take an upturn, but at least it's not getting worse. Still, during the depths of the recession some of the homebuilders made some curious decisions about how much warranty expense they expected per new home sold.
August 16, 2012
Warranty Software Report: IDC Manufacturing Insights has documented the spectrum of claims processing tools available to warranty providers and extended warranty administrators. And like it did in March with its warranty analytics vendor assessment, the crew once again looked at each company's current capabilities, target customers, industries served, and future strategies.
July 26, 2012
Japanese Electronics Warranties: Four electronics manufacturers that are based in Japan but export their products worldwide show below-average warranty expense rates. Part of the reason is what they make. But could part of the reason also be where they make it?
July 19, 2012
Warranty Cost per Vehicle: When it comes time to budget for warranty work, corporate planners apparently expect a Ford to cost twice as much as a Honda; a Fiat to cost twice as much as a Ford; and a Mercedes to cost twice as much as a Fiat. Currencies play a role in their planning, but so does selling price, parts cost and local labor rates.
July 12, 2012
European Auto Warranties: Their annual reports tell a simple story: Daimler and BMW are reducing their warranty costs. VW is doing just fine. And Fiat is now absorbing the warranty costs of Chrysler.
July 5, 2012
Honda & Toyota Warranties: After a couple of bad years, warranty costs at Toyota are getting back to normal. Meanwhile, at Honda, things have never been better, as warranty costs continue to drop.
June 28, 2012
Navistar's Warranty Woes: Its older engines don't meet EPA standards and need more warranty work than expected. Profits have vanished as costs have risen. Competitors are winning both the technology battle and the court fights. And a hostile takeover attempt may be imminent.
June 21, 2012
Handheld Warranty Costs: While RIM's costs rise, Apple's costs fall. And while other smartphone makers have reported high warranty costs, Nokia's are only half as high. Is there something about being small and smart that drives up warranty costs?
June 14, 2012
Warranty Analytics Study: IDC has profiled nine of the top providers of warranty analysis software and services, ranking them on both capabilities and marketing strategies. And while SAS gets the highest score, the companies closest behind them are somewhat unexpected.
June 7, 2012
Average Warranty Costs per Industry: One can get a good idea of the industries where warranty is most important by looking at both the amount they pay and the percentage of sales that those payments represent. And the data suggests that automotive, computers and appliances are at the top of the list.
May 31, 2012
Fixtures, Furniture & Building Material Warranties: Though few of the companies in these segments are reducing their warranty expenses, some are actually seeing sales increases. In other words, some of the suppliers are seeing the beginning of a turnaround before the builders. How can that be?
May 24, 2012
Appliance & HVAC System Warranties: While they haven't made much progress with warranty cost-cutting, they also haven't seen much increase. And given all the financial problems reported by builders lately, merely staying the same looks good in comparison.
May 17, 2012
New Home Warranties: The new home industry is like the car industry without a bailout: stuck at the bottom with no improvement. Warranty expenses continue to contract, but so does sales revenue. And some companies seem to be artificially managing their accrual levels.
May 10, 2012
Semiconductor Warranties: The companies that make the equipment that makes the semiconductors pay for more than half of the industry's warranty costs, even though their sales are less than a quarter of the total. But they've also done the most to cut their costs since 2003.
May 3, 2012
Medical & Scientific Equipment Warranties: While it's true that systems using lasers or X-rays generate more than their fair share of warranty expense, it's also true that their manufacturers have been among the most successful warranty cost-cutters in recent years.
April 26, 2012
Telecom Equipment Warranties: The data network gear makers are cutting warranty costs and so are the broadcast companies. But the traditional telephone equipment makers aren't, and some of the satellite and microwave companies are actually seeing their warranty costs rise.
April 19, 2012
Computer Warranties: While the computer OEMs still pay most of the claims, they've been very successful at cutting the percentage of sales they spend on warranty. Meanwhile, suppliers such as disk drive makers have also streamlined their warranty outlays, but the peripheral makers haven't been so lucky and are watching costs rise as a percentage of sales.
April 12, 2012
Automotive Warranty Report: While suppliers seem to have gotten a reprieve from escalating pressure to pay a greater share of warranty costs, OEMs are enjoying fast sales growth and a return to old levels. Meanwhile, Ford has decided to begin reporting warranty and recall costs together.
April 5, 2012
Aerospace Warranties: The makers of Boeings, Cessnas and Gulfstreams haven't made much improvement in the past five years. But their suppliers continue to boost revenue, cut costs, and reduce warranty expenses as a percentage of sales. And that divergence got worse as 2011 ended.
March 29, 2012
Ninth Annual Warranty Report,
Totals & Averages: Warranty expenses rose in 2011, as the recovery continued to take hold. But sales grew a bit faster, and the percentage of revenue used to pay for warranty work fell to record low levels.
March 22, 2012
Top 100 Warranty Providers of 2011: While most of the largest manufacturers continued to reduce their warranty costs last year, some saw dramatic rises. Here are the top percentage increases and decreases of the year for claims, accruals, and reserves.
March 15, 2012
Extended Warranty Survey: At long last, warranty researchers are publishing the results of surveys and vendor assessments, as the industry matures and the appetite for analysis and expertise grows. One study was released and another was previewed at this week's WCM Conference.
March 8, 2012
Warranty Success Stories: Major manufacturers will share their insights and experiences at the WCM Conference next week, detailing the highlights of their warranty journeys and business process improvement efforts. What follows are some previews from the presenters.
March 1, 2012
Warranty Experts: Attendees of this year's WCM Conference will have a rare chance to not only learn from the experts, but to engage them in lengthy question and answer sessions about the past, present and future of the warranty industry. And those who haven't learned how to be in two places at once can watch it all later on video.
February 23, 2012
Warranty Workshops: Before the upcoming WCM Conference begins, warranty professionals have an opportunity to learn from the experts about topics such as text mining, fraud detection, risk management, supplier relationships, and reliability engineering.
February 16, 2012
Warranty Maturity Model: Now that three companies have put themselves through the self-assessment and compared notes, it's time to widen the offer to additional manufacturing companies. Next month, the three companies will present case studies at the WCM Conference in Orlando.
February 9, 2012
Warranty Apps: Smart phones need warranty coverage. But they also can be used as platforms to better control their own warranty coverage. Some apps focus on the consumer, either before or after the sale. Others aim to assist the repair crew, after a claim has been filed.
February 2, 2012
Consumer Electronics Warranties: Most of the best-known brands are imports. Most of the domestic brands are made by computer, appliance or telecom companies. Most of the emphasis is on sales of service contracts. So how can we analyze just the product warranty expenses of U.S.-based consumer electronics manufacturers?
January 26, 2012
Truck Warranties: Unlike passenger cars, the truck OEM isn't usually responsible for the vehicle's entire warranty. Instead, many of the suppliers and component manufacturers issue their own warranties, and pay their own claims.
January 19, 2012
Aerospace Warranty Report: Unlike the auto industry, the suppliers of this industry account for the bulk of its warranty spending. And yet these suppliers have been steadily cutting their warranty costs year after year, while the airframe makers are paying more than ever before.
January 12, 2012
New Home & RV Warranties: When sales were falling, builders cut their warranty accruals. But, worried by claims payments that didn't fall as fast, they didn't cut accruals enough. So now some have built up excess levels of warranty reserves that may be in the multiple millions of dollars for at least 10 homebuilders.
January 5, 2012