No Trouble Found (NTF) is the result of a qualitative analysis stating that the problem has not been confirmed. If the Pareto analysis shows that it’s the main contributor to warranty returns, then it’s worth implementing strategies that will reduce its occurrence.
Why? Because even if the customer approves our analyzes with a No Trouble Found result, 50% of the costs will be covered by the supplier. For this reason, it is good to know the strategies to reduce costs resulting from an excessive amount of warranty returns with this status.
Diagnostic Procedure – a filter for No Trouble Found
This is a great strategy for reducing pieces with NTF status. It’s a joint check list arrangement between the customer’s engineering department and supplier. It consists the individual diagnostic steps performed by the dealer to confirm that the problem is connected with supplier component.
In this way, some clients (for example, Stellantis-FCA) are introducing new criteria for financial liability for such parts. In practice, this means that the supplier will not be charged for any costs related to NTF.
Stellantis-PSA also makes it possible to jointly define the procedure relating to the elimination of NTF returns. It’s not defined as “diagnostic procedure” but nevertheless the final benefits are these same.
Flying Doctors launch strategy
Flying Doctor (Man in the Van) is an activity that should be planned over the long term. By employing a given specialist in such a position, the plant has the opportunity to implement several tactical strategies for reducing NTF. More information is presented in a separate article.
Additional evidence collected by dealerships
One of the tactical actions I used when managing warranty returns was obtaining additional evidence from the dealer. The activity consists in agreeing with the customer’s representative, who has been assigned to this activity, that the given dealer station will present additional information in this regard before sending the complained part to the supplier. The complaint areas for which we can reduce the number of No Trouble Found occurrences are:
No Trouble Found for Noise Complaints
In this case, the dealer is obliged to send an additional video showing the type of noise. It would be best if we also received information about the speed, tires type and the car version in which the problem was detected.
Why? Such data may be used in the future to build an information base, thanks to which it’s possible to establish a correlation between a given type of defect and the conditions under which it occurred.
Car “drift” notifications
Such problems will concern, in particular, components related to the suspension and the vehicle steering. One of the steps that the dealer can do before the suspect part is returned to the supplier is to verify the wheel alignment. It’s carried out in two steps.
– step 1: checking the wheel alignment at the beginning of the analysis
– step 2: wheel alignment re-calibration in case of deviation and verifying whether the problem is still present
Let the data speak
Another strategy that can be analyzed together with the customer is the verification of the assembly process at the customer’s site.
This scenario will be very likely where the end customer doesn’t find a problem after obtaining part of the NTF. Remember that this part is replaced by the dealer. This may mean that the problem is originally related to an incorrect part assembly at the car manufacturer.
Therefore, as suppliers, we should conduct a joint analysis with the customer’s representative for this area. It should start from the incoming warehouse itself, through sequencing (optional), and ending at the assembly line.
What can we check?
– the way how our component is handled
– sequence of the components screwing. For example, a steering column for the dashboard or seats to the car body
– checking the nominal values for the torque and angle data
Download our free ebook Automotive Warranty Management – Practical Guideline for Suppliers
Dariusz Kowalczyk
