Roberto Coccoluto | Building a Better Electronic Parts Catalog
Download MP3How much money do you leave on the table when your electronic parts catalog is outdated or hard to use? Why is it still so difficult for technicians to get the right replacement parts? And why does updating an EPC still require so many hours of manual data entry? Today, we talked to Roberto Coccoluto of Tweddle Group Italia about the challenges that EPCs present, the best ways to address those challenges, and how smart companies turn their EPCs into a whole new competitive advantage. Welcome to Inside Information.
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Speaker 2:Got a show you'd like to see us do. You can
Speaker 1:I think it'd be interesting? Forward. Let the people speak. As you know, I was in Europe, and I did get a chance while I was there to talk to the managing director of Tweddle Italia. His name is Roberto Coccoluto.
Speaker 1:And he talked to me about EPCs, and specifically, the demands of technicians and how an EPC can help not only create efficiencies for them, but also bring profit into an OEM. Do you know what an EPC is?
Speaker 2:I am aware that it's an electronic parts catalog, but I don't think it would be anything that I personally would have never interacted with.
Speaker 1:Well, interestingly enough, I think that people probably interact with an EPC that don't even know they're interacting with an EPC. Because there's two end users of an electronic parts catalog, Of course, depending on which OEM. Right? Not everybody makes it public. But as a consumer, when you are looking for a part let's say you need to repair your dishwasher, and you find a wonderful guide on an OEM's website, It tells you everything that you need to do, and you discover that there is a tube that's cracked, and you need to replace it.
Speaker 1:Right? A lot of times, as a consumer, what you're able to do is click on order this part. Right? Well, what that's doing is it's sending you to that back end EPC. So while you may not be calling it an EPC, it's technically what you're using.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:And so experience user experience is really important in that part. So two things with that. Number one, you're making money because now you're selling an OEM manufactured part. Right? Secondarily, you are continuing that user experience for that consumer into that ordering.
Speaker 1:The second type of person that may use an EPC is going to be a technician, and that's, let's say, at a dealership, for example, or an independent repair. Now they probably are more familiar with the term EPC as an acronym, but that's another touch point of bringing in revenue or, you know, improving a user experience. And that's a lot of, I think, what we're gonna talk about today, how people use them, how it can be a profit center, how it can also be an efficiency maker. And then maybe, you know, at the end, we can talk a little bit about what the future of EPCs look like.
Speaker 2:Just to go back for a second, there's almost a third category of people that interact with EPCs. Right? The folks on the back end at the OEM, making sure that it's all accurate and up to date, maintaining that content.
Speaker 1:You're absolutely correct. I mean, that's the whole back end situation, and we will talk a little bit about the engineers and after sales folks or the other departments that actually create the EPC and have to manage it. Gotcha. But ultimately, you know, the I think the the topic today is what is an EPC? Why do you care?
Speaker 1:And what are the pitfalls when it isn't done well?
Speaker 3:My name is Roberto. Last name, Coccoluto. It's very strange, but very Italian. I'm the managing director of Tuedo Group Italia. I started Tuedo Group Italia in 2010.
Speaker 3:We work a lot together in The US, with Belgium, and other other countries.
Speaker 1:Tell me what has evolved from when you first started to now. Tell me about the products and service evolution, what you used to do and now what you do.
Speaker 3:I mean, there is change in the numbers because we start with myself, that's it. Now we are more than 100 people. So it's changed a lot.
Speaker 1:Can you give me some examples of what exactly all of all of these wonderful 100 plus people are doing?
Speaker 3:Yeah. We do services in all the activity of the after sales for different customer, different products. So means that we do the owner information, the operator information, we do the manuals to repair, manuals for maintenance, parts catalogs, and all other information that we take from the technical department. And we develop an easy way to use for the dealers, for the owners, and for the people that works on the products. But of course, in the technology of our services.
Speaker 3:We use several new software that we develop internally.
Speaker 1:Let's talk a little bit about that EPC, also known as Electronic Arts Catalog. So for somebody who's listening who may not know what that is, can you describe for me what that is?
Speaker 3:Yeah. The when you have to repair a product, you need probably to substitute some parts and to identify the components that you need, and so you can order, receive, to fix. Mhmm. And, of course, as you can imagine, that when you found these parts, you must be sure that is exactly what you need. Otherwise, you spend time, money for logistics and so on.
Speaker 3:So, we know that machinery parts and manufacturing has become very complex. Lots of parts.
Speaker 1:How many parts
Speaker 3:There to are 20,000 parts.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's a lot.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:So this EPC that you've developed, that person behind the screen who's looking for one particular part, how does your EPC help them to identify that in this 20,000 parts?
Speaker 3:Yeah, the first step, you cannot spend hours to find your What parts you have to order, no? So this is, of course, if you know the part numbers, and a lot of technicians already know, it's an easy job. You can write the parts number, and you have your component in front of you. But if you don't know, you have to go inside all the numbers. 20,000 components, it's not hard.
Speaker 3:And so we what we do is simplify. You can go in an Exploded view or in three d, so that you can turn and move your assembly on the video, and so you can identify the single component. And so it will be easy to identify what you need.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so one of the things that I'm interested in, when you said 20,000 components, all I can think of is engineering changes So happen how do you keep on top of that?
Speaker 3:Yeah, because we remain touched to their system. PLM, like SAP or others, with their PDM. So we know and we intercept all the changes that happen to the different parts, And we are able almost on demand, on flight, to make these changes on the parts catalog. So the person that have to order the new parts can take the the last innovation on the parts catalog and takes the last parts that is available for all course for that machine, specific machine.
Speaker 1:And and simply speaking, you can actually order the part from the EPC system, yeah?
Speaker 3:Yes, because we do also we give also the sort of portal to our customers, so the final user that is a Tecogen, so it's also a simple user can order on our system. Just an example for one of our biggest customers, IMA, that creates big production lines for pharmaceutical to prepare, for example, blisters and others. They give our portal for parts catalogue directly to their customers that are the biggest pharma companies like Pfizer and others. So they can easily order the parts that they need on our portal. And it is, of course, connected with their production system, their warehouse.
Speaker 1:So they can pay, the e commerce site, can pay? Or what happens if that part's not available?
Speaker 3:Yeah, there is, of course, a system that we will integrate with our parts catalog that connect with all their system that check the availability and also the price. As you know, this can be different from the customer to others.
Speaker 1:So what sets this EPC apart from others? Can you give me a little insight on that?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think the most important that we maintain a unique database always. So there is no possibility to make error in copy and remove from one database to another. So this is for sure the most important. The other is that we use completely automatic system from the bill of material. So I mean, the human error is very, very, very, very low.
Speaker 3:So there's
Speaker 1:a level of automation that creates accuracy on top of efficiency. Exactly, yeah. And it's live. You had mentioned that it's constantly being updated. Yes, So how often does it update?
Speaker 1:Just
Speaker 3:Oh, every day, every day. We do for several customers, completely different products. Just to give you an example, from dentist chair to a big machine to produce vaccine or agriculture machines. And so very, very, very different, but all they have the same goal: provide to their customer a solution to order the parts and fix the problem. Because of course, especially in the production line, when you have a problem and the line is shut down, it's a huge amount of money that the company lose.
Speaker 1:That was actually going to be my next question, which is, what is the advantage then to a customer, like a return on that investment? And I think you just touched on one of those points. Are there any others that you can Yeah,
Speaker 3:I mean, this is for sure, but also though to increase the volume of selling of parts catalog. So parts catalog is a profit center for a company, no? Normally, we deal with something that is just a cost.
Speaker 1:Yes,
Speaker 3:yes. So all the customer try to reduce this cost because it seems that there is no value. It is not true, to be honest, because when you have a fantastic technical documentation, increase also the value part of the product. But I mean, it's not easy to share
Speaker 1:the definitely looked at more as a cost center. At least that side of things are a cost center, so
Speaker 3:Parts Catalogue is a profit center. Carraro increased their volume of sold parts because the former system was hard to found a part. When you order parts, there was a lot of errors, so you have to send back.
Speaker 1:So it's lost time.
Speaker 3:It's time and money.
Speaker 1:And money on that, right? I have a question actually. At some point in an overview, I thought somebody told me that if there are components that associate with other components that are required, So if you order component A, and in order for component A to work properly, you have to order
Speaker 3:component B and C.
Speaker 1:Does it automatically do that?
Speaker 3:Yes. We call it kitting. So when you order something but you need to substitute this component also, you will found the complete kitting on the parts cutter. And also, you can receive other information. Example, if you have to apply a specific torque to mount this information, or if you need a specific glue, for example, or if you need specific special tools to dismount, you can find also in our, not only, I mean, in terms of information, but also in terms of training, let me say, you you can attach it to a single component, a short video that explains, help you in to be sure that you can order the right.
Speaker 1:Ah, it helps that technician identify the part. It tells that technician if it needs additional kits to go along with it. It tells them that other support materials are available.
Speaker 3:Yes, exactly.
Speaker 1:And then can also provide the instruction that comes along with it.
Speaker 3:Yes, yes. Of course, there are the workshop manuals, I mean, and the procedures, but I mean, you can give also other information on the parts catalogue, always to better identify that you make the right choice. Try try to imagine if you order a bumper in China and it's wrong.
Speaker 2:You
Speaker 3:have to send it back and there are Yeah.
Speaker 1:They usually just say keep it and then they feed in the cost. Exactly. Yes.
Speaker 3:And also, if you don't identify the correct one Yeah. Rather your parts. And if it's similar, you try to mount and then Yeah. Block your production line. So, I mean, the associated there are incredible amount of money, I mean, and these customers appreciate that they are increasing their revenue and selling more components.
Speaker 1:Of course. Roberto, I'm so glad to have the opportunity to sit down with you. Do you have anything else you'd like to talk about?
Speaker 3:I think that very important is the future of this.
Speaker 1:We Please,
Speaker 3:are working on some new feature that we want to introduce and of course, AI is now all are using AI. This is something that we are already using and we are developing. We are using it in the back end, always assured that our work is always with 100% of quality and so checking the bill of material and make all the relations. So we are also concentrating and found a system where, like silhouette image recognition. So if you dismount a component and you don't know the part number, you can make a photo to this component and they give you the percentage that match with the
Speaker 1:whole Oh, wow.
Speaker 3:It's at the beginning, but of course it is our goal to go in this direction. Always to let our customer to identify components. Yeah. I mean, we want to grow, this is for sure. And we are concentrated in identifying other add ons on the EPORAX catalog, but also in our other software like ConceptD that is a CCMS.
Speaker 3:Well,
Speaker 1:I actually am going to be speaking with Deanna shortly about ConceptD. I'm I looking forward to thank you for your time. Thank you. Wish you Thank you. Thank So
Speaker 2:the thing that's most interesting to me in all of that that I probably know the least about is when he mentioned that this particular EPC updates automatically. What more can you tell me about that specific aspect of the system?
Speaker 1:I think that that's critical for a number of reasons. We talked a little bit about engineers earlier. You know, engineers engineer things. They make changes. And in those engineering changes, parts change.
Speaker 1:And so it's critical that your EPC has those updated changes.
Speaker 2:And normally, that's just done
Speaker 1:manually? Most of the time, it's done manually. Yes. And so having an automatic update of updated parts or superseded parts, you know, this old part, you shouldn't be using this for this model year, for this serial number, whatever, is incredibly critical. And I will say it's critical on a couple of points.
Speaker 1:Number one, you know, I keep going back to this efficiency thing. It it is definitely an efficiency driver. Right? Your technician, you're getting them that right part for that right serial number, that right VIN code, whatever it is, and allowing that first time fixed rate to be accurate. The other thing that I find to be very interesting that I I don't think people automatically think about with EPC is that there are other industries such as medical device OEMs, oil and gas refineries.
Speaker 1:There are utility and infrastructure companies that also rely on EPCs. Now if you're sitting there and you wanna make sure that your doctor is using a piece of equipment that has the right part in it, that's a lifesaving thing. Right? And then as you get into those other industries, you're talking about oil and gas. Those are high stakes industries.
Speaker 1:So having the right part for those industries is so incredibly critical beyond just all of the profit center efficiencies. Now we're talking about something that's actually, you know, humanistic and and really important. So I think it's it's it's worthy of a mention. The other thing that I think is really important, I think, from an OEM's perspective to have that updated EPC is making sure that you have real time pricing and real time inventory. Right?
Speaker 1:It's it you wanna make sure that you're you're charging the right price and that you have the stock to be able to provide. Right? The other thing that I think is interesting about the EPC that Roberto was talking about is there's this opportunity in that to show you not only the part that you need, but if there are other parts that are required to make part number one work Right. You need part number two, three, four. It's a part of a kit.
Speaker 1:Right?
Speaker 3:Sure.
Speaker 1:And so right there is another critical point in making sure that your updated EPC is accurate to make sure that all of the related parts that go into it I mean, there's probably a million reasons why it's important to have your EPC updated. But off the top of my head, those are probably the most important.
Speaker 2:I would think just not having to have anybody manually execute these changes, like when or if if a, you know, a supplier for a particular Yeah. Part closes, and now we're drawing that part from a completely different supplier, and maybe it serves the same function, and it fits in the same location, but it's not the same design. Having that, you know, recursively update in the system, I think, would be huge.
Speaker 1:A thousand percent. And in order to do that, you have to be connected to a PLM or an ERP, which is critical for those updates. Right? Sure. That reduces the manual portion of that.
Speaker 1:And the EPC that we were talking to Roberto about is connected to that. So those changes, those engineering changes, those inventory changes, the price changes, that's how that automation works is it's connected directly into that. So this is really energizing for me because I think that this sort of just scratches the surface of what a good EPC can do. And so I think we can talk about that on future episodes. Thanks for joining us on Inside Information.
Speaker 1:I'm your host, Laura McGowan. Inside Information is McGowan. Audio edited, engineered, and mixed by Meredith Davidson. Our theme song was produced, written, and performed by Joe Frezza and Adam Cox. Recorded by Adam Cox at Hamtramck Sound Studios.
Speaker 1:Our executive producer are Claude Van Brethren and Todd Hedley. The views and opinions expressed on this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of any entities they represent. Inside Information is an exclusive presentation of Tweddle Group. Tweddle Group, information evolved. For more information, visit tweddle.com.
Speaker 1:See you next time.
Speaker 2:I gotta be on this less. My voice is on this too much as
Speaker 3:it is.
