Archived Copies of Warranty Week

January 1, 2005 to today

Telecom Equipment Warranties: Unlike in other industries, there doesn't seem to be any typical spending rate for warranty claims in the phone, data, wireless, or broadcast equipment sectors. For every high there's a low, and for every upward trend there's a decline.
December 20, 2005
Auto Parts Warranties: Despite the best efforts of the OEMs to push warranty costs back up the supply chain, auto parts makers still have some of the lowest claims rates around. Notable exceptions to this rule include diesel engines and aftermarket replacement parts such as mufflers.
December 13, 2005
Semiconductor Warranties: In most industries, the consumer-facing brand name suffers most of the warranty cost, and their suppliers get off lightly. But with semiconductors, it's the production platform providers who are left holding the bag.
December 6, 2005
Aerospace Warranties: The makers of airplanes and jet engines seem to spend much less on warranty than do the makers of automobiles, PCs, or appliances. Having airlines with their own mechanics as customers helps, but so does the emphasis on safety and schedules.
November 29, 2005
Appliance Warranties: As with computers and cars, warranty claims in a range of 2% to 3% are typical for most appliance brand names. But unlike cars or PCs, warranty costs for appliance and HVAC manufacturers appear to be highly seasonal.
November 22, 2005
Automotive Warranties: As seen by its third quarter financial statements, Ford is catching up to GM, both in terms of revenue and warranty spending. Ford has now become only the second American manufacturer to ever pay out $1 billion or more in warranty claims per quarter. Meanwhile, other U.S.-based vehicle manufacturers have their own warranty ups and downs to report.
November 15, 2005
Computer Warranties: It's entirely possible that HP, Dell, and IBM are each now paying roughly the same percentage of their hardware revenue to satisfy warranty claims. A year ago, HP was paying much more, and Dell and IBM were paying less.
November 9, 2005
Extended Warranties: Now that Wal-Mart has finally jumped into the business, let's take a detailed look at how this seemingly minor source of revenue is in fact a major source of many retailers' profits.
November 1, 2005
Extended Warranty Income: Though most extended warranties are sold by retailers, a few computer manufacturers continue to make a killing by selling their own service contracts. Extended warranties can account for a significant slice of profits, and sometimes can actually be the difference between profit and loss.
October 25, 2005
Longer Warranties: Sometimes they boost sales and other times they just boost costs. Meanwhile, sometimes shortened warranties hurt a brand's image while other times the changes pass unnoticed. Why the difference?
October 18, 2005
Warranty Report: A white paper commissioned by Microsoft finds that the auto industry needs better communications and collaboration tools to reduce warranty costs.
October 12, 2005
Warranty Webinar: Early warning systems allow manufacturers to detect emerging issues before they become major liabilities. In a roundtable discussion, experts suggest the best strategies for implementing these systems, and how to use them to reduce warranty cost, boost product quality, and increase customer satisfaction.
October 4, 2005
Warranty Management Conference: If the WCM show in March drew heavily from Silicon Valley, last week's warranty show in Chicago attracted a mainly Midwestern crowd of manufacturers, who came to hear about the best practices of their peers. What they heard instead was lots about service and quality and other topics at the periphery of warranty.
September 27, 2005
New Home Warranties: Is there any correlation between what a company spends on warranty and the satisfaction levels of its customers? For some, fewer claims equals happier customers, but for others, there does seem to be such a thing as not enough warranty.
September 20, 2005
Medical Warranties: Though health services don't come with warranties, much of the medical and scientific equipment used by doctors, hospitals, and laboratories is in fact warranted. But it takes a crisis before most companies will say more than the required minimum about their costs.
September 13, 2005
Warranty Claims by Industry: Over the past ten quarters, warranty claims patterns have remained remarkably consistent in numerous industries. Those closest to consumers in the supply chain seem to experience the highest claims rates.
September 7, 2005
Top 50 Warranty Providers: While 20 saw declines in the percentage of revenue spent on warranty claims, all but 12 paid out more claims in dollars during the first half of 2005. Rising product sales made the difference.
August 30, 2005
Warranty Claims & Accruals: Ten quarters of data for the top ten U.S.-based warranty providers show just how variable and seasonal claims rates can be for some companies and how consistent they've been for others.
August 23, 2005
Warranty Analysis: Rather than becoming another "accidental" warranty software vendor, SAS Institute was driven into the market by customers such as GM and Ford.
August 16, 2005
Warranty Forum: Manufacturing Insights plans to invite the CIOs of all manufacturing companies to meet quarterly to talk about warranty and other topics.
August 9, 2005
Warranty Laws: Though the federal government has been quiet, there are plenty of laws and regulations governing product warranties and service contracts at the state level.
August 2, 2005
Warranty Complaints: Consumers with gripes about denied warranty claims are best advised to file a complaint with their local Attorney General, and not to bother with the federal watchdogs.
July 26, 2005
Warranty Software: Rather than selling warranty analysis software, PolyVista sells analysis software that can look at warranty claims as easily as it can look at airline flight data or oil and gas trading records.
July 19, 2005
Warranty Acquisitions: With the purchases of Active Web Services and Syncata, ProQuest has acquired its way into a potential leadership position in the automotive warranty processing industry.
July 12, 2005
Aftermarket Financial Products: Auto dealers who reinsure their vehicle service contracts are pleased by a recent IRS ruling.
July 6, 2005
Warranty Registrations: A digital marketing communications company named MediaKube is adapting Sony's CD-ROM technology to warranty and product registration applications.
June 28, 2005
The Nine Lives of Entigo: After numerous name changes and shifts in focus, Entigo has returned as a player in the warranty chain management software market.
June 21, 2005
Global Services: Solectron helps major electronics companies design and manufacture their products, but in the future it sees a major opportunity to expand its operations in warranty repair and even recycling services.
June 14, 2005
Early Warning Systems: The benefits, we suspect, are huge. But so are the costs. In an era when investments in new computer software must show a return or else, what will be the ROI for warranty analytics?
June 7, 2005
Fixing Things: The best way to measure performance is not just by counting the number of failures or adding up the warranty costs. A better alternative is to measure how the product consumes energy to perform each of its functions, and how successfully it avoids failures caused by energy lost to friction, vibrations, or heat. In short, it's a restatement of the second law of thermodynamics.
May 31, 2005
Automotive Warranty: The Big Three feel the bite of increased warranty costs in the first quarter just as sales begin to fall. But how can companies be compared over time if their accounting standards and even their currencies are different?
May 24, 2005
Warranty Reserves: How much is enough? Given a company's industry and the nature of its product warranties, how much should be kept in the warranty reserve fund? The funding decisions of 700 CFOs provide some insights.
May 17, 2005
Warranty by Industry Sector: While claims grew by 4.9% to $25.1 billion in 2004, warranty's slice of revenue actually shrank a bit as sales grew faster. In some industry sectors, both dollars and percentages actually fell, but computer and automotive OEMs still process the vast majority of all warranty claims.
May 10, 2005
Top 50 Warranty Providers: Manufacturers spent more than $25 billion last year on warranty claims, but sales rose a bit faster, so claims as a percentage of revenue fell slightly. Most of the top 50, however, saw their claims rates fall more.
May 3, 2005
Warranty Conference,
Part Eight: Behind the numbers used in warranty metrics, there's a lot that's left up to the discretion of each company. This makes comparisons somewhat unreliable without a standard set of definitions detailing what is and what isn't a warranty expense.
April 26, 2005
Warranty Conference,
Part Seven: Warranty fraud is a big problem for both manufacturers and warranty administrators. What's surprising is how deliberate and organized their schemes have become.
April 19, 2005
Warranty Conference,
Part Six: Warranty fraud is a big problem for vehicle service contract administrators. But surprisingly, the biggest culprits are usually the mechanics and repair shops, not the consumers.
April 12, 2005
Warranty Conference,
Part Five: With extended warranties, a lack of regulations invites inconsistency. But too much regulation could drive up costs. The SCIC's attorney helps states find a middle ground.
April 5, 2005
Warranty Conference,
Part Four: Your best customers buy extended warranties. And the proper administration of extended warranties can boost customer loyalty. Two top executives explain how it's done.
March 29, 2005
Warranty Conference,
Part Three: Extended warranties may look like easy money to some, but beneath the surface there are lots of moving parts. Here's one expert's how-to guide:
March 22, 2005
Warranty Conference,
Part Two: Members of the AIAG detailed their effort to create an early warning system that uses new warranty data communications standards to improve product quality.
March 15, 2005
Warranty Conference,
Part One: During the kickoff keynotes by HP and IBM at last week's Warranty Chain Management conference, the need to involve people in warranty transformation projects outranked all technical and financial challenges.
March 8, 2005
Warranty Retirements: What happens when a warranty expert finishes his career and takes decades of accumulated expertise with him?
February 23, 2005
Warranty Retirements: What happens when a warranty expert finishes his career and takes decades of accumulated expertise with him?
February 22, 2005
Warranty Exam: If you pass the test, you get the sale. But Sub-Zero didn't even tell SAS what to look for in its warranty data.
February 15, 2005
Introducing Warranty Work  
February 8, 2005
Who Are You? Warranty Week reader profile provides some answers based on location, employer, and job title.
February 1, 2005
Warranty Analysis Software: Skeptical buyers and long sales cycles can be overcome with relevant demos using a customer's own data.
January 25, 2005
Extended Warranty Administrators: While auto and PC manufacturers have the top spots, insurance companies and third party administrators grab the bulk of the pie.
January 19, 2005
Product Warranty Trends: Manufacturers seem to pack their end-of-year reports with as much warranty expense as they can find, creating a kind of step function in the quarterly data.
January 11, 2005
Product Warranty Providers: Gateway holds onto the title of most improved for 2003-2004, but almost three-quarters of the top 50 manufacturers are seeing their warranty claims rates decline year over year.
January 5, 2005