The trouble with claims by phone
Warranty claims usually reach a manufacturer through dealers and phone calls. The details are thin: a model name, a rough date, a complaint. Someone then searches registers to see whether the unit is in warranty and what happened to it at the factory.
Repeat faults stay hidden, because nothing links a failed unit back to its batch, its test readings or the supplier of its parts.
One QR code, one serial number
The idea is simple. Every unit gets a serial number and a QR code on its label. Scanning it opens that unit’s history: batch, end-of-line test result, dispatch date and dealer, and any service visits.
Your existing label printer is usually enough. The scan can be done with an ordinary phone camera by a dealer, a technician or your service desk.
What to record at each stage
The system is only as good as what goes into it, so keep each step short.
- Production: serial number, batch, and the lot of key components such as the motor or casting.
- End-of-line test: the readings and pass or fail, saved against the serial number.
- Dispatch: which dealer and which date.
- Service: the complaint, the fault found and the part replaced.
What you get from it
A claim can be checked against the unit’s own history in seconds, which settles warranty status without argument. Repeat faults start pointing at a batch or a supplier, which gives you evidence for supplier claims. Dealers stop phoning for status, because they can see it.
Start with one product line
Pick one model, add serial numbers and QR labels on that line, and record the end-of-line test against each. A small service screen for your team and technicians comes next. Once it works for one line, extending it to others is mostly repetition.
Plan for these early
A few practical points decide whether this works on the shop floor.
- Label durability: it must survive heat, water and handling.
- Serial discipline on the line: a skipped scan breaks the history.
- Technicians’ phones and data access at customer sites.
- Customer data: collect only what you need and keep consent records, in line with India’s data-protection rules.