October 20, 1997

Keeping 'Em Rolling By Bronwyn Fryer reightliner Corp., the leading manufacturer of heavy semi-trucks, uses knowledge-management systems to keep its vehicles road-ready. It sends detailed knowledge about truck repair in PC format to technicians at the 250 dealerships that repair the sophisticated electronic and mechanical components of Freightliner trucks. Freightliner, a subsidiary of Daimler-Benz in Portland, Ore., controls nearly 30% of the heavy-truck market. Yet in some ways, the company has fallen victim to its own success: "We've sold more trucks than our dealers' service capacity can absorb," says Doug Vakoc, Freightliner's director of technical service systems. Part of the problem is a shortage of trained mechanics. Another part i s that the trucks are now equipped with onboard computers and complex electronic circuitry-all of which challenges today's technicians. This demands that Freightliner provide on-site training and support that help all levels of mechanics "get it right the first time," says Vakoc. To this end, the company decided to build an online support network, called ServicePro. It's a client-server setup based on knowledge-management software called CBR2 from Inference Corp. The software was first rolled out to Freightliner dealerships in 1994. Recently expanded and upgraded, the client software today runs on PCs at dealership service desks, as well as on service shop floors. These are LAN-linked to Windows NT-based IBM servers at the dealerships. "Freightliner is extending the use of CBR beyond more-traditional tech product support," says Peter Tierney, CEO of Inference, in Novato, Calif. "It's demonstrating the strategic value of building, disseminating, and managing knowledge." Truck mechanics use ServicePro' s Technician Diagnostic component to identify failing components and tap into repair procedures and practices. If, for example, a driver complains that a steering wheel is seizing, the technician types in the complaint and answers a set of questions. Once all the questions are answered, the system responds with a likely resolution. The system also communicates with onboard electronic systems, as well as with an electronic parts catalog and service literature database that run on an NT server in the dealership. If the technician needs information that's not stored locally, an SNA frame-relay network link lets him tap into an IMS-based vehicle-management system running on an Amdahl mainframe in the company's Portland headquarters. Though Vakoc is satisfied with the Inference software, he concedes that switching from traditional service modes to ServicePro is "difficult." In addition, it took nearly two years to gather the knowledge of how to repair each of thousands of components. Everyone who had knowledg e of specific repairs, such as service engineers, learned the authoring skills necessary to build the "cases" that ultimately provided the foundation for the CBR2 database, says Vakoc. Despite the pain, there have been significant gains: Technicians can provide faster, more accurate service, and the number of repeat visits for the same problem has dropped. With the software running at all the dealerships, Freightliner "distributes" the knowledge everywhere, so any driver can go to a Freightliner dealership anywhere and receive quality service. "The Inference case-based technology is is a good way to capture and store knowledge that can be used repeatedly," he observes. "If you don't have a way of capturing knowledge that resides in the minds of people, you're forever solving the same problem again and again." Return to story, " Knowing What We Know ." See related story, " Knowledge--In Whatever Form ." See related story, " The Applications Connection ." Back to News in Review Send Us Your Feedback Top of the Page

---