DELAVAL

SERVICE

Connected services can drive sustainability

DeLaval’s latest connected services can contribute to a more sustainable business, both for DeLaval and farmers.

DeLaval’s connected services can make farms more sustainable by optimising the productivity and resource efficiency of our products.

“A more efficient production is a more sustainable production, and connected services can increase efficiency by gathering data from farms and optimising equipment settings by learning from good practice,” says Claes Åkerlund, VP Commercial Offering, Digital Services at DeLaval. “We can then either advise farmers on how they can improve efficiency, or we can implement improvements directly through connected equipment. All our new products are now connected.”

DeLaval’s latest connected services

Pilot projects in 2019 have led to the development of new connected services that are being launched in 2020.

Following successful pilot farm projects in the Netherlands, Poland and Sweden, a connected service to monitor milk temperature and cooling systems was launched. “This connected service allows informed decision making for servicing, ensures quality and avoids milk wastage,” says Åkerlund. “It can also act as quality assurance throughout the value chain to ensure the milk has been handled correctly.”

Another example is a connected pulsation monitoring system that will be released in the second half of 2020. This service monitors the actual usage of teat liners to ensure they are replaced at the optimal time. “By ensuring the right things are done at the right time at the farm, we can promote better decision making and ensure milking performance and optimal material utilisation to reduce waste,” says Åkerlund. “It also ensures they are not worn out, which can lead to poor milking and even poor udder health.”

Such new services will drive DeLaval’s sustainability strategy by ensuring we contribute towards more efficient resource use.

DeLaval InService™ All-Inclusive ensures excellent support in China

The service team in China includes nearly 100 full-time certified service engineers that provide customers with 24/7 tailored services to meet their particular needs.

A unique customer offering

No other competitor can provide such strong service support for their Chinese customers, with many competitors heavily reliant on dealers. DeLaval InService™ All-Inclusive provides clearly defined and consistent service procedures that have a fixed price and guaranteed quality. Quality is assured by supervising and monitoring procedures, and every service visit is followed up by a customer satisfaction survey that is conducted by a third-party organisation.

DeLaval InServices All-Inclusive include preventive maintenance, DeLaval Dynamic Analysis and DeLaval Cleaning Analysis testing, udder health inspections, milk quality inspection and ISO certification. We also offer tailored customer training services, which can help to ensure a smooth start to operations, comprehensive milking procedure training and promote operational safety.

Customer added value

Benefits for the customer can include higher milking efficiency, better animal health and improved milk quality. Competitor comparisons that are conducted by our customers themselves show that the service from DeLaval typically outperforms competitors in terms of equipment performance, cost effectiveness, service frequency, as well as training quality and quantity.

One satisfied customer of many

DeLaval has worked closely with the KangHong farm in Hebei province, China, and provided various services since it was established in 2016. For example, DeLaval InService All-Inclusive has overcome an abnormal milk taste issue that lasted several days and that other experts could not resolve. In four years, DeLaval’s high quality equipment has only suffered one minor glitch at KangHong, which was resolved by a DeLaval service engineer within two hours. The farm has also enjoyed good milk quality and animal health.

Training and advisory services empower customers to optimise their performance

Our training and advisory services ensure customers get the very best out of their DeLaval products – to deliver optimal performance on their farm.

DeLaval provides training for customers that have purchased new DeLaval equipment, and advisory services to optimise a particular farmer’s operations.

Training services – an excellent basis for profitability

DeLaval’s standardised training packages for a particular product take place on the customer’s farm to ensure they get the best possible basis for a profitable business. Our vision is to always deliver training for newly purchased equipment to ensure our customers really get the most out of their new product.

“Our training is always carried out by certified trainers to ensure they understand farm challenges and have excellent product know­ledge, regardless of whether they are our own employees, a dealer or another external partner,” explains Emma Ahtonen, Farm Advisory Service Manager for EMEA at DeLaval. “Our trainer certification, together with our work to standardise training in all markets, promotes a high standard of training throughout our offering.”

Tailored advisory services

We offer customised advisory services to both new and existing customers – with either a specific challenge they would like to overcome or simply to support their operation from the very start. “Either way, we put together a tailored package to cater for their particular needs, with specialist advisors that have the relevant expertise,” says Ahtonen. “Such advisory services have increased milk production and profitability for our customers in markets all around the world.”

Advisory services are either provided on the farm with staff and farm managers or online. “The benefit of our online services is that they can be conducted whenever and wherever,” says Ahtonen. “We can monitor the farm remotely in real time from DelPro Farm Manager, which can deliver more customer value by quickly identifying and advising on any issues.”

The online advisory services are currently being further developed and offered to more markets. We are also currently working to productise our assortment of training and advisory services into ‘products’ each with a clear scope as part of a comprehensive portfolio of services.