Hoshizaki is renowned in Thailand and other countries in Southeast Asia for providing kitchen equipment such as commercial ice makers, refrigeration, etc. One of the reasons why the company has earned the trust of customers is the high quality of service.
In July 2023, "Hoshizaki Southeast Asia Service Center" was first founded in Bangkok, Thailand to improve service quality to meet diverse customer needs. It's a great honor to have this opportunity for the interview with Mr. Yoshimura, general manager, to learn about the service center representative's roles and its strengths.
▲ Training at the center
Improvement in technical skills of Hoshizaki's service personnel
The Hoshizaki Southeast Asia Service Center is a training facility established to improve the technical skills and knowledge of local service agents and dealers who cooperate with Hoshizaki. There are demonstration machines about 30 types of Hoshizaki kitchen equipment, and we regularly conduct seminars on abilities to spot problems that are likely to occur in the tropical climate of Southeast Asia, as well as maintenance knowledge.
▲ Some of the demonstration machines of kitchen equipment owned by the center
It is a facility that can be said to be the heart of Hoshizaki's services in Southeast Asia, as it is involved in the training of service staff not only in Thailand but also for service providers in Southeast Asia (Thailand, the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore). Since its opening, more than 150 service staff has already participated in trainings.
"There are very few kitchen equipment manufacturers that arrange training sessions for service teams in overseas branches.As Hoshizaki places particular emphasis on customer service, so we focus on training local service personnel even at overseas branches. We intent to coach local service agents to better service and product repair in each country by nurturing excellent service personnel," said GM Yoshimura.
Extensive lineup of over 100 models
Thailand selected as the core of Southeast Asia
Thailand has been chosen as the service center location for the following five reasons.
・ Many end-users
・Large number of F&B outlets, that are expected to grow in the future
・Easy access to parts and tools necessary for service maintenance
・High-performance workforce (multilingualism and quick response)
・Good geographical accessibility
▲ Tools used for maintenance
"In Southeast Asia, has a wide selection of merchandise for sale.In different countries, and there are more than 100 models of refrigerators alone. In addition to the large number of product lineups, our service delivers to customers in many countries, so it is important to enhance our service, which directly correlates with customer satisfaction. We are all set to supervise service providers along with maintenance service" said GM Yoshimura.
Troubles are informed to manufacturers for product improvement
Besides training, analyze problems received from
various countries and provide Feedback on information to manufacturers. They play an important role that is directly linked to product quality and functionality, such as improving the quality of existing products and providing advice from a point of view of service perspective for the new product development.
The selling products in Southeast Asia are supplied from a wide range of areas,consisting of the regions that are situated China, Turkey, India, Europe, and Japan, and trouble reports are a valuable source of information for manufacturers.Problem brought on by environmental factors that vary from country to country, such as climate, power supply conditions, and water quality, and those external factors give rise to new considerations in product development to be suitable in target counties.
"In Japan, there are more than 3,000 full-time service personnel in operation, and around 50 service staff at present in Southeast Asia. In the field service, we are confident that Hoshizaki's service quality is at a high level because our team is quick to respond which helps to effectively communicate and fulfill customer demands. That’s the key to gaining customer trust and creating strong relationships, as this can make people more likely to engage with products in a long-term.In the future, we would like to further increase the number of service personnel and expand the role of the center to build an even higher level of service network," said GM Yoshimura.
▲ From left: Ms. Kanokpit - Center Staff, Mr. Yoshimura - GM, Ms. Taksaon - Marketing Manager, and Ms. Jareeyaphan - Marketing Staff
