"This wireless solution is a first in the automotive industry," said
Mark Palmer, GM senior project engineer. "By having wireless computers
at the point of service — meaning under the hood of every automobile being
serviced — technicians gain extraordinary time savings and ease of use. This
increases overall productivity and cost savings for GM and its dealers."
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With this system, service technicians at GM dealers can access the most current
service manuals on line, including troubleshooting information, service procedures,
recall information and product service bulletins. Instead of queuing up to pore
through massive paper manuals, technicians are each equipped with their own
wireless, touch-screen handheld computers that look up information via a Web
browser. The solution saves time, increases productivity and profitability for
the dealership and improves service to customers.
"Using this wireless network, service technicians are empowered to access
mission-critical information systems immediately, from anywhere in the shop,"
said Bruce Minale, vice president product sales for Fujitsu-ICL. "And because
the data is maintained centrally on the corporate mainframe, dealers can be
sure that their technicians always have access to the most up-to-date information."
Historically, GM offered paper service manuals to its dealerships. The company
now employs a PC-based system, through which technicians accessed information
via a collection of CD-ROMs. Many dealerships, however, have only one computer
available to their team of technicians, making it difficult for technicians
to access up-to-date repair information quickly.
Now GM has made these manuals available through its corporate extranet, a secure
Internet site available only to authorized users. And through this first-of-a-kind
solution, technicians can use their handheld computers to find specific repair
information at their individual workstations without waiting in line.
As part of the solution, collaboratively developed by GM and SPX Corp., Fujitsu-ICL
provides Fujitsu TeamPad 7500 handheld computers which communicate via wireless
local area network with a Fujitsu TeamServer on site. The TeamPad unit features
a large, color touch-screen user interface and radio frequency (RF) support.
The highly scalable TeamServer can expand to support the requirements of the
largest dealerships by adding processors.
When a service technician looks up specific repair or product information,
the wireless computer communicates the query to the local server via RF. The
server accesses the GM extranet to obtain the information, which is then transmitted
back to the handheld unit.
The handheld solution provides technicians with information at their fingertips
saving time and improving quality of repair. This results in better service
for consumers, as well as additional revenue for dealerships and service technicians,
who are able to perform a larger number of jobs each day.
Technicians can use the wireless device under the car, under the hood or in
the interior. On the screen, they can view complete service manuals that include
detailed diagrams and technical graphics. With the system’s advanced hot-spotting
capabilities, users can zoom in and out, rotate images and focus in on particular
areas of interest. Eventually, technicians will be able to view video clips
detailing particular repairs and service techniques.
The system has been tested at the GM corporate repair facility in Warren, Mich.,
and several dealerships in the Detroit area.
Dealers can obtain the system through the GM Dealer Equipment program. The
Kent-Moore Electronic Service Manual (ESM) is available to GM’s 8,700 dealerships
in the United States, which employ about 100,000 service technicians.
