NTF Printer Parts - Unlocking the "No Trouble Found" Opportunity

Harvesting The NTF Printer Parts Opportunity

NTF Printer Parts "No Trouble Found"

NTF printer parts carry high direct and indirect costs, bloated parts inventory, excessive warranty claims, wasted callbacks and poor customer satisfaction. No wonder NTF is a closely watched printer service operation metric, and service organizations work hard to reduce the frequency of NTF parts.

Breaking out a printer fusers warranty rate of 2%, we historically find 30% of them are NTF. While printer circuit boards like the printer formatter and DC controller have a 60% NTF rate. I have witnessed and researched this pattern for close to 20 years at 2 of the top printer parts vendors in the USA.  It is easy to see the value of improving this number for the supplier and the printer service provider.

When there is no clear printer troubleshooting conclusion to an intermittent problem, what often happens is that printer parts are simply replaced. For example, a enduser complains about intermittent “paper jams.” Because the printer technician cannot find a problem, he or she may feel that replacing the printer fuser or maintenance kit is the only service-friendly option.

The printer fuser is returned to the vendor, but with very little contextual data to help determine the problem (no diagnostics, no printer error codes, no print samples, and few, if any, mating parts).  

Other Helpful Resources

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Developing a Critical HP Printer Parts Stocking Strategy

There are several factors responsible for producing NTF printer parts. Among the most common:

• In the course of the repair activity, the technician replaced multiple parts. However only one was the actual root cause for the failure. This could be caused by suboptimal diagnostic methods and poor service information and training, but can also be encouraged or required, for example, when equipment uptime is more important than the cost of the repair (and of  NTF  parts.)

• Growth in the complexity of laser printer subsystems.

• Marginal design leads to “tolerance stacking” in which a component printer part will cause a failure in some systems in the field but not on the test bench. The printer technician made incorrect diagnosis and the system appears to operate correctly, but is likely to fail again. This problem is often made worse by a marginal design.

• Media variations. There are over 100 different types of 80 brightness, 20 lb paper

• Toner particulate inconsistency.

Pushing In The Wrong Direction Boiling it down to a single denominator can compound the problem. Knowing that management is concerned about the high rate of no fault found printer parts, but, at the same time, having high confidence in their troubleshooting skills, some technicians adopted a habit of making sure the parts they replaced "fail' at the repair facility. This way both the customer and service management got what they wanted.  This issue is frequently reflected in the return of allegedly failed parts. These items often arrive damaged and/or incomplete. Accompanying descriptions of failure symptoms are rare or just bad information.  The net effect, of course, is a default “no trouble found” situation. Faced with the absence of meaningful information with which to perform root cause analysis, we and other suppliers have little choice but to absorb unnecessary costs or enter into protracted and confrontational negotiations. Regardless of who wins that battle, warranty trend data is “polluted.” I can confirm that the above problem is Metrofuser's most serious warranty-related issue. Our position is that absent, untimely or incomplete data are concerns that more printer parts vendors must take seriously.  

NTF levels also reflect an increased number of complex laser printer subsystems since, as the complexity of these subsystems increases, so does the difficulty of determining problems’ root causes.

The “noise” in the warranty process also contributes to NTF problems. Even though NTF often means different things to different organizations, there is little disagreement that more collaboration between suppliers and dealers is needed to reduce NTF levels. 

Incremental Improvements We have integrated new forms of SBL scenario based learning into our printer repair training program to help develop the diagnostics skills for technicians.

Increasing the detailed narrative about incidents has shown incremental improvements along with new end-to-end approaches to diagnostics and forensic outcome reporting.

The more common and obvious methods employed by service organizations strive to improve the efficacy of troubleshooting through improved diagnostics tools, up-to-date service information, effective printer technician training and utilizing third party printer technical support.

Fuser Forensics

Forensics Department

The dictionary defines forensics as scientific tests or techniques used in connection with the detection of crime. In our company the crime is the failed printer part. We have established a cross functional team of people who work together to establish the root cause and corrective actions for every failed part. Over the years we have improved on the different approaches to testing with the goal of reproducing the problem. Here are a few;

1. Printer Power Cycling

2. OEM and Various Aftermarket Toner Formulations

3. Variations in the Print Media

4. Adjusting Print Density

5. A/B Testing

PrintSim™ Emulation Software

Metrofuser developed a software/hardware platform call PrintSim™. It offers a real world office print environment within an engineering lab setting. As an example, a laser printer in a hospital may sit idle for 30 minutes and then run single page prints for next 60 minutes then sit idle again. PrintSim™ can reproduce that scenario by torture testing fusers, rollers, paper handling devices and logic boards with the on / off process that occurs when a printer is used in an office atmosphere.

PrintSim™ offers infinite control such as the ability to throttle the time between print jobs down to the minute. Most importantly, its gives the testing engineers the flexibility of changing between the types of print jobs. Test prints can jump between text and detailed  graphics and in any combination. Learn More

E & I Log - Incident and Event Logging Comprehensive device service and error logs can help get to service goals. Tracking each printer with a historical support log for review reduces call backs and leads to greater service outcome. Typical printer service related events such as;

1. Printer Parts Replaced

2. Parts Swapped

3. Types of Parts

4. Firmware upgrades

5. Technicians History

6. Recommendations Attempted

7. Error codes and Symptoms

8. Page Count Intervals

9. Maintenance Schedules

Implement a Documented Diagnostic Grading System.

The decisions technicians make are tied to expenditures. Tracking and evaluating service outcomes based on printer technicians decisions can unleash a goldmine of data that can give you a return on your investment. Questions like, How could the outcome have been better for me or the next printer technician repairing this same model printer.

Final Thoughts

There is a danger that the NTF controls that printer service companies institute can morph into punitive measures against technical. Perhaps that is why it remains one of the biggest opportunities for service organizations as it remains largely untouched for he last 20 years. Unlocking the NTF code can be a profound differentiator and establish a meaningful competitive edge in the market.

Virtually every supplier is being pressed to improve efficiencies and then pass its cost improvements on to the customer. Printer service organizations , of course, are part of the cooperation equation: Both parties must work together to make the printer parts warranty returns a seamless, two-way process in which both sides share the effort and the spoils.  

Will DeMuth helps printer service organizations maximize service costs and reduce call backs through product placement, training, and advisory services. Will has 20+ years of product leadership experience and is part of the greatest operational team in the industry. His company Metrofuser has been honored with 20+ Leadership and Industry Awards.

Metrofuser is a leading global innovator, manufacturer of printer parts, equipment, diagnostics, repair information and systems solutions for professional users performing critical tasks. Products and services include hp printer parts, printers and printer repair training. Parts include hp printer parts such as printer fusers, printer maintenance kits and other hp printer replacement parts. The company's, customers include office equipment dealerships, online retailers, repair centers and MPS service providers nationwide. Metrofuser has been named to Inc. Magazine’s fastest growing companies five consecutive years.