Method and apparatus for warranty cost calculation

• US 8,131,653 B2
• Filed: 09/30/2004
• Issued: 03/06/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2004
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: WSOU Investments, LLC (WSOU Holdings, LLC)
• Original Assignee: Alcatel-Lucent SA (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Scarff, Philip L., Rubin, Holly-Dee, Remick, Paul A., Kher, Shirish N., Franklin, Paul Hampton, Choudhury, Niren Cc, Chien, Ying-Che, Wang, Hongzhou
• Primary Examiner(s): Borissov, Igor
• Assistant Examiner(s): NELSON, FREDA ANN
• Application Number:
  US10/954,678
• Publication Number:
  US 20060069581A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,714 Days
• Field of Search: 705/1, 705/35, 705/400, 705/4, 705/1.1, 705/7.14, 705/302, 703/6, 340/438
• US Class Current: 705/400
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/04 Forecasting or optimisation specially adapted for administrative or management purposes, e.g. linear programming or "cutting stock problem" market predictions or forecasting for commercial activities G06Q30/0202
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/012 Providing warranty services
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0283 Price estimation or determination
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/08 Insurance

Abstract

Method and apparatus for calculating warranty cost includes determining values for a plurality of parameters that characterize a corresponding plurality of physical conditions of a product that is returned under warranty, determining values for a plurality of variables that characterize a customer profile for the product and evaluating an expression that calculates warranty cost based on said determined parameter and variable values. The plurality of physical conditions of the product includes the conditions of no-trouble-found (NTF), repaired, junked, and subject to further failure mode analysis (FMA). The plurality of parameters further comprises probabilities and costs that correspond to each of the physical conditions. Evaluating the above expression includes evaluating a first expression that calculates repair, product conformance and Dead-On-Arrival cost and evaluating a second expression that calculates Change Notice cost. Subsequently, the two costs are summed to arrive at the total warranty cost.

Claims

1. A non-transitory computer program product wherein computer instructions stored on fixed or removable non-transitory media, when processed using a processor cause a computing device to perform a method of calculating a warranty cost of providing a warranty for a product, the method comprising:

assigning probability parameters utilized in evaluating the warranty cost, the probability parameters being obtained from a business'"'"' quality system include at least one of a no-trouble-found (NTF) parameter, a repaired parameter, a junked parameter, and subject to further failure mode analysis (FMA) parameter; and

calculating the warranty cost as including a repair, product conformance (PC) and Dead-On-Arrival (DOA) cost and a Change Notice cost to arrive at a total warranty cost, wherein the warranty cost is calculated using at least one of said assigned probability parameters, and at least one variable characterizing a customer profile for the product.

2. The non-transitory computer program product of claim 1, wherein the at least one of said assigned probability parameters characterizing a physical condition of the product is selected from the set of probabilities consisting of P_NTF, P_repair, P_junk, and P_FMA and the group of costs consisting of C_NTF, C_repair, C_junk, and C_FMA;

wherein P_NTF is a probability that a returned unit of the product is indicated as no trouble found (NTF), P_repair is a probability that a returned unit of the product is indicated as being repaired, P_junk is a probability that a returned unit of the product is indicated as being junked, and P_FMA is a probability that a returned unit of the product is indicated as being subject to further failure mode analysis (FMA);

wherein C_NTF is an expected cost of a returned unit of the product that is indicated as no trouble found (NTF), C_repair is an expected cost of a returned unit of the product that is indicated as being repaired, C_junk is an expected cost of a returned unit of the product that is indicated as being junked, and C_FMA is an expected cost of a returned unit of the product that is indicated as being subject to further failure mode analysis (FMA).

3. The non-transitory computer program product of claim 2, wherein the at least one variable characterizing a customer profile for the product is selected from the group of variables consisting of:

n number of units of product under warranty

T Warranty duration or warranty period length (years)

T₀ Trial period length before the warranty period starts (years)

τ

_L warranty starting time with warranty period [τ

_L,τ

_U ]

τ

_U warranty ending time with warranty period [τ

_L,τ

_U ] and

β

distribution factor.

4. The non-transitory computer program product of claim 1, wherein the repair, product conformance and Dead-On-Arrival cost is calculated as follows:

5. The non-transitory computer program product of claim 1, wherein the Change Notice cost is calculated as follows:

Cn=n·

C_s·

P_s·

F_s

where C_s is the average CN/Seed Stock cost per unit of product;

P_s is the probability that a unit will be subject to CN/Seed Stock in this specified time period, with default value of 0; and

F_s is an adjustment factor with default value of 1.

6. The non-transitory computer program product of claim 1, wherein the step of calculating further comprises a first step of calculating a first type of warranty amount and entering such amount into an expression used in calculating the warranty cost.

7. The non-transitory computer program product of claim 6, wherein the step of calculating further comprises a second step of calculating a second type of warranty amount and entering such amount into an expression used in calculating the warranty cost.

8. An apparatus for performing a warranty cost calculation operation for a product, comprising:

means for assigning probability parameters representative of a major category of a physical disposition of the product, the at least one of said assigned probability parameters comprising a no-trouble-found (NTF) parameter, a repaired parameter, a junked parameter, and subject to further failure mode analysis (FMA) parameter;

means for performing acceptance of determined values for one or more parameters that characterize one or more corresponding physical conditions of the product;

means for performing acceptance of determined values for one or more variables that characterize a customer profile for the product; and

means for calculating warranty cost of providing the warranty for the product based on said assigned probability parameters and variable values including calculating a repair, product conformance (PC) and Dead-On-Arrival (DOA) cost and a Change Notice cost to arrive at a total warranty cost.

9. The apparatus claim 8, wherein the one or more assigned probability parameters is selected from the set of probabilities consisting of P_NTF, P_repair, P_junk, and P_FMA and costs C_NTF, C_repair, C_junk, and C_FMA;

wherein P_NTF is a probability that a returned unit of the product is indicated as no trouble found (NTF), P_repair is i a probability that a returned unit of the product is indicated as being repaired, P_junk is a probability that a returned unit of the product is indicated as being junked, and P_FMA is a probability that a returned unit of the product is indicated as being subject to further failure mode analysis (FMA);

wherein C_NTF is an expected cost of a returned unit of the product that is indicated as no trouble found (NTF), C_repair is an expected cost of a returned unit of the product that is indicated as being repaired, C_junk is an expected cost of a returned unit of the product that is indicated as being junked, and C_FMA is an expected cost of a returned unit of the product that is indicated as being subject to further failure mode analysis (FMA).

10. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the means for accepting determined values of the one or more assigned probability parameters that characterize one or more corresponding physical conditions of a returned product and the one or more variables that characterize a customer profile includes an input template displayed on a display device.

11. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the means for calculating warranty cost based on said determined parameter and variable values includes a CPU, support circuits and memory of a computer.

12. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the repair, product conformance and Dead-On-Arrival cost is calculated as follows:

13. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the Change Notice cost is calculated as fallows:

Cn=n·

C_s·

P_s·

F_s

where C_s is the average CN/Seed Stock cost per unit of product;

P_s is the probability that a unit will be subject to CN/Seed Stock in this specified time period, with default value of 0; and

F_s is an adjustment factor with default value of 1.

14. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein warranty cost information resulting from the calculating of the warranty cost is organized in an output template displayed on a display device.