Li YouFang, Feature Story 4 of the 20th Anniversary of LiuGong’s Globalization

Modest, friendly, and professional-this was the first impression Ms. Li Youfang had on me. As a senior service manager with 13 years of dedication in LiuGong’s global service business, she has participated in and witnessed the development of the company’s global customer service system from scratch. From her experiences, we can see the continuous improvement, evolution, and pioneering of LiuGong’s global service quality, all for the pursuit of customers’ satisfaction.

Iteration and Transformation

In 2009, LiuGong’s globalization strategy moved from rapid expansion to in-depth market cultivation with a priority on aftermarket service capabilities building and service management system upgrades. It was here when Li Youfang first joined the global service team.

“My first experience with global business was a stressful one. All my colleagues were able to communicate with global customers in a fluent and proficient manner. English-only conference calls were very common.” Li Youfang quickly integrated into her work in the open and positive working environment of the team. She served as lead on the construction of the first-gen service management system (LCS) in her second year.

“The outsourced LCS system featured long development periods, high costs, a rigid framework, and was difficult to optimize.” The first-gen system was migrated directly from abroad and could only be used to process warranty claims. Despite this, it was common for Li Youfang to communicate with software engineers until one or two in the morning during the early stages of the system development. 

With the rapid growth of LiuGong’s global business, the requirements for digitalization and intelligence were inevitably rising higher and higher. Providing high-quality and timely customer service across multiple time and languages zones has become one of the major challenges for global aftermarket capabilities. After using LCS for a short period, LiuGong global services team independently developed a second-gen service management system (DMS), and completed migration in 2015. The new DMS system featured nearly 10 key upgrades in areas such as service and parts management, equipment lifecycle status checking and management, greatly improving the efficiency and response time of LiuGong global services. 

We all know that strategies require consistent functional maintenance and comprehensive understanding of the market and customer demands. Li Youfang and her colleagues have built a solid foundation, improving it continuously and meticulously.

As with the iterative upgrade of the service system, Li Youfang’s outstanding work also helped transform her own life, and she was promoted to warranty business manager.

The DMS system of today features not only a more friendly interface, but also increasingly powerful functions that extend from dealer management to end users.

Digital Footprint of LiuGong’s Globalization

After moving on from the warranty business to service management in 2017, Li Youfang deeply felt the acceleration in the development of LiuGong’s global aftermarket capabilities. The integration of system guarantees and regional empowerment have comprehensively improved customer experience and satisfaction, thereby enhancing LiuGong’s overall service competitiveness.

Since then, Li Youfang performed as the lead on LiuGong global call center system project, during which she visited 6 renowned companies to engage in study, communication, and discussion.

From October 2018 to June 2019, Li Youfang had visited Thailand three times to help the dealer complete the construction of standardized hardware such as service vehicles, service tools, and tooling. At the meantime, she worked with the dealer in obtaining authorization of self-service capabilities of core components like Cummins EFI engine and ZF transmission.

On July 1, 2019, the LiuGong Thailand Call Center was established. As of today, the Call Centers at the headquarters and 5 branches of Thailand dealer are delivering profound changes to the local market. The number of received orders has grown from 20 per month to over 230 per month, while service completion time has decreased from an average of over 180 hours to within just 72 hours.

As commented by her colleague Dong Xiaoling, “The construction of the call centers required the coordination of all global subsidiaries, local dealers, local telephone companies, and software companies. Though the task was difficult, Li Youfang was able to overcome these challenges one by one.”

From July 2019 to January 2020, Li Youfang made another four business trips to Vietnam and the Philippines. By the end of 2021, LiuGong had established call centers in Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines, Indonesia, Myanmar, Russia, and Sudan.

Since joining the company in 2009, Li Youfang has traveled to over 10 countries in America, Europe, South Asia, and the Asia Pacific. Despite her numerous awards such as “LiuGong Female Role Model”, “Global Aftermarket Star”, and “Excellent Manager”, all we heard from her during the interview was affirmation for her team, praise for her colleagues, and a humility towards her own dedication and efforts.

Editor’s Note:

Looking back at 20 years of LiuGong’ globalization, we can see the mark left by Li Youfang and her colleagues.

They’ve made great efforts on the iterative upgrade of global aftermarket service quality through learning, understanding and innovation, thus fulfilling the company’s brand promise.