MSX

[Steves2sense]

Anybody have any info on them. They do a lot of consulting work for Ford Dealers in service operations. Thanks.

[robc]

I have a couple of contacts with them from back when we used to do our Service Manager's Summit meetings. From what I understand, MSX is a huge company with several industries and products. MSXi consulting services was part of Ford until a few years back (thus their involvment with them and Blue Oval Certified). Ford spun them off and set them out to make money on their own.

I can't speak totally for them, but MSXi seems to excel at some of the intangibles that occur in service. Things like coaching your staff, hiring the right people, working the service team to be able to offer really great service. That's more hard to get your arms around than stuff like production and scheduling (where companies like AtCon shine) or salesmanship/pricing (probably lead by Dealer Service Corp.)

I am sure they do the rest, and as with many consulting companies you experience is totally based on the quality of the consultant that you get, but that seems to be where they put their efforts.


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** Rob, Editor WD&S **
Help is only a message post away!
robc@dealersedge.com

[patrick murray]

I have had great success with MSX. They worked with 2 of our stores implementing service process and lateral support teams. I found them to be informative and knowledgeable. What I liked best was the consultant I worked with had a strong retail background. He understood that this business is not all black and white. He tailored the process to work for my stores. If you would like to talk more about it I can be reached at patrickmurray99@yahoo.com or 207 799 5591

[tjniekamp]

I used to work for MSX. The great thing about the company and those employed by it was that every single one of us had an abundance of either dealership or wholesale experience and college degrees. We originally were hired by Ford to perform Service Upgrade, a process improvement initiative for Service. It was so successful, that Ford added it as a module of their FCA 3.0. We were also tasked with selling and installing many of the RMM's (so-called at that time) marketing plans. Finally, we were tasked with working with the dealers with the worst Customer Viewpoint (CSI) scores to increase their scores prior to the release of Blue Oval. Ford didn't renew our contract in June, 2000, so we had to sell our services to the dealerships on our own. If you know of anyone who needs our services, please contact me at tom@niekampassociates.com. Hope this helps.

[MN]

And some of the MSXi consultants where former manufacturer employees. There are other firms that excel above the abilities of MSX. Be sure to take a look at ASC from B'Ham.