How to build a trusted service network?
Dynaset Oy is a Finnish company that makes hydraulic equipment: such as pumps and generators that runs on the power of hydraulic oil on work machine such as Excavator. Customers use Dynaset products in more than 90 countries, but all of them are made in Finland. So how can a customer far away who already have Dynaset product get same high quality service as in Finland? My thesis looked at a new program that tries to solve this.
Think about a customer on work site in Asia. A pump breaks, and the work stops. The local seller cannot help, so the customer take contact to factory in Finland. the pump is sent back to Finland and back again, work stopped for many days. in the end, the stopped work costs much more than the new spare part.
Dynast’s answer is the Dynaset Authorized Service Point (DASP) program. In this program local repair work shops become official Dynaset partner. They repair Dynaset products close to customer, in the customer own language and with same quality as the main factory in Finland. This is a win-win for everyone, customers get help fast, and the work shop get paid for its work. Many companies which’s sell abroad use the local partners like this. The hard part is to make sure that the partners do the work as well as the company itself (Gebauer et al. 2013).
I have kept interviews with area sales managers from different areas and also after sales teams members and also travelling technician, and figured out that there are mainly five questions as SERVQUAL model suggests (Parasuraman et al. 1988.),
-Is the service reliable?
-Is it fast?
-Can the customer trust it?
-Does it care about the customer?
-Do the place and tools look professional?
The price of working labor is different from a country to another. In Africa its about 20 euros, but in Europe an North America could be 100 euros. Still customers everywhere expect warranty repair to be free. A warranty is the promise that the product works for certain time, and if it breaks during this time the maker pays for the repair. So one price for partners work doesn’t fit every country, the technician gave a simple lesson: good repairs need clear instructions and good training. When the instructions are not clear, the repair takes longer or has to be done again.
What does DASP program include?
- Three partner levels, Base, Silver and Gold where a higher level gives more benefits.
- A list of rules that workshop must meet.
- A manual for working hours repairs.
- Rules for how Dynaset pays partners for warranty repairs and how partners report them.
What works well
Rules for new partners are clear and easy to check. Dynaset checks every workshop in same way, so no partner starts before its ready. Also payment for warrant repairs work is simple, Dynaset pays the partner by the time that the manual gives for each repair. The partner knows what it will get, and Dynaset knows what it will pay. Partner levels also give partners a reason to get better, because higher level brings more benfites.
What still needs work
Training is the biggest open question, every partner needs at least one rained technician. Training seasons has been agreed to be discussed case by case, Dynaset offering online, and onsite training even though it should be clearly announced what kind of training would be for service partners. In addition terms are still open, and some rules work only in Finland.
Start In Finland, then go global
I recommended that Dynaset starts the program first in Finland, listens to the partners for a short time and improves the program before taking it to other countries. After the first year, Dynaset should ask partners and customers for feed back and use it to make the program even better. The lesson is useful for any company, not only for Dynaset. If you want local partners to give the same quality as main branch, a contract is not enough. the partners also need clear instructions and good training.
References
Gebauer, H., Paiola, M. & Saccani, N. 2013. Characterizing service networks for moving from products to solutions. Industrial Marketing Management 42 (1), 31–46. Amsterdam: Elsevier. Accessed 02.05.2026. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indmarman.2012.11.002
Parasuraman, A., Zeithaml, V. A. & Berry, L. L. 1988. SERVQUAL: A multiple-item scale for measuring consumer perceptions of service quality. Journal of Retailing 64 (1), 12–40. New York: New York University. Accessed 01.07.2026.
Zayed, M. 2026. Dynaset Authorized Service Points – Overview of strengths and weaknesses. Master’s thesis. Turku: Turku University of Applied Sciences. https://www.theseus.fi/handle/11111/406270
Image: Dynaset HPW250. Source: Dynaset Oy, https://www.dynaset.com. Accessed 02.11.2026.