Panasonic Toughbook Laptops Keeps Motorcycles Healthy

Owners of motorcycles are often obsessed with the vehicles quality & performance.  Motorcycle manufacturers understand this and in order to keep their customers’ bikes running smoothly, skillfully tuning a bike’s engine during routine maintenance is an absolute must. In addition, when routine maintenance is performed properly it proves to be highly cost effective. With Panasonic’s Toughbook laptop, service technicians at a U.S. manufacturer are able to manage examinations and check performance in a much timelier fashion to help ensure new bikes pass quality inspection before hitting the streets.

This motorcycle manufacturer previously used consumer-grade desktops and laptops, but found they weren’t durable enough to handle the service bay environment. Service work areas and service bays expose the diagnostic kits to inevitable drops, which can damage regular computer hard drives and components. In addition, the computers needed to be resistant to oil, grease, fluids and dust.

Powered by a Panasonic Toughbook, a digital technician kit helps dealerships diagnose issues on motorcycles at the garage service level. For example, a guided diagnostic portion with a flow chart on the laptop screen walks the service technician through the troubleshooting process and also enables the technician to set up fobs and pins for security, update parts, and download and update calibrations to the bike. Additionally, engineers at assembly plants and facilities in the US, Canada and globally also use Toughbook laptops to test and make sure new bikes pass final factory inspection.

For additional information on how rugged mobile computers are helping one motorcycle manufacturer increase maintenance and manufacturing efficiencies download the full case study here.