FAST LEAN SMART / CUSTOMER VOICES

BEST-OF-BREED SCHEDULING, ROUTE PLANNING, AND DISPATCH SOLUTIONS

CASE STUDY / THE JLA GROUP

END-TO-END SERVICE: OPTIMISED IN REAL-TIME

FLS Solutions:
FLS VISITOUR

Industry:
INDUSTRIAL EQUIPMENT

Requirements:

Introduction of a software-based appointment and route scheduling solution as well as a mobile solution for 400 technicians
Provide a central scheduling hub for all divisions for in-house and subcontracted resources
Live control of a multi-base field workforce to meet a 30-minute travel time for 25,000 customers
Continuous real-time optimisation and 24/7 in-shift reporting
Future-proofed technologies ready for growth

Outcomes:

Double-digit reduction in appointment miles travelled
Removal of batch processing for maximum scheduling efficiency
Team grouping functionality with easy inclusion of contracted technicians
Increased SLA adherence with improved customer satisfaction
Increased Dispatch team productivity with less reliance on geographic knowledge

Meet the organisation:
www.jla.com

FAST LEAN SMART (FLS) is helping THE JLA GROUP to cut down travel and admin time and meet their critical SLA requirements. FLS VISITOUR enables dispatch teams to optimise their scheduling for field technicians and service engineers. The organisation is now more productive as the business considers FLS technology a vital resource to support future growth.

THE JLA GROUP, based in West Yorkshire, is a UK leader for the distribution, rental and servicing of commercial equipment and regulatory compliance solutions across Laundry, Catering, Heating & A/C, and Fire Safety. The Group currently employs 800 highly skilled staff covering a wide variety of areas, such as the research and development of machinery, chemical technology, and software control systems. Two contact centres schedule appointments for 400 field technicians, serving a wide variety of sectors including hospitality, restaurants, healthcare, care homes, and universities.

THE GROWTH CHALLENGE

Every day, 400 technical experts attend thousands of appointments providing survey, installation, preventative maintenance, and emergency repairs of critical assets. In recent years, company acquisitions have lead the rapid growth towards 25,000 customers, meaning more machinery to service and more sites to attend.

The manual scheduling of appointments to deliver their promise of ‘a better machine, a faster appointment or fix, a quickly delivered part’ was becoming a risk to productivity–as Chris Hill, Technology Business Partner - Operations at The JLA Group, explains.

“What we were previously doing is manually scheduling, which we were doing reasonably well but to achieve productivity, the SLAs that we were offering customers, and to try and reduce mileage, we needed to get the service system onto one platform. Our growth highlighted a need to react quicker to our customers from a service point of view but also for control across field productivity. Our installation unit covers a range of completely new sites and new builds so we needed a system that considers skills such as power, gas, and water. With a wide variety in the number of appliances to service per site, we determined the requirement for intuitive real-time scheduling–rather than our traditional kind of overnight, manual or batch processes.”

Challenges were present in the Dispatch team too, with a heavy reliance on geographical knowledge, says Sarah Daborn, National Planning and Dispatch Manager at The JLA Group.

“We have six dispatchers. We needed a system that truly helps them, so it‘s not reliant on that one person being the expert in that region as we manually built the shifts.”

THE SELECTION PROCESS HIGHLIGHTS NEW POSSIBILITIES

When THE JLA GROUP approached the market it’s understandable that providers made their own promises of future scheduling efficiency, says Chris Hill.

“We went through a benchmarking exercise with potential suppliers. We looked to find a scheduling system that would work as one platform. It was key for us to look within those systems for ease of use and usability. The front end needed to be configurable.”

THE JLA GROUP and FLS completed an initial Scheduling Test using FLS VISITOUR and historical data to compare outcomes with their current process. It was after this that the obvious choice was FAST LEAN SMART.

“They stood out from the crowd with our benchmarking exercise. The additional features that we saw from FLS VISITOUR really intrigued and interested us; we wanted to use it. The reporting to see how performance is going throughout the day, rather than the old traditional reporting of looking at what happened yesterday—you could make decisions in-day”.

Thousands of customers rely on THE JLA GROUP across a seven-day week and by extension, millions of service users. Despite this, the visible effects of FLS VISITOUR’s processing from ‘what’s happened’ to ‘what’s happening’ highlighted unspent capacity using their existing resources. This meant plans to scale operations in the future had a fresh clarity and could be supported by the technology.

“The other feature we liked was the ability to do the forecasting and the modelling piece so we could have a look at where our engineers were, based on our workload. Any particular acquisition means we can remodel on that basis.” explained Chris Hill. “Any acquisitions and connected machines in terms of our propositions going forward; the FLS system can be open API so we can integrate it into the systems correctly.”

THE SOLUTION

The company decided to implement FLS VISITOUR as their automation solution. Pairing tools for head office with the internal and external field force means the business gains the full potential of the platform. Built on the unique PowerOpt algorithm, FLS VISITOUR reacts precisely and quickly to schedule callouts. It plans optimised appointments and routes in real time, taking into account millions of data points, including traffic-based driving times and the priorities of the business.

Real-time in-day progress updates from the JLA field app provides comprehensive on-the-road support for all field based resources and streamlines communication between them, the dispatch team, and the customer. Placing task information, data capture, and routing features into the hands of the field force creates a balanced workload for enhanced shift efficiency.

In addition, an interface was required between FLS and THE JLA GROUP’s ticket management system to prepare for rollout. FLS worked with the third-party as an expert partner to support the transition to develop this integration.

"With a wide variety in the number of appliances to service per site, we determined the requirement for intuitive real-time scheduling–rather than our traditional kind of overnight manual or batch processes."

THE RESULTS - SIGNIFICANT GAINS ACROSS THE BUSINESS

THE JLA GROUP made significant gains across travel reduction including a double-digit saving in miles driven. Besides cutting fuel expenditure and reducing overtime through unnecessary driving, they’ve increased their number of daily appointments and eliminated their planned work backlog.

They’ve also made significant gains in their SLA performance and so, customer satisfaction. With their system accounting for engineer skills throughout scheduling, they’ve improved their productivity and first-time-fix–all while keeping the same number of field resources. Chris Hill tells of the clear difference that FLS technology has brought to their ways of working. “FLS VISITOUR has proven a great selection for JLA as a business. What we now get is a true reflection of how long jobs are taking; whether they need to be extended or whether they‘re shortened and then the optimiser is capable of adding additional work into the operative‘s shift. This increases productivity so we hit better SLAs.

FLS VISITOUR actually moves jobs that are potentially at risk because our engineers are overrunning. Our Installation technicians work together so when allocating these jobs, we now have the option to create teams and use the ‘related work’ module so they stay aligned throughout our planning”.

It’s not just day-to-day field and dispatch operations that have felt the difference, Chris continues. “What we‘ve now got are repeatable patterns through the systemised way of scheduling work. What that also means is we can train people far easier because it‘s just walking them through how the system works”.

For Sarah Daborn, managing dispatch with FLS removes untold pressure. The introduction of a software-based appointment and route scheduling solution now provides crucial support for the daily challenges dispatchers face; scheduling technicians and engineers whilst taking strict SLA deadlines as well as skills and material stock into account.

“The greatest change for the planning and dispatch teams is the fact that now we don‘t have to manually build the shifts. We‘ve not had that before, and this greatly helps with planning resources and analysing our performance.

FLS VISITOUR is giving them the options and plenty of decisions when they analyse the shifts. It will look at the best SLA for our customers and for the best optimum travel. We have an excellent view of capacity and utilisation which is brilliant for our planning team”.

FINAL THOUGHTS - PROMISES KEPT

FLS develops solutions that present the best outcomes. They deliver significant value, both financially and operationally for field force businesses. The benefits that FLS promise have been met, allowing THE JLA GROUP to keep their own promises.

“I‘d highly recommend FLS and FLS VISITOUR for anyone that‘s looking at a scheduling system. The software in terms of what it achieves and ease of use; but moreso the company to actually work with as well. I would highly recommend them to anyone that‘s looking at going down that route. JLA needed to be fast lean and smart and that‘s what we found with FLS”. Chris Hill, Technology Business Partner - Operations at The JLA Group.