Getting to the Parts: Ensuring
the Right Fix, First Time, Every Time
By Stephen Wilshaw
Business Development Director
Infomill Ltd.
The engineer has been scheduled to the
right place to arrive at the right time. The engineer
knows the problem and has the parts to fix it. Well
that's what it says on the job information. On arriving,
the engineer identifies the equipment as being the
correct model and determines that he can fix the problem
in the job schedule; well at least part of the problem
since there is another associated problem to fix.
The engineer rummages around in his van and eventually
pulls out a dog-eared, coffee-stained manual, which
is three revisions out of date and has a missing parts
list. Familiar story? He tries to identify the problem
and the parts needed to fix it. The parts aren't in
the van, so he sends a request with what he believes
is the part number; you know, that easy-to-remember
string of numbers and letters that 'the computer'
has generated, plus the description of the part. When
I say 'the' description, I mean the engineer's description,
because his name for it is quite often different from
the store’s description and different again
from the computer's description. Oops! Wrong part
ordered, wrong part delivered, wrong fitting, multiple
visits! How much has this all cost in time and 'real'
money, whether it be euros, pounds, or dollars?
What the eye can see…
The best guesstimate is that the global parts business
is worth around $550 billion, and in there somewhere
is a lot of wasted time and money. It is also believed
that something like 30% of parts are returned because
of incorrect identification. As, probably, the final
frontier in competitive advantage, the first-fix scenario
is the Holy Grail of the service team. So how do you
get the knights in shining white vans closer to 100%?
Bar coding and RF tagging can go a long way but, in
many cases, are impractical and cost-inhibiting. Now,
the eye is a clever bit of apparatus. It can look
at something and ask its own database, the brain,
if it recognizes what it sees. The answer can be a
little subjective as we all know when we’ve
been out to buy anything that has to fit, match, or
work with or within something else, without having
the correct information to provide the answer. But
armed with the right, 'joined-up' information, the
equipment drawing and parts information with which
the eye and brain can now compare the image, many
of the problems are eliminated. “But we have
all those in the paper manuals,” say the engineers.
We now have to read again what has just been written
above: words like ‘coffee-stained,’ ‘dog-eared,’
and ‘out of date’ were in there I believe.
Exploding the myth….
So what if there were a way to carry, electronically,
equipment drawings, exploded equipment views linked
to parts lists, and any other technical information
using an intuitive user interface that ensures the
right equipment and right parts are identified? What
if this information were integrated into the parts
enquiry and ordering system, into safety bulletins,
and into diagnostics on a mobile device? Would that
solve the problem?
Yes, it would, and Infomill have proven this with
their PartsArena Mobile solution.
With handheld devices and wireless communication
protocols that enable remote updating of data, technical
content like drawings and parts lists, PartsArena
Mobile solves the problem of the identification, ordering,
fitting, and maintenance of the right part, first
time, every time. [See Figure 1.] Costs are reduced,
the engineer's effectiveness is increased, and the
customer’s problem is solved—and with
greater speed.
So how does everyone feel now? Satisfied, delighted,
better off, more competitive, more efficient….
It’s time to examine the ‘pain chain’
and calculate the significant ROI with this missing
link in Service Management.
