Responsive Field Service: The Best of Both Worlds

Service organizations typically provide field service through either centrally managed technicians dispatched from a principal location or regionally-managed technicians based locally. Each approach offers benefits but also fundamental disadvantages that can prevent a swift resolution to critical service issues.

High-throughput distribution operations depend on automated material handling systems to route orders swiftly and accurately from storage to shipping. During peaks, many of these systems operate 20 hours per day, seven days a week to meet increased demand. However, in the event of an unplanned outage, the mission-critical nature of automated systems intensely magnifies the cost of downtime.

Beyond the cost of equipment repair and idle workers, the loss of throughput levies the highest expense. Extended downtime can result in thousands of delayed orders each hour, backing up processes within the distribution center (DC).

Quickly responding to an automated system breakdown or performance issue and minimizing downtime requires technicians that possess a specialized skillset and high degree of system familiarity. However, many distributors and manufacturers lack sufficient resources to develop and retain suitable engineering and maintenance teams in-house. Therefore, these operations commonly outsource time-sensitive service and support to trained field service providers.