Service growth prompts Digital Transformation
In Europe, Electrolux has hundreds of employed technicians, which historically used a mix of tools for debriefing after a visit. In some countries technicians planned their own routes, and in others their routes were created and assigned by a resource planner. There’s been no standard process or any automation for parts planning. We saw the opportunity to automate manual processes, improve parts planning and optimize the scheduling and routing of our technicians, explains.
With the goals of creating greater consistency to ensure customer satisfaction and improving efficiency, Electrolux Europe formed a team that included representatives from each country to evaluate numerous solutions before selecting IFS Field Service Management and IFS Planning and Scheduling Optimization with IFS Managed Cloud. IFS was selected based on its optimization and mobile workflow performance, proven implementation process, European presence and strong ranking in Gartner Magic Quadrant.
The company began its deployment of IFS across Europe. “It’s been very important for us to not just offer a new tool and ask our employees to use it, but to create this European template for service success alongside them,” describes Electrolux spokesperson. “This began with including stakeholders in the project scope and selection of IFS and it continued with us communicating far in advance to employees what changes were coming and why. We focused very heavily in the pilot on engagement because we know that without engagement there will be no transformation. To achieve engagement, our emphasis has been on creating a user friendly and intuitive solution that guides the processes for the field technicians and the resource planners in a way they find valuable. This meant listening closely to their needs and working alongside them to be sure the new solution meets those needs,” he says.
The first phase implementing IFS in 2021 deployed resource planning processes with Field Service Management (FSM) and Planning and Scheduling Optimization (PSO) capabilities. Parts planners, technicians and back-office staff went live on the system during 2022.
Electrolux reduces travel with IFS
“Following IFS go-live in Belgium, Electrolux has already begun to see the positive impact”, explains Jelle Coppens, Electrolux Business Process Expert, Field Operations, “We now use the FSM tool for all the activities associated with service repairs at consumers’ houses. This includes optimized appointment booking and spare part planning based upon the appliance and the issue. Service Technicians use the FSM app to efficiently report on their repair and the spares that they used, and FSM allows the back office to manage administration.
“In PSO we use the optimizer for Resource Planning, effectively automating the assignment of tasks to the most efficient appointment slot. Planners can now focus now on exception handling, using direct feedback from FSM on the progress of each individual technician to fill any gaps or re-assign work, further maximizing efficiency,” he says.
Whilst it’s still early days, Electrolux spokesperson has seen clear savings. “So far we’ve been able to increase our planned visits per day, and have also reduced the average kilometers travelled per job,” he says. “With automated validation in the mobile app, we’ve also improved data quality and reduced manual administrative time”.
Attracting new staff
Another benefit of modernizing service operations is the perception it creates for prospective talent. Facing strong competition to attract, recruit, and retain employees across functions, Electrolux spokesperson recognizes that an investment in leading-edge technology can be a competitive differentiator for hiring. “We need to consider how we will attract the next generation of field technicians. Demonstrating investment in market-leading digital technology shows them we are committed to helping them be successful”, he says.
Implementing IFS
In terms of advice for others considering implementing IFS, Electrolux spokesperson offers some pointers. “It’s important that you engage key users across the organization early to gain buy-in and secure adoption. Transformation programs demand a lot of change, and its vital that users have early visibility of your goals, and crucially, can feedback during design, simulation, and testing.
“In terms of minimizing risks, consider if a phased go-live approach would be possible. The learnings from that first user cohort will be useful; it also eases the business transformation and gives more time for training and building the transformation momentum,” he observes.
Moment of Service™
Electrolux spokesperson is clear about the vision how the service transformation will impact the company’s Moment of Service. “When a customer books an appointment with us, it should be effortless, with clear notifications leading up to the visit. When our technician arrives, the consumer should expect a first time-fix: the technician will have access to a wealth of technical and diagnostic knowledge and tools, including on-van availability for the most likely spare parts required,” he says.
