Field Service News | Field Service News Digital Symposium

Digital Symposium Exclusive - Jamie F. Morais, GM, Aftersales Dealer Operations, Asia & Oceania Nissan

Oct 30, 2020 • Features • automotive • Video • APAC • Field Service News Digital Symposium

As part of our partnership with Field Service Asia and just ahead of their conference running on the 4th and 5th November Kris Oldland, Editor-in-Chief Field Service News spoke with one of the key speakers Jamie F. Morais, General Manager Aftersales...

The Importance of Ensuring Our Engineers Feel Safe as We build the Recovery

Sep 20, 2020 • Features • Aly Pinder • IDC • Managing the Mobile Workforce • Field Service News Digital Symposium

In this first excerpt from an in-depth interview on the Field Service News Digital Symposium IDC's Aly Pinder Jr, talks to Kris Oldland about the importance of ensuring our engineers feel protected and valued as we face ongoing concerns over a...

2020 has been the most testing of years. We have had to rethink our approach to almost everything as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and the lockdowns that have been ensuing for over six months now. While some parts of the world have reopened such as Germany, others such as Sweden never really closing down, others such as the UK and Australia remain on a precipice, waiting with various regional lockdowns and the threat of the return of nationwide lockdowns hanging in the air like a dark, ominous cloud.

We never expected to it to take quite so long to 'flatten the curve', back in April we were already planning on what the recovery might look like yet, as we approach the final quarter of 2020 we are still holding meaningful discussions about how we operate within such uncertain parameters.

Back in April this year, IDC's Aly Pinder Jr joined Kris Oldland, Editor-in-Chief, Field Service News, for a discussion that rings as pertinent today as then, perhaps even more so. The discussion centred around the understanding the human equation to our engineers. As Pinder commented, "these are not just resources we are sending out, these are people."

At the time of the interview, it was a conversation against a backdrop of frantic scrambling as companies all across our industry adapted to the unprecedented lockdowns, and a radical rethinking of how field service operations could be delivered was created on the fly. With much of that thinking now complete, with more robust processes in place, innovative technologies that allow for remote service delivery in embraced, we are for sure much better placed to cope with further lockdowns as international governments react to the potential threat of a 'second wave.'

"I think having a daily check in the same way that we do in our white collar jobs, is important..."

- Aly Pinder Jr, IDC

Yet Pinder's thoughts from back in April still resonate powerfully. While those of us in office-based roles are now well transitioned into the routine of home working. Our engineers in many cases will still need to be out in the world, working, keeping essential services moving. How do we ensure that they feel protected and valued at such a time?

"I think the first thing is communication," Pinder explained.

"We don't all have the most appreciation for real time collaboration as we do in a more white collar scenario. For our technicians, oftentimes the environment they're working in is they have an application or a laptop that they open up and they walk through a checklist of items to close out a work order. I think we're getting to the point where we understand the technology that's out there to provide us with real time collaborative tools," he continues.

"The opportunity is to go in whatever way in which your technicians are willing to interact with you, whether it be the phone or a newsletter that provides them with a daily update or an email that you check-in and understand, this is what we hope for us to be able to deliver today and asl is there anything that's going to keep you from attaining those goals? And do that on somewhat of a daily perspective.

"I think having a daily check in the same way that we do in our white collar jobs, is important. obviously, for technician base is ten thousand then it is going to be a little more difficult. But, I think putting forth the expectation and figuring out what is stopping you from getting there, I think is a good first step. If you don't have a full, video collaborative real time tools that we're starting to see more and more service organizations have, it's still just a phone call or still just an email, it's still just a way to communicate, to get a better understanding.

"This also allows companies to work with their engineers to put them on a schedule that actually opens up more productivity for the organization"

- Aly Pinder Jr, IDC

This is good practical advice that many field service organizations will adhere to. However, Pinder is also a strong advocate of ensuring that the engineer understands that they are valued in their role as more than just a pair of hands as well. This means understanding how the current situation is impacting them beyond just their ability to do the job at hand.

As Pinder added "… and then opening up a channel that says every other day, 'I want you guys to let me know how are your home lives being impacted? Is there something where your work schedule may not be what it's always been can we readjust from a scheduling perspective what hours you're able to work based off of your own concerns.' Here in the US, it could be that they're struggling for daycare or, other support systems for their family. Maybe their working hours should be XYZ as opposed to what the regular nine to five?

"This also allows companies to work with their engineers to put them on a schedule that actually opens up more productivity for the organization because they can move things around from a scheduling perspective that also allows us to meet our customer's requirements to not have so many people on site at any given time."

Are We Ready for 3D Printing in Field Service?

Aug 27, 2020 • Features • 3D printing • Artificial intelligence • Video • Aquant • Parts Pricing and Logistics • north america • Field Service News Digital Symposium • 3D Systems Corporation

Having given an excellent presentation in the Field Service News Digital Symposium on the application of Artificial Intelligence in service triage, Mark Hessinger, Vice President, Global Customer Service, 3D Systems Corporation spoke with Kris...

The session was designed to shine a light on the many benefits that 3D Systems Corporation realised from implementing the Aquant AI tool. However, it was also a golden opportunity to explore the potential of 3D printing in the service supply chain - which the two discussed briefly towards the latter part of the conversation.

During his presentation, Hessinger outlined that companies are beginning to move away from seeing 3D printing as a tool for prototyping and moving towards using the technology more in production as well.

Given the recent pandemic where supply chains were put under massive pressure as borders came crashing down, could it be that we'll see a further shift towards 3D printing and use of spare parts within the manufacturing sector and beyond?

"The thing about 3D printing is that it is not just making the same things differently. It enables you to do things a lot differently..."

"Yes, with what has happened throughout 2020, and supply chains being interrupted, we do see businesses especially manufacturing sites rethinking their supply chain, how they can do things and using 3D printing is going to really be something that these companies are looking at.

"We are starting to see that feedback already. There was one of the large UK companies just came out with 30% of their new products have to be produced through additive manufacturing.

"Also, the thing about 3D printing is that it is not just making the same things differently. It enables you to do things a lot differently. That bracket I showed [during the presentation] combined 13 parts. Fuel nozzles can be created much more efficiently because you can create geometries that you could never do in traditional manufacturing. I think we're going to have the impact from both sides. Supply chains need to rethink how they build things, and engineering needs to continue to get creative on how they make things to have better quality."

A Tool for Zero-Touch?

Aug 20, 2020 • Features • Artificial intelligence • Remote Assistance • Video • Zero-touch • Digital Transformation • Aquant • north america • Field Service News Digital Symposium

In a recent presentation for the Field Service News Digital Symposium, Mark Hessinger, Vice President, Global Customer Services, 3D Systems, Corporation, outlined the benefits his organisation had witnessed having implemented an Artificial...

One of the areas that Hessinger referenced during the presentation was the reduction in repeat visits and the increase in first-time fix rates. This, of course, will have a significant impact on the bottom line of the service P&L with the truck roll almost always being the most expensive line on the spreadsheet. As the adage goes, if you have to send an engineer on-site once then you are breaking even, even if you have to send an engineer twice, you're losing money. So this improvement, in and of itself, was a massive plus in the presentation.

However, given the backdrop of 2020 where the world has radically changed as a result of the reaction to Covid-19, the question was raised during the Q&A that followed Hessinger's presentation whether Aquant's AI-powered triage tool could be suitable to help facilitate zero-touch or remote assistance services as well?

Could the Aquant solution help provide a mechanism for service delivery for those customers who require a guided self-help approach to issue resolution?

"I'd say the tool is a building block to enable us to get there," Hessinger answered when the idea was put to him.

"We need it integrated with the other systems and information because it connects them to the knowledge management, to the information. We're currently doing a proof of concept to pull in some AR (augmented reality) technology as well. We believe integrating the AR technology can help guide someone first using the AI tool to go in the right direction and then guide them remotely on how to execute a repair. If you put both of these pieces together, I think the quantity of remote resolutions will go up dramatically," Hessinger added.

"Typically, your field service engineer builds a good relationship with the customer and becomes part of the face of the company right. We still want to have those touch-points, but we need to make sure we're doing them differently..."

This leads us to an interesting question - in a post-pandemic world just how much has the perception of value shifted in terms of remote service vs on-site service delivery?

Often it has felt that there's been a more perceived value to a site visit than remote services. As we mentioned earlier, it is an expensive line on the P&L compared to a remote service. This was one of the reasons that many felt that remote assistance technologies such as Augmented Reality have never quite taken off in the way that we might have imagined. However, that has changed massively in the last five months in the eyes of many customers.

Yet, for the savvy service organisation, the on-site service call is far more than a mere maintenance operation. It is an opportunity to engage with the customer, to showcase the expertise within the organisation, and ultimately to secure ongoing business and even open up new revenue streams.

So the question is, how do field service organisations use remote service within their service portfolio as an active engagement channel as many have mastered with the service call?

As Hessinger explains "Typically, your field service engineer builds a good relationship with the customer and becomes part of the face of the company right. We still want to have those touch-points, but we need to make sure we're doing them differently. If I can see you on video, I've made a better connection than if I sent you a text message.

"We need to leverage how do we continue to build those relationships. If we were with a customer three times a year, and now we can do things better, only one time a year, we need to make sure we still have a high touch with the customer to build that kind of rapport and relationship."

Key Questions: Can Augmented Reality Combat the Ageing Workforce Crisis?

Aug 17, 2020 • Features • Augmented Reality • Remote Assistance • OverIT • Managing the Mobile Workforce • Space1 • Field Service News Digital Symposium

In the final excerpt from this exclusive Field Service News Digital Symposium Presentation we look at how SPACE1's clever use of Artificial Intellignece could rapidly spped up the time it takes to get field service technicians out of the classroom...

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One of the things that really stood out of the recent Field Service News Digital Symposium Presentation from Space1 was towards the end of the presentation when Francesco Benvenuto, who was displaying the solution outlined a function that really showcased the power of Artificial Intelligence

During the live presentation Benvenuto outlined how the embedded Artificial Intelligence, was able to pick out and build a transcription of a video.

However, what was a massive additional benefit demonstrated was SPACE1’s ability to also translate that transcription into a different language.

"With Space1, we provide the automatic digitilisation of content that has been captured and enhanced by the artificial intelligence algorithm..."

-Francescon Benvenuto, OverIT

This allows for training documentation to be captured in real time and in-situ and then almost instantly that training material can be available in different regions globally. For any global enterprise working across different international markets, this has the potential to be a huge plus.

“With Space1, we provide the automatic digitilisation of content that has been captured and enhanced by the artificial intelligence algorithm. As we have many clients who are working globally, the idea is to allow them to acquire data from the technician in a specific language to translate it automatically and to create a new content out of the dialogues, video recordings or any data that we capture. Using AI we can translate automatically and from there create a new digital work instructions, started from the content translated.”

This is perhaps one of the key areas of benefit for tools such as SPACE1 – it allows field service organisations to get their new technicians out of the training room and into the field where they can bring value to the business a lot quicker.

With almost every company in our sector, all around the globe facing their own challenges around an aging workforce, plus the additional challenges of recovering a lot of lost capacity as a result of the lockdowns it is imperative that we reduce the time it takes to get engineers out into the fild – is SPACE1 allowing companies to achieve this?

“We are seeing for many customers that leveraging augmented reality/mixed reality/virtual reality but also the knowledge management they can use just such data to train people in a much faster way so they no longer need to travel to visit other countries to meet new employees to train them in person today, thanks to the collaboration tools. We can do everything remotely. And most of all, we can leverage the technology to share data that were part of previous session. The time spent to train new resources really can be reduced drastically.

A New Approach to an Age Old Problem?

Aug 13, 2020 • Features • Ageing Workforce Crisis • Artificial intelligence • Video • Digital Transformation • Aquant • north america • Field Service News Digital Symposium

During a recent Field Service News Digital Symposium presentation on the use of Aquant's Artificial Intelligence tool within their service triage process, Mark Hessinger, Vice President of Global Customer Service, 3D Systems Corporation, touched on...

That issue is how do we stop the tribal knowledge contained in our ageing field service workforce walking out the door. It is a challenge we are seeing emerge across all regions and all industries.

It is a well-documented issue. Many field service companies are currently staring down the barrel of an ageing workforce crisis while struggling to engage with a future generation of workers. Some industries may have a slight advantage, companies at the cutting edge of technology such as 3D Systems for example, who will likely attract bright young minds eager to embrace a technology set to be a fundamental part of the future. Yet, even these companies generally still face higher rates of attrition than acquisition when it comes to talent.

This is perhaps why this presentation by Hessinger resonated so strongly with its audience. As Hessinger went through the multiple benefits of implementing Aquant's AI-powered triage tool, this was one aspect that really struck a chord.

3D Systems had, via Aquant's AI, found the keys to unlock much of the core knowledge locked away in the vast pools of data that all service organisations will hold. They found a way to keep the decades of tribal knowledge within their walls.

"Like other companies, we do have [staff] turnover," Hessinger explains.

"We were able to use all that information we had, to continue to support the product so that that was a nice real-life outcome of using the the Aquant tool..."

"And on certain product lines, we don't have a lot of printers installed, so we don't have a lot of people trained. For example, on one Multijet printer, our subject matter expert chose to retire a couple of years earlier than we expected. So everybody started to get a little nervous as we only had one other person who did not have the same depth of experience on that product."

"Yet, that person told me, 'you'll be fine, it's all captured in the Aquant tool. I validated that it works,'" Hessinger commented as he outlined a perfect example of a challenge many service leaders may recognise. As Hessinger explained, it was a situation that soon became even more challenging.

"Shortly after that, our second person that knew that technology also left," he continued, "so there I am without our two tech support people for this product line. However, we were still able to continue to run and support customers and actually, we haven't had any escalations on that product in the last nine months since those guys left.

"That is because we were able to use all that information we had, to continue to support the product which is a nice real-life outcome of using the the Aquant tool," he adds.

Essentially, what Hessinger and the team at 3D Systems implemented was an additional AI 'trainer'. They found a technological solution to a human problem. Ultimately, the AI allowed 3D Systems to make that transition from losing two central members of staff on a specific product line. They managed to stop that tribal knowledge leaving the organisation.

This also appeared to be something that could be almost universally applied to any field service scenario - indeed for any organisation that held sizeable layers of data that is currently a massively underutilised information resource. What came across in Hessinger's presentation was that the was already buried within their systems - Aquant surfaced it, neatly and effectively.

As Hessinger explained "Typically we require our field service or tech support personnel to document in the case what happened and that's written down. When you go back and look at it at those notes, [it is usually] because there was a similar case at some point and you start searching for cases to find the information, those are the times you go digging for it.

"Yet, now you're not digging for it. It's accessible and there, everything you've captured," Hessinger explains.

Key Questions: Do We Need Extra Hardware for Augmented Reality in Field Service?

Aug 10, 2020 • Features • Augmented Reality • Remote Assistance • Digital Transformation • Smart Glasses • OverIT • Space1 • Field Service News Digital Symposium • realware

One of the things that has often been suggested as a potential barrier to the adoption of augmented reality in field service has been the reliance on additional hardware. Indeed, during a recent presentation on the Field Service News Digital Symposium demonstrating OverIT's Space1 Augmented Reality solution for field service workers, a slick video showed the potential use of the tool, with transportation workers using a real ware head-mounted computer...

Would You Like to Know More? www.fieldservicenews.com subscribers can access the full presentation by clicking the button below. If you are yet to subscribe the button below will take you to our subscription page, where you can see the range of subscription options available.

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While the technology is a fantastic device, it is, as are all such devices an additional expense. Of course, the ability of an engineer to work hands-free is hugely valuable. But at a time when we are looking at an ongoing and unprecedented global economic downturn, many field service organizations may be looking at such additional costs as a barrier to adoption. This may even be the case even though such solutions could become essential in a world where remote assistance is becoming increasingly important.

So is that a requirement for the Space1 solution to be utilized in the field? Does it require a head-mounted computer or smart glasses? Does the solution have to run on a real ware device, or is it device agnostic?

"We typically support any hardware that it's available on the market, and most of all, we support our customers in finding the device that will work best for them..."

- Francesco Benvenuto, OverIT

"In space one, we are agnostic in terms of hardware," explained Francesco Benvunto of OverIT during the Q&A section of the presentation.

"We typically support any hardware that it's available on the market, and most of all, we support our customers in finding the device that will work best for them. This ranges from tablets and mobile phones to devices like the real wear head-mounted device and even more immersive tools such as Hololens. We are totally agnostic.

Of course, another big question around hands-free devices is just how easily they can respond to voice commands. In the demonstration provided by Space1, for example, the worker was in a busy rail depot where one would imagine there could be a significant amount of background noise.

In such environments, noise cancellation and the ability for the device to read and respond to aural commands effectively is crucial to whether it is fit-for-purpose. One question field service organizations must consider when exploring such solutions is the effectiveness of the solutions ability to operate in such environments - and is that a hardware or software consideration?

"It's both on the hardware and the on the software," explained Benvenuto.

"We have optimized our solution to work in the best possible way with various hardware. We have so many customers all over the world that are; you know that have those requirements in that they want to allow a technician to work in places where there's a lot of noise. So noise cancellation that is a vital part of the solution.

"Everyone can calibrate the solution for working in such environments. We are also readily available to allow customers to try the solution and to demonstrate the capabilities."

The Key Driver for 3D Systems Adoption of AI

Aug 06, 2020 • Features • Artificial intelligence • Video • Digital Transformation • Aquant • north america • Field Service News Digital Symposium • 3D Systems Corporation

In a recent presentation in the Field Service News Digital Symposium, Mark Hessinger, Vice President, Global Customer Services, 3D Systems Corporation outlined how his organisation had harnessed Artificial Intelligence within their service triage...

It was an impressive presentation that outlined several different benefits that 3D Systems Corporation realised in just a matter of months since the implementation.

Perhaps the one critical takeaway from Hessinger’s presentation was just how many aspects of their service delivery had been touched and optimised by the Aquant AI solution.

During the presentation, Hessinger referred to benefits that included vital areas that are high on the agenda for improvement, by many if not all field service organisations. Hessinger explained how they had seen direct performance improvements in the optimisation of the service logistics chain, a significant reduction in truck rolls and an increase in perhaps the most crucial metric within service delivery – first time-fix rates.

"All those things come together, the better information you have, the better accuracy you have on resolving things..."

However, during the Q&A segment of the presentation, Hessinger was quizzed by Kris Oldland, Editor-in-Chief, Field Service News about what was the critical factor that drove 3D Systems Corporation to seek out an AI solution and engage with Aquant?

“We met with Aquant at a field service conference, and found somebody who was trying to solve the problem that we were trying to address” Hessinger had commented during the presentation – so what exactly was that problem?

Mostly, it was the result of the evolution of the 3D printing sector itself as the industry evolves from supporting prototype development to full production.

As Hessinger explains, “The key driver was after I joined 3D Systems, we had to make that shift from supporting a prototype house to a production environment. If the printers are not working in a prototyping environment, they [the client] may call today, with an expectation of us being with them in a few days. In production environment you have to be so much faster because a 3D printer not producing final parts directly impacts revenue."

“I was looking for a tool that could help us with just improving the speed and the rate of resolution. All those things come together, the better information you have, the better accuracy you have on resolving things. It just allows you to get to solve the problem faster,” Hessinger adds.

“Resolving problems quicker and more accurately was one of them was the key driver initially.”

Key Questions: Can Augmented Reality Operate on Low Bandwidth?

Aug 03, 2020 • Features • Augmented Reality • Remote Assistance • Digital Transformation • OverIT • Space1 • Field Service News Digital Symposium • low bandwidth

One of the things that is often questioned about the suitability of augmented reality as part of the field service delivery tool kit is whether it is able to operate on lower bandwidths. This is because by default field service doesn't only occur in...

Would You Like to Know More? www.fieldservicenews.com subscribers can access the full presentation by clicking the button below. If you are yet to subscribe the button below will take you to our subscription page, where you can see the range of subscription options available.

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Low bandwidth is a major issue particularly for organisations in sectors such as oil and gas, transportation or utilities who often work in remote locations. Ironically, it is also the harder to get to locations, where bandwidth could be restricted that augmented reality is needed the most.

Therefore, when OverIT's Francesco Benvenuto presented the latest updates to their augmented reality tool SPACE1 the importance of an inclusion of a low-bandwidth mode was a crucial element that caught the eye of host Kris Oldland, Editor-in-Chief, Field Service News.

"Basically, there are so many solutions in the market and this is where we can differentiate ourselves from others," commented Benvenuto.

"Since we [OverIT] are coming from the field service management industry, we know how important it is for technicians to be able to operate in a location where there's a bad connection. For this reason, we have implemented the low bandwidth mode where we are able to bring the resolution to 640 by 480 pixels so we can guarantee a good quality of the streaming. We also reducing the frames per second to two values that are ranging between 0.5 and three. There are lots of different ways to provide the technicians good audio/media streaming but for sure low bandwidth is among the ones that is really, really important."

"We are working in different industries, energy, utility, oil and gas, where every industry has its own slightly different use cases, we wanted to provide a solution, where we can customize the way that we leverage artificial intelligence..."

While the low-bandwidth mode is a critical component for any AR solution that is targeting the field service sector another of the impressive features of Space1 that was on show during the demonstration was the embedded Artificial Intelligence in the tool.

In a similar way to how a dynamic or optimised scheduling engine learns and improves over time so too does Space1's ability to improve the way it surfaces information in an iterative manner essentially allows it to become an increasingly more powerful tool over time. Essentially, the more it is used the more powerful it becomes.

"In Space1 we provide the ability to train the machine learning techniques," Benvenuto explains.

"This way we can provide even more precise data to the technicians that are that are working out in the field. Since we are working in different industries, energy, utility, oil and gas, where every industry has its own slightly different use cases, we wanted to provide a solution, where we can customize the way that we leverage artificial intelligence.

"From the back-end side of SPACE1, we can set up different values in order to be more precise when it comes to extracting data."

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The Importance of Ensuring Our Engineers Feel Safe as We build the Recovery

"I think having a daily check in the same way that we do in our white collar jobs, is important..."

- Aly Pinder Jr, IDC

"This also allows companies to work with their engineers to put them on a schedule that actually opens up more productivity for the organization"

- Aly Pinder Jr, IDC

Further Reading:

Are We Ready for 3D Printing in Field Service?

Further Reading:

A Tool for Zero-Touch?

Further Reading:

Key Questions: Can Augmented Reality Combat the Ageing Workforce Crisis?

Would You Like to Know More? www.fieldservicenews.com subscribers can access the full presentation by clicking the button below. If you are yet to subscribe the button below will take you to our subscription page, where you can see the range of subscription options available.

Further Reading:

A New Approach to an Age Old Problem?

Further Reading:

Key Questions: Do We Need Extra Hardware for Augmented Reality in Field Service?

Would You Like to Know More? www.fieldservicenews.com subscribers can access the full presentation by clicking the button below. If you are yet to subscribe the button below will take you to our subscription page, where you can see the range of subscription options available.

Further Reading:

The Key Driver for 3D Systems Adoption of AI

Further Reading:

Key Questions: Can Augmented Reality Operate on Low Bandwidth?

Would You Like to Know More? www.fieldservicenews.com subscribers can access the full presentation by clicking the button below. If you are yet to subscribe the button below will take you to our subscription page, where you can see the range of subscription options available.

Further Reading:

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