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 Oldland, Editor-in-Chief, Field Service News at length about the Aquant solution that they had implemented.

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."

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Further Reading:

• Read more about Digital Transformation @ www.fieldservicenews.com/blog/tag/digital-transformation
• Read more about Artificial Intelligence @ www.fieldservicenews.com/hs-search-results?term=Artificial+intelligence
• Read more exclusive FSN news and features from the Aquant team @ www.fieldservicenews.com/hs-search-results?term=Aquant
• Connect with Mark Hessinger on LinkedIN @ https://www.linkedin.com/in/markhessinger/
• Find out more about Aquant's AI-powered service triage @ www.aquant.io/
• Follow Aquant on Twitter @ twitter.com/Aquant_io

 

The world of spare parts has been woefully neglected for too long within the field service conversation. Fortunately, that is beginning to change dramatically as companies start to face up to the importance of having excellent visibility into service-related stocks and assets. But this is just the first step?

The world of field service has always been a complicated industry to optimize. There are so many moving parts, both literally and figuratively. Ours is a sector which sits against a backdrop of constant rapid change and innovation. Often the critical question is how do we ensure that the elements we introduce to improve our service operations today are also solutions that can be future-proofed to ensure that they will continue to allow us to thrive tomorrow?

Yet in 2020 that question is ever more critical than ever.

We are now focused on building a new-normal after months of severe restrictions due to COVID lockdowns. As we do so, a real spotlight has been placed above the inadequacies that many field service organizations have when it comes to their spare parts and inventory management.

While the world is still reeling from the impact of COVID, and while uncertainties of a second wave loom large over our head, we could be forgiven for hunkering down and getting by as best we can. The reality though is that now is the time to take stock. Now is the time to assess the holes in our service operations that lead to inefficiencies. And for many field service organizations that means that now is the time to establish the right processes and implement the tools that allow us to banish the headache of poor-parts management forever.

 

"The key to planning for a robust future impervious to a future scenario that may supply chains being effected, as we saw earlier this year, is to leverage the tools that are already available that critically can provide visibility into an organization's spare parts inventory..."

 

One approach that has been at the heart of digital transformation for many organizations in the manufacturing sector is to ensure their field service management solutions are deeply embedded within an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) tool. One such solution is Eagle Field Service, which is part of Exel Computing's broader ERP solution.

As Carl Cridland, Senior Marketing Executive, Exel, Computing Systems explains. "Eagle Field Service is unique, in that it is an element of a larger suite of ERP software, the functionality of this larger suite of ERP can be included in your Eagle Field Service installation as a single, comprehensive solution – extending the functionality of your Field Service Management (FSM) solution to meet the wider needs of your business."

The more extensive suite of ERP software that Exel provide, EFACS E/8 – was developed to meet the needs of manufacturers across a wide range of industries, including Aerospace & Automotive. These are industries that require accurate and comprehensive stock management functionality, down to the level of complete traceability. With the Aerospace industry being particularly hard hit, such granular levels of visibility have been crucial as major organizations have had to get a firm grip on what is and what isn't going to be possible in terms of plotting their path to recovery.

In the automotive industry, another that was cruelly impacted by the pandemic, such visibility into spare parts inventory has possibly been even more crucial. For many of the major automotive manufacturers, at the peak of the lockdown, the only aspects of their business that remained fully operational were the lucrative and always in demand spare parts and maintenance operations.

 

"The final part of the equation is to take visibility from the back office and into the hands of the engineer..."

 

"These industries also work on 'LEAN' and 'Just in Time' principals," Cridland explains. "They must keep stock levels low in order to maintain cashflow and save cost on storage but must also manage supply chains accurately to ensure customer expectations are met, or even exceeded. It is for these reasons Exel can provide the functionality to easily meet the needs of Field Service providers whether they be in Aerospace, Automotive or any other industry with similar requirements."

The key to planning for a robust future impervious to a future scenario that may supply chains being effected, as we saw earlier this year, is to leverage the tools that are already available that critically can provide visibility into an organization's spare parts inventory.

As Michael Blumberg, Chief Marketing Officer, Mize explains, "Durable Equipment Manufacturers can future proof against poor parts management by ensuring that parts are readily available, easy to find, and easy to order or purchase when they are needed."

"Applications such as inventory tracking, parts locators, customer portals, and electronic parts catalogs facilitate this outcome," Blumberg adds. "By implementing these solutions, manufacturers can minimize equipment downtime, ensure a high first-time fix rate, and increase aftermarket service revenue."

Indeed, once implemented, a vast amount of the pain of inventory management can be removed via automation.

As Cridland explains "Functionality, such as automatic reorder limits – whereby parameters are set that when items reach their minimum threshold an order is placed. That order can be placed without human intervention if necessary, via a workflow which has the potential to weigh the benefits of purchasing from supplier A, B or C dependant on, say - cost, supplier reliability and due date. Should senior management want visibility on orders placed over, say £1000, the workflow would email or text the required staff and await sign-off before purchase."

The final part of the equation is to take visibility from the back office and into the hands of the engineer. Indeed, placing the tools into the hands of the engineer so that they can check availability and even order parts while on-site with the customer is critical.

 

"Such levels of engineer autonomy were what defined best-in-class service operations throughout the height of the lockdowns, and this is likely to continue as we look forward to the new normal..."

 

Of course, the primary aim of any field service call is always the first-time-fix. However, when this is not possible, the ability for the engineer to take proactive action that allows the customer to see that everything possible is being done to get them back operational as soon as possible is an essential aspect of ensuring strong on-going customer relationships.

The Eagle Field Service mobile solution, for example, provides engineers with the capability to manage their stock inventories along with placing purchase order requests and the ability to move stock to another engineer. Stock deliveries can be routed to the engineer's address, a dropbox, the customers' site or an ad-hoc address. Engineers can also have the option of purchasing locally.

This flexibility can empower an engineer to make the best decision for the customer while out in the field. It should also be noted that such levels of engineer autonomy were what defined best-in-class service operations throughout the height of the lockdowns, and this is likely to continue as we look forward to the new normal.

"The primary objective of Eagle Field Service is to get the right engineer to the right place, at the right time with the right kit," Cridland adds. "Spare parts management is absolutely integral to the success of any field service operation."

BT Final Mile Client Account Director, Mark West, reflects on the importance of zero-touch final mile logistics solutions in a post pandemic world...

The importance of being able to get the right parts to the engineer at the right time has

always been a significant challenge for field service organisations. However, as we move from a period of lockdown into a period of continued uncertainty around social distancing, there are additional challenges to last-mile parts delivery that we may never have considered only a few months ago.

Many traditional PUDO (pick up drop off) points that were regularly utilised by field service engineers in local stores around the country are, for the time being at least, no longer viable. For those that remain, the requirements of social distancing mean significant additional delays in accessing the parts stored behind a counter.

 

New Challenges for Final Mile Service Logistics

Even many of the traditional locations for lockerbox  solutions, especially those at supermarkets, for instance, are currently inaccessible as the areas in which they are placed become part of the long snaking queues as space becomes a premium in this current socially distanced world.

 

"The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic has hit the field service sector worse than anything we have ever had to face before..."

 

Overcoming this challenge has been a critical task for many UK field service organisations, and we have been hugely proud here at BT to play our part in helping keep the service supply chain flowing. Especially in this most critical of periods as we all pull together to try to move towards economic recovery.

Let’s make no bones about this. The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic has hit the field service sector worse than anything we have ever had to face before. A lot of engineers were furloughed.  Drops in volume of fifty per cent became a common scenario. There were a lot of experiences where companies with European warehouses were moving a lot of freight in ahead of the UK lockdown, but then they couldn’t get access to the stock. This resulted in a significant lack of stock within the UK which of course further impacted engineers being able to do their jobs.

The advantage that we were able to bring to our customers who were utilising our locker-based solutions was that our premises are unattended, our technology allows us to produce a safe environment which doesn’t require human intervention.

Additionally, as we have utilised our existing infrastructure and sites for the lockers, our locations are fully secure, with excellent road connections and provide twenty-four seven access. So we have had quite a few companies who have come to us that we had been speaking with across the last four to six months, who suddenly found their need was far more urgent.

 

Proud to Play Our Part During the Pandemic

Fortunately, we were able to help, which has allowed these companies to keep their parts supply chain moving even during these most testing of times.

When we look at the position that many suppliers were in, they didn’t want, or even couldn’t have people coming into their branches, so they were closing these down. However, they could still deliver themselves, with their drivers into a locker solution allowing them to provide the goods needed within a zero-touch environment.

 

"We are proud that we were able to play our role in supporting critical organisations that were fundamental to nationwide effort to overcome the challenges of Covid-19..."

 

This allows for minimal impact from the actual handling involved, and then the engineer can

collect the parts at their convenience.

Looking back at the peak of the lockdown crisis, we are proud that we were able to play our role in supporting critical organisations that were fundamental to nationwide effort to overcome the challenges of Covid-19. Throughout the lockdown, we are running at 100% operational. We’ve got clients in the health care industry who service lifesaving equipment that needed to be repaired.

We also have clients in telecommunications and infrastructure that were vital cogs in the process of fighting the pandemic. Even some companies that you might not at first glance think are critical such as printing companies or laundry companies.

Still, these companies all have contracts within the NHS directly and have been essential to keeping everything moving.

Now, as we move into the recovery period, many of these companies who will be essential to keeping the helping us kick-start the economic recovery. There will be significant amounts of the lost capacity to be recovered for all service companies.

In addition to this, history shows us that in times of economic downturn, there is always increased pressure on service and maintenance agreements as the focus moves away from substantial investment in new assets onto maintaining existing assets.

Perhaps the most significant pressure to be felt as we move into this next phase of recovery will on the service supply chain. We need to readjust to a global supply chain that had mostly been turned off overnight; it will take time to get everything fully back up to speed.

However, as our customers have found even at the height of the crisis, the last-mile element of the service supply chain logistics is one part of the equation that fortunately can be relatively easily overcome and with over 1,800 intelligent locker sites available across the UK, we are there to help the field service sector as we move into the recovery.

 

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Further Reading:

• Read more about service logistics @ www.fieldservicenews.com/blog/tag/parts-pricing-and-logistics

• Read more about the impact of Covid-19 on the Field Service Sector @ www.fieldservicenews.com/en-gb/covid-19-0

• Read more exclusive FSN articles from the BT Final Mile team @  www.fieldservicenews.com/hs-search-results?term=BT+Final+Mile

• Find out about how BT Final Mile solutions can help your service operation @ www.finalmile.bt.com

• Follow BT Final Mile on twitter @  twitter.com/BTBusiness

• Connect with Mark West on LinkedIN @ www.linkedin.com/in/mark-west

  
  

Copperberg’s editor Adrian Cirlig and content writer Radiana Pit discuss the importance of warehousing and your logistical networking and how ecommerce is changing what was once a straight-forward channel. 

Getting the right parts on time has always been critical for field service technicians, and for that purpose, warehouse and logistics design is essential. But many industry players are struggling to meet customer demands in the era of digital commerce. New delivery standards may require significant investments in staffing, facilities, and technology—and such an endeavor is not always an option for most businesses.

The Importance of Service Logistics

The rapid development of e-commerce has taken many organizations by surprise. Now, logistics companies are largely unprepared to adapt their operations to meet expectations in terms of quality, capacity, and speed.  

However, there is a solution to meeting delivery expectations at the lowest cost possible: optimal network and warehouse design. 

Logistics network and warehouse design is mainly concerned with delivering goods to customers and satisfying their needs with limited resources. This is why coming up with an optimal design holds great strategic value. But devising an optimal model is no easy feat, especially since most models stop short at minimizing costs. However, logistics professionals aim at optimizing their networks in a way that maximizes not only profit but also speed and sustainability. In order to achieve such objectives, comprehensive designs must take into account the number, location, role, and size of your facilities, which plant/vendor should produce which product, the raw materials and finished products that flow between facilities, and more. 

 

Location—the key issue in facilitating optimal design 

Determining the right number and size of your warehouses and/or plants is challenging enough, but getting the location wrong can be extremely detrimental. 

However, the secret to getting the location right is to think of it as the only way to close the gap between your company and your customers. The closer the location is to your clients, the faster your goods will be delivered—and that's what today's impatient society expects from you. 

So, start your design process by considering your location objectives and then identify the key factors that can make or break your network. 

 

So, what makes a warehouse great? 

 According to Rudolf Leuschner, Associate Professor at Rutgers Business School, what makes a warehouse great is: 

• Speed or the ability to ship out as much product as possible by ensuring the shortest distance between the product and the shipping dock; 
• Redundancy, which consists of multiple checks built into your distribution system to ensure that the right products are delivered to your customers; 
• Productivity or the ability to push out as much product as possible out of your distribution network. 

With these goals in mind, you can create a seamless warehouse flow process that consists of the following essential steps: 

Unloading → Storing → Picking → Packing → Staging → Loading  

Each step should be accurately timed with the help of a reliable warehouse management system. 

But beyond warehouse management software, you should also think FAST. If you're not already familiar with it, the FAST concept is a layout design solution that will help you to ensure that your locations are close enough to each other to enable seamless workflows. However, placing your activity-locations too closely can clutter your processes and result in highly inefficient outcomes. 

So, when it comes to FAST, you should focus on: 

• Flow to ensure a logical sequence of operations within your warehouse based on the location of each of your activities; 
• Accessibility to be able to receive and issue products in pallets, batches, or truckloads; 
• Space to make optimum use of the cubic capacity within your warehouse; 
• Throughput to reduce inventory risks such as bulk, security, compatibility, and more. 

These best practices for warehouse design will definitely help you come up with a proper layout that enables the rapid and seamless handling of products. But when it comes to network design, what are the most important aspects that ensure perfect order and superior performance? 

In other words, what makes a logistics network great? 

According to Edward Frazelle, President and CEO at RightChain Incorporated, an optimal network design/redesign process should consist of the following 10 steps: 

1. Evaluate your current network 
2. Design and populate your network optimization database;
3. Create network design alternatives, such as more or fewer hierarchies, multi-commodity flows, pooling opportunities, merge-in-transit, direct shipping, cross docking, and supply-flow optimization concepts; 
4. Develop your network optimization model; 
5. Choose the right network optimization tool; 
6. Implement your network model in the chosen tool; 
7. Consider alternative network designs; 
8. “Practicalize” recommended network structures; 
9. Compute reconfiguration costs; 
10. Make go/no-go decisions. 

To make the most out of this process, you should engage all stakeholders so that everyone is on the same page when you decide to jump-start your design initiatives. You should also enlist your stakeholders' help when looking for alternative network solutions, modeling transportation, comparing services and costs, and analyzing risks. 

Combining the efforts of those involved with data insights will help you accurately review model outputs and look at your options from a fresh perspective. 

Creating the perfect logistics network 

It goes without saying, but creating the perfect logistics network takes time and effort. However, you can set yourself up for success by aligning your logistics network with your business model and focusing on answering the following questions in a way that makes the most sense for your company: 

• How will a more responsive network enable growth? 
• Will network investments lower operating costs? 
• If operating costs increase, will the sales volume warrant the investment? 

By taking your time to reach the right conclusions, you will be able to find the ideal strategy to derive the greatest business value from your design initiatives. 

Last but not least, you will also need accurate data to kick-start your initiative. So, before you start designing or redesigning your network, list all of your products, stock points and sources regarding customer locations, set customer service goals, order processing costs and patterns by frequency, size, season, and content, and establish transportation rates and warehousing expenses. 

Are you ready to kick-start the design process? 

Although your old logistics network design might still be reliable, over time, it will become fragmented. This usually happens because territories change and ordering patterns alternate, which causes the network to lose its efficiency. 

So, it's vital for your company to review your network periodically and ensure maximum service in the most cost-efficient manner.

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Further Reading: 

• Read more articles by Adrian Cirlig @ https://www.fieldservicenews.com/adrian+cirlig
• Read more about spare parts and logistics in service @ https://www.fieldservicenews.com/Spare+parts+and+logistics
• Read Edward Frazelle's article on an optimal network re-design/design process @ https://www.mhlnews.com/global-supply chain/article/22039647/how-to-design-a-logistics-network-in-10-steps
• Read Rudolf Leuschner's article on what makes the perfect warehouse @ https://www.coursera.org/lecture/supply-chain-logistics/how-much-inventory-do-we-need-eJIeU
• Read more about FAST from the Logistics Bureau @ https://www.logisticsbureau.com/warehouse-design-key-factors-to-consider/
• Read more about Copperberg and their events @ https://www.copperberg.com/field-service/

Covid-19 has changed the world, Service leaders have to look beyond "business as usual" and find new ways to operate. Developing new solutions, delivered via strong leadership, is key to continuity. Bill Pollock explains...  

While many would argue that a serious marketing and business development action plan is required at all times, this is especially true during turbulent times. During historical boom economic growth periods, post-war recoveries and peacetime economic expansions, it seemed that virtually any half-hearted marketing or business development activities led to continuing business growth.

However, when the going gets rough, there are two key factors that all services organisations must keep in mind:

1. Life – and business – still go on, but
2. Customers have neither the time nor the inclination to mess around.

Field Service Strategy During and Post-Pandemic

The compound events of the sudden and unexpected spread of the Coronavirus, and the subsequent crash of the global economic markets have temporarily brought the world, and its businesses, to a stunned and sudden standstill. There is no longer “business (or life) as usual”. Many citizens are now “sheltered at home”, either voluntarily, or mandated by their respective governments. There is also an increasing realisation that life as we knew it would no longer be the same. As a result, neither would field services – nor services of any kind!

Already, there are many facets of the traditional services delivery model that have changed forever. However, workers will continue to use their computers, tablets and smartphones to get their day-to-day jobs done. The mobile workforce will become increasingly mobile – as will the pre-Coronavirus office workforce. As such, networks and carriers will become even more important components of the customer and field technician communications processes than ever before.

Payments will still need to be made, although there are likely to be less ATM transactions, as they will likely be replaced by an increase in online payments via the Internet, Apple Pay, PayPal, Venmo and the like. Chipped credit and debit cards were supposed to slowly replace the older magnetic strip cards; however, this transformation has been accelerated by the Coronavirus pandemic, where more and more payments will now be made via “tap” or “wave”, instead of swipe, insert or hand-to-hand transfers of cards or cash with human clerks.

Patients will still go for MRIs, CT-scans and surgical procedures – but, at least temporarily, not so much for elective surgeries or non-life-threatening medical situations. Milk will still be processed. Pharmaceuticals will be manufactured. Textiles will be sewn. And services organisations will still be called upon to support their customers, dealers and end users with a full array of new and steadily evolving services.

When you think about it, everything that we do in the services industry still needs to get done – especially in these turbulent times. In many ways, we are all doing the same things as we did pre-Coronavirus – although now, there is an extra measure of importance in everything we do, every step we take, and every customer we support. It’s just going to be different! And remain different!

 

"This may also be a good time to strengthen your own organisation’s relationships amongst its strategic partners..."

 

As recently as just a few months ago, undoubtedly, we were all dealing with customers (or vendors) who, for whatever reasons, simply strove to meet “acceptable” levels of service delivery performance and customer satisfaction. Some had internal goals, objectives or mandates that needed to be met; while others simply wanted to improve existing levels of customer satisfaction to “keep up with the Joneses”. Now, everything is different. The stakes are suddenly higher.

Every business, everywhere in the civilized world, now requires the highest levels of B2B (and, increasingly, B2C) support from its cadre of vendors and partners – no matter whether the support required is on-site break/fix, helpdesk or preventive maintenance; or systems integration, consulting or professional services. However, increasingly, there has been (and is now virtually mandated) a rapidly-moving transformation away from the traditional on-site, “hands-on” approach (whether supported by Augmented Reality or not) to a “hands off” approach where service and support is, instead, provided via Predictive Diagnostics, Remote Diagnostics/Maintenance, and now – Remote Expertise.

 

3D Printing within the Field Service Supply Chain?

Further, “last year’s technologies”, such as 3D Printing, have been propelled directly into the forefront of Parts & Inventory Management as global businesses have relied heavily on the ad hoc ability to manufacture parts – on-site, and immediately – to support local medical and related emergencies. Most analysts agree that 3D Printing will fast become a mainstay of parts and inventory management as quality continues to improve and costs come down further.

In today’s tense environment when an unforeseen development can bring air travel and mail service to a sudden halt, thereby stopping parts shipments or freezing deliveries; send unexpectedly high numbers of people to medical centers for tests, evaluation and possible hospitalisation; or disrupt field service operations as otherwise would-be mobile workers sit “sheltered at home” until they are permitted, once again, to make service calls on-site, there is a renewed need for services “above and beyond the call of duty” to support what used to be “business as usual”.

But how can this be done?

Quite simply, it will involve ramping up the types of services and support products that have been historically marketed to a higher level of contingency-based support as well. This may also be a good time to strengthen your own organisation’s relationships amongst its strategic partners. For example, whatever your company’s portfolio of service and support products may have been historically, now would be a propitious time to refocus it around professional services including contingency planning, business continuity and disaster recovery, etc. And, if you already provide these types of services yourself, now is the time to promote them more heavily to the marketplace. However, if you don’t – now may be the right time to find yourself a strategic partner in those fields with which to “piggyback”, or joint market, your services.

 

"Whatever happens from this point on, the world has changed..."

 

Customers, who only a few months ago, were primarily concerned with hardware, software and helpdesk support, are now also talking about contingency planning, business continuity and disaster recovery. Terms like “high availability” and “hot sites” have been around, it seems, almost forever. However, with the advent and proliferation of the Coronavirus pandemic, they are now “top of mind” for many businesses, and no longer on the “back burner”. Are these the types of professional services that are also “top of mind” to the marketplace when they think of your organisation? If not, what can you do to make it so?

 

The Critical Rise of Augmented Reality

Field service solution providers that did not offer an Augmented Reality (AR) or Merged Reality (MR) component to their respective portfolio of offerings yesterday, were still credible alternatives for supporting your organisation’s field operations – but, not any longer! If your services organisation is looking for a credible FSM solution today, you should only be considering those powered by the Internet of Things (IoT), and built on a foundation of AR/MR, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning.

However, AR/MR is mostly helpful for empowering on-site field technicians to perform the “fix” quicker, without mistakes, and without the need to carry pounds of paper or electronic schematics with them as they drive to the customer site – but they still need to drive to the customer site! Although an AR/MR solution is essentially resident in the Cloud, it still requires “feet on the street”!

One alternative would be to train the customer/user to AR/MR to perform the “fix” themselves – but this reflects an age-old conundrum as to how much power do you want to give to the customer? How much can they be trusted to make the “fix” correctly, and without damaging anything, or taking the equipment out of warranty? What about regulatory requirements, particularly in the medical/healthcare and other highly-regulated industry segments? There will need to be an orderly progression to allow some – but not all – customers to add this capability to their self-help capabilities. This is where Remote Expertise can be of great value, incorporating such features as a “virtual” technician on-screen presence, repair instructions shown via superimposed human hands, and on-screen telestration (i.e., similar to a sports commentator’s on-screen annotations during a football match, etc.).

Whatever happens from this point on, the world has changed. The way of conducting business has also changed; however, the way of supporting businesses with the services and support they require to satisfy their customers has not – it just got a lot more complicated, and, perhaps, a bit more serious. With this increased seriousness, we can “kiss goodbye” all those meaningless and frivolous attempts to “bundle” our existing services products into a “new” branded package, or otherwise try to disguise our “same old, same old” offerings by thrusting them into a tiered, or “bullion” packaging portfolio (i.e., Platinum, Gold, Silver, Bronze, etc. – that would be so 1990’s). Our customers have always been too smart for that anyway!

What the market wants – and needs – is an honest and forthright offering of service and support that will give them one less thing to worry about as they attempt to meet their immediate struggles, and their customers’ quickly evolving needs in this “new” – and very different – world.

Turbulent times require a serious approach, plus serious marketing and promotion – and it doesn’t get much more turbulent than this! We owe it to our customers, ourselves and our respective communities to rise to the occasion, and ensure that we can provide the services and support that our customers require immediately, as well as in the short-, mid- and longer-term. Services marketing and business development have never been more serious.

 

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Further Reading:

• Read more articles by Bill Pollock @ www.fieldservicenews.com/billpollock
• Read more about Covid-19 in service @ www.fieldservicenews.com/en-gb/covid-19
• Read more about Digital Transformation in field service @ www.fieldservicenews.com/digital-transformation
• Read more about 3D printing in service @ www.fieldservicenews.com/3d+printing
• Read more from Bill Pollock's own blog @ https://pollockonservice.com

Is it time for a reality check when it comes to drones and service? Mark Glover speaks to Robert Garbett from the UK Drone Delivery Group who says mid-mile delivery might be possible but we're a long way from Amazon delivering from above.

Think drones and you probably think of small, multi-rotor objects, when in fact according to the International Organisational Standardization’s (ISO) definition, it’s actually, “Any unmanned system that is autonomously or remotely controlled.”

So this could include: any ground vehicle, any air vehicle, any boat, any ship, any surface sub-sea system, any space system; in fact any hybridization of the above which is remotely controlled or does not have a pilot sitting on board is technically a drone.

POTENTIAL IN Field Service Management

“The image you’ve got in your mind is so wrong. It’s definitely not just a small, flying thing,” says Robert Garbett, the author of that ISO definition and a drone industry expert who’s explaining to me how the technology goes far beyond what we see buzzing in the air. “Once you re-approach the whole topic from that perspective, it opens it out into a far more expansive, exciting and beneficial product. A tiny, remotely controlled spider-shaped air drone really can’t do very much on it’s own but as part of an integrated system with autonomous control, it becomes much more powerful.”

However, drones were airbound in the early 90s, used extensively and effectively for the first time in the Gulf War. In the Spring of 1991, an article appeared in Airpower Journal, penned by Captain P.Tice of the US Air Force. His piece, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles: The Force Multiplier of the 1990s, centered around the dwindling number of army personnel and how Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) - or drones – could effectively plug the gap.

In the piece Captain Tice said: “When used, UAVs should generally perform missions charecterised by the three Ds: dull, dirty and dangerous.” Now, this was written in the context of military operations: long-term endurance missions that could last several days (dull); the detection of chemical agents (dirty); and reconnaissance behind enemy lines (dangerous), so their use in this instance is very different to delivering an Amazon package, or the delivery of a spare part, but ultimately its purpose is to remove the human from a process.

One could argue service is going in the same direction. The human influence is becoming less as self-diagnosing assets, remote technology and big data gradually impede on an engineer’s role. Will drone assistance be part of their eventual demise?

There’s still some way to go before we see autonomous robots donning overalls and popping round to fix your boiler, but in other sectors such as the airport industry, the influence of drones is already being felt and, according to Garbett, has further potential.

“The service sector in the airport system is huge and a lot of it can be done via autonomous systems or remotely controlled systems: Baggage handling for example,” he says. “The technology could eliminate the need for human beings to be airside increasing security and the efficiency of baggage handling. It could also eliminate the health and safety risks associated with human beings throwing bags around all day.”

"In 1865 a spluttering, noisy vehicle with four wheels was an alien…as…well…a drone in 2020..." 

Garbett is Chief Executive of Drone Major Group, a specialist consultancy advising on the application of drone technology working with customers who want an independent and expert guidance on what is possible, where to procure what they need and how to implement it safely and effectively. In 2018, he founded the UK Drone Delivery Group where over 300 members seek to lobby the UK Government in establishing a clear path to a UK-wide commercial drone industry.

Last month the group published a white paper (currently out for consultation) calling for the creation of long term drone testing areas, a significant step that could speed up the process of acceptance. He does however acknowledge the process is a long one, an evolution almost, referencing regulation in the automotive industry as a blueprint. “Right from the start, you could do what you wanted [when driving] because there were no regulations. Then the regulations started to come in, the first one meant you had to get out of your car at a junction, wave a red flag as you crossed just in case you killed a horse…” He pauses for a moment, “I believe that happened because one horse was killed which is a great example of over regulation.”

I laughed at this. It sounded ridiculous but online investigation revealed 1865 Locomotive Act enforcing a top speed of two miles per hour when passing through towns. The regulation was passed to protect horse and cart, the primary form of travel at the time, where motorists, according to the legislation were expected to “carry a red flag constantly displayed, and shall warn riders and drivers of horses of the approach of locomotives, and shall signal the driver thereof when it shall be necessary to stop, and shall assist horses, and carriages drawn by horses, passing the same”.

It seems ridiculous now, but Garbett’s comparison is a salient one. In 1865 a spluttering, noisy vehicle with four wheels was an alien…as…well…a drone in 2020. In both contexts however, concerns are fueled around safety, taking well over 100 years of further regulation and development before driving became even remotely safe, or less dangerous.

Yet as recently as the 1970s deaths at the wheel were still remarkably high, it took another layer of robust regulation, primarily around seatbelt use to make a dent in the grim statistics. In terms of an evolution, 100 years is more than enough time for change to happen.

Is this the approach then for drone commercial use in the UK? In the group’s white paper the scattering of drone testing areas are cited as ‘sandboxes’, although Garbett prefers Technical Evolution Areas static areas that, he says aren’t really there to  purely  test. “They’re there to take a thing from concept to operational deployment and beyond,” he explains, “and through that learning curve, and to accelerate that learning curve upwards so we really can get the benefit that we currently get from cars. So you link the technology areas and link them across the country and start in safe areas first.”

"We are going to turn this into a technology evolution. Somewhere in the UK where we are starting to deliver parcels, mid-mile, depot to sub-depot.”

The press release accompanying the white paper cited a Barclays’ report valuing the drone market close to $40 billion by 2023 so perhaps its evolution will be quicker if these figures transpire, although the driver lies not in B2C delivery (the idea that Amazon Drones will be dropping parcels from the sky is, according to Garbett feasible but a long way away, “There’s no way you’re going to have sufficient infrastructure and the depth of availability of airspace and the durability of batteries to have a small air drone delivering things to my balcony.”) but in terms of service and logistics, value lies not in last mile delivery but the mid-mile to depots, where the final leg of the journey to the warehouse or factory could take be fulfilled by an autonomous vehicle that trundles into the building carrying the spare part.

Garbett’s knowledge in this area is refreshing and it’s good to hear clarity on a topic that’s been shrouded in mystery, perhaps skewed by Amazon’s glimpse into their own drone programme, and perceived – wrongly – as that “small, tiny flying object”. But what about a watertight use-case for the technology’s commercially? How far away are we from that?

Garbett eludes to a project he’s working on around mid-mile in delivery and logistics. Run in tandem with a company he’s unable to mention the study has entered – encouragingly - into the feasibility stage. “We are going to turn this into a technology evolution,” he enthuses, “somewhere in the UK where we are starting to deliver parcels, mid-mile, depot to sub-depot – live and commercially.”

And the next step? I ask? What we need are companies like your audience to come forward and get involved.  The benefits are there, the technology is there and the will from Government to make this happen is also now there...what we need now is forward thinking companies or trail blazers to come forward so that we can assist them to realise the future.

Over to you then reader and remember, please try to keep that ISO definition in mind. There’s more here than a buzzing spider thing.

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Further Reading: 

• Read more about drones in field service @ www.fieldservicenews.com/drones
• Read more about the latest use of technology in field service @ https://www.fieldservicenews.com/technology
• Follow Robert Garnett on LinkedIn here.

 

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