Avery Berkel Automates Field Service Scheduling, Improves Technician Productivity by 28% and Reduces Service Costs
 
 

Avery Berkel Automates Field Service Scheduling, Improves Technician Productivity by 28% and Reduces Service Costs

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Avery Berkel is the United Kingdom’s largest provider of retail weighing and food-processing solutions. In addition to manufacturing award-winning counter-service scales, the company services a wide range of scales and food-processing equipment in major grocery chains and independent food retailers throughout the United Kingdom. Avery Berkel delivers a 24/7 repair and maintenance service through a nationwide network of technicians, backed by a centralized operations and support team.

Avery Berkel needed to increase the efficiency of its machine-servicing operations to minimize costs and improve service to its customers. The company deployed Oracle Real-Time Scheduler to automate service scheduling and provide a complete, end-to-end, call-management process.

The new systems have improved call qualification accuracy by 86%, improved the productivity of field service technicians by 28%, and reduced service costs, with a 25% reduction in mileage traveled by technicians.

 
 

 
 

Challenges

A word from Avery Berkel

  • “With Oracle Real-Time Scheduler, we can highlight and deal with issues within our business quickly and easily, allowing us to provide outstanding service to our customers, with a lower cost model.” – Timo van Weenen, Customer Services Operations Manager, Avery Berkel

  • Improve response times to grocer and retailer service requests and increase customer service level agreement (SLA) adherence to maximize the uptime of customers’ commercial scales and food processing equipment
  • Increase the productivity of the field service team focused on maintaining business critical equipment at retail sites
  • Reduce service operations costs
  • Improve information logging and qualification to support continuous service improvement
  • Implement a paperless, end-to-end call management system to improve productivity for service operations

Solutions

Oracle Product and Services

  • Ensured SLA adherence and accelerated service response times by automating assignment of service-request calls received via e-mail, electronic data interchange linkage, telephone and the Web portal to appropriately trained technicians
  • Built a seamless interface between third-party back-office systems and Oracle Real-Time Scheduler using Oracle BPEL Process Manager, replacing time-consuming manual scheduling processes with fully automated event-driven workflows
  • Eliminated the backlog of overdue planned maintenance visits for scales and food-processing equipment through automated scheduling
  • Increased field service workforce productivity by 28% by providing equipment service technicians with real-time schedule updates and optimizing individual schedules
  • Cut labor costs by reducing the number of field-service technicians by 31%, through efficiency and productivity gains from the new system while improving and sustaining adherence to customer SLAs
  • Reduced service costs by integrating the new call-logging system with Oracle SOA Suite to increase call qualification accuracy to 86%, eliminating unnecessary service visits to retail customers
  • Provided managers with accurate, up-to-date information on all servicing issues to support service-improvement decisions
  • Enhanced call center efficiency by implementing a paperless, end-to-end call management process

Why Oracle

After examining a number of competitive scheduling automation solutions, Avery Berkel selected Oracle Real-Time Scheduler. Oracle’s flexibility and willingness to invest in helping Avery Berkel build a robust business case for the new solution were critical to the decision. The solution also provided the robust functionality that Avery Berkel required. Oracle’s ability to provide both software and technology was another important factor.

“The support team from Oracle clearly demonstrated how the solution could help us meet our business requirements, and we’ve seen exceptional productivity improvements and cost savings as a result,” said Timo van Weenen, customer services operations manager, Avery Berkel.