Case Study

Jungheinrich Plans Flexibly and Efficiently Worldwide with Solvares Field Service

High Flexibility

Extremely Fast Customer Service

Increased Efficiency

Jungheinrich controls field planning for over 4,000 field service technicians with VISITOUR: Either manually, semi- or fully automatic. The key outcomes include flexibility, speed, and efficiency worldwide.

The Company: Leading Technical Field Service Provider

Jungheinrich AG is one of the three largest intralogistics solution providers in the world. With a comprehensive portfolio of material handling equipment, logistics systems and services, Jungheinrich offers customised solutions ready for the challenges of Industry 4.0.

Field Planning for over 4,000 Technicians

Jungheinrich has developed from a forklift truck manufacturer to become a service and solution provider. The company has its own sales and service organisations in 40 countries and sells its products in over 70 other countries via partners.

One of the challenges in scheduling over 4,000 field service technicians was the combination of order types with significantly different planning deadlines.

The solution is VISITOUR: From long-term planned maintenance to acute repair emergencies, all incoming orders can be transferred to VISITOUR and scheduled by the software or booked directly into variable appointment windows. From long-term scheduled maintenance to acute emergency repairs, all incoming orders can be transferred to VISITOUR and scheduled by the software or booked directly onto variable time slots.

Flexible Field Planning in Real Time

From long-term planned maintenance to acute repair emergencies, all incoming orders can be transferred to VISITOUR and scheduled by the software or booked directly to variable appointment windows.

VISITOUR can schedule even complex jobs manually, semi-automatically or automatically, including order relationships, team formation and special resources – ensuring outstandingly fast service across the board. The technicians are equipped with mobile devices, which VISITOUR uses to dynamically obtain all relevant information and thus optimise the entire deployment planning in fractions of a second, even in the event of unforeseen incidents.

To make customer visits even more efficient, the technicians on site use an intelligent suggestion system from VISITOUR. This shows the technicians which upcoming maintenance work at the customer’s premises can optionally be carried out, depending on the time available.

For example, if the technician is on site for an emergency repair, it makes sense to carry out the maintenance due the following week at the same time.

If several repairs are due for a customer on the same day, VISITOUR ensures in the background that the two jobs are bundled and assigned to a technician who has the necessary skills for both tasks and completed in just one visit.

Intelligent Appointment Suggestion Solution

In order to make customer visits even more efficient, the technicians on site use an intelligent suggestion system from VISITOUR. This shows them which upcoming maintenance tasks can optionally be carried out at the customer’s site, depending on the available time frame.

If the technician is on site for an emergency repair, for example, it is worth carrying out the maintenance due next week at the same time.

If a customer has several repairs on the same day, VISITOUR ensures in the background that the two orders are bundled and assigned to a technician who has the necessary skills for both activities and that they are completed in just one visit.

Field Planning Challenge: Different Time Zones

A further challenge during the global roll-out was the consideration of different time zones. In countries such as Russia, it can happen that scheduling, technicians and customers are in three different time zones.

VISITOUR implements this accordingly in the scheduling for all parties involved and assigns the correct time zone to employees, orders and users so that optimal planning can be carried out to the full extent.

Country-specific Interfaces and Integration into SAP

Country-specific interfaces in the respective national language also ensure that all information is presented in an understandable way for users. VISITOUR is even available with Chinese or Cyrillic characters.

VISITOUR is integrated into Jungheinrich’s SAP environment. Thanks to the SAP Integration Suite developed by Solvares Field Service, the integration took place within a very short time.

Cost Savings, Fast Service and Additional Efficiency

Thanks to dynamic and mobile field planning, the highly flexible central service organization not only ensures considerable cost savings, but also lightning-fast service and customer service at the highest level. A forward-looking combination of several orders results in additional efficiency benefits.

What You Can Take away from this for your Service

Central, flexible field planning (manually, semi- or fully automatically) makes it possible to efficiently manage thousands of technicians.
If maintenance, inspections and emergencies are planned in one system, a fast, comprehensive service is created instead of parallel isolated solutions.
Mobile connection and real-time optimisation ensure that tours can be adapted in seconds, even in the event of disruptions.
Intelligent suggestion systems help to bundle assignments (e.g. maintenance + repair in one visit) and thus increase additional efficiency.
Time zone and language support and integration into ERP (e.g. SAP) make international service organisations manageable and transparent.
The combination of dynamic planning and smart order combination reduces costs – while at the same time providing extremely fast customer service.