Case Study

Velco increases efficiency throughout the entire service and maintenance process

Reduction in mileage

More cost-efficient processes

Better achievement of SLAs

Velco has been active in fire protection and in-house hazard prevention for over 50 years. Through Solvares Field Service’s Route Planning, comprehensive efficiency gains, cost savings, and improved customer service were achieved.

Velco’s service department maintains small extinguishing agents, fire hose reels, and dry extinguishing lines. In addition to maintaining small extinguishers, Velco can also perform maintenance on emergency and escape route lighting, first aid kits, and automated external defibrillators (AEDs). Velco is based in Oldenzaal and employs approximately 20 service technicians who can serve 10,000 customers.

Velco’s goal is to support companies in planned disaster preparedness. With a national service department, professional consultants, and experienced trainers, all assignments are carried out by their own staff.

Increased efficiency throughout the entire service and maintenance process with VISITOUR

Velco opted for a dynamic planning system for scheduling mechanics’ routes and appointments. The reasons are manifold:

Unnecessary mileage was driven, and too much manual effort was required to achieve good planning. Furthermore, it was important to ensure knowledge of the required skills per assignment, mechanical skills, and other restrictions to avoid dependence on knowledge transfer during personnel changes. In addition, each mechanic had their own region, which meant that workload was not proportional, and people could not support each other.

These problems were the main reasons for Velco to choose VISITOUR as a dynamic planning system. Work had to be made more efficient both on-site and in the office.

The switch to VISITOUR has significantly changed the way planners in the office and field technicians work. The planning department originally consisted of 2.5 full-time equivalents (FTEs) and now comprises 1.5 FTEs, distributed among 6 part-time employees. All in all, all employees now have broader knowledge.

We now have fewer FTEs, but we have much better control over planning, and everyone is on the same page knowledge-wise – that's a huge step forward for Velco.

Robbert Veltkamp

Managing Director · Velco

And further: “Now, field mechanics have more time to react quickly in case of an emergency, and they can serve more customers per week. That’s a nice additional benefit. Almost every week, a mechanic arrives at a customer’s doorstep, only to find the customer is not there. Now, thanks to VISITOUR, we can react much better to such situations.”

Better overview of customers

Regarding customer relationships, VISITOUR also offers many advantages. Mechanics no longer all have the same customers; some customer relationships have been maintained, but for the rest, the concept of a “regular mechanic” has been abandoned. According to Veltkamp, this has brought many benefits. “More mechanics now have a better picture of what’s happening with the customer, and the customer is not dependent on their regular mechanic.”

Savings and improvements through VISITOUR

The most important advantage Velco has achieved is timely maintenance for the customer.

Robbert Veltkamp

Managing Director · Velco

“That’s super important for us. VISITOUR is supportive in this. I now dare to integrate a counter on our website to show how often we arrive on time and how often we don’t.”

Furthermore, compliance with SLAs (Service Level Agreements) for inspections is also important for Velco. After the introduction of VISITOUR, this value is also higher than before.

Veltkamp: “A few years ago, it was still very efficient if a customer was on the route. We have 10,000 customers, and we want to do it right with all of them. This was difficult to manage and meant that for a customer not on the route, a lot of costs had to be incurred. We didn’t see this ‘pain’ before using VISITOUR.”

We therefore decided to agree with such customers that they would find a local provider for the maintenance of their equipment. This meant a better understanding of costs and thus a gain for Velco.

VISITOUR has taught us to ask ourselves: What do we gain by retaining certain customers? It sounds crazy, but if it's not good for both parties, it's better to end the customer relationship.

Robbert Veltkamp

Managing Director · Velco

The time we regain can be used for other customers. Customer quality is also increased. So, we can conclude that SLAs are very important.

Veltkamp continues: “We always arrange periodic inspection appointments by phone. And according to our wishes, we have extended the time window for the appointment. Customers receive an email reminder about a week in advance, to which they can respond, allowing them to plan flexibly.”

We now inform the customer that we will visit them for inspection, for example, between 8:00 AM and 12:00 PM. Previously, we specified a fixed time. This larger time window now allows us to be more flexible and plan optimally. Behavioral changes and guidance are very important here. The Velco managing director emphasises: “We want to maintain customer satisfaction as well as optimise planning.”

The technicians now also indicate when there is a problem with a route, for example. This is then properly discussed and explained internally, without any lingering negativity. It is important to maintain a strong support base.

There is now less overtime, and mechanics can go home earlier. This is now also set in the system. A win-win situation.

Robbert Veltkamp

Managing Director · Velco

With VISITOUR, Velco now also has more planning data for reports and insights for the future.

Strategic planning also possible

Another goal Velco has achieved in the last two years is being able to identify in good time during planning whether a new mechanic needs to be hired. Initially, there was less insight into this. When a new order/customer is brought in, the impact on planning can be simulated in VISITOUR. This way, Velco benefits both operationally and strategically from the new system.

What You Can Take away from this for your Service

A dynamic planning system replaces gut feeling and "regional logic" with reliable data. SLAs are met more reliably, and mileage decreases.

If knowledge about skills, restrictions, and customer relationships is in the system (instead of in people's heads), your service remains stable and scalable even with personnel changes.

Larger, intelligent time windows (e.g., 8 AM–12 PM instead of a fixed time) increase your planning flexibility without jeopardising customer satisfaction.